The red-hot No. 7/8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team extended its current win streak to five games Friday night with a 3-1 win over Western Collegiate Hockey Association member the University of St. Thomas at AMSOIL Arena.
UMD had two goals from graduate forward Reece Hunt and two assists from senior forward Olivia Wallin in the game, one that started out offensively fast for the Bulldogs for a second-straight skate.
"You know, the story of the game is really killing off over 15 minutes of their power play, including 10 minutes in the third.," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell. "You know they were right there in that game, and we had a lot of adversity, so I'm really happy. I'm really proud of our group just being ready. I credited (assistant coach Laura) Schuler in the locker room. I want to make that public. She's just an excellent coach when it comes to system play like that. She had her players confident and ready. So I just really proud of the group for being able to to get through all those situations"
The Bulldogs wasted no time putting their fifth-straight win of the season in motion. Just 3:51 into the first period, Olivia Wallin intercepted a UST pass on the boards and fed the puck over to Reece Hunt in the high slot. Hunt ripped it past Tommie goaltender Maggie Malecha for the 1-0 lead, her fifth goal of the season.
Midway through the frame,Mannon McMahon made it a 2-0 game in favor of the Bulldogs. The graduate center picked the puck behind her own blueline and skated the length of the ice to beat Malecha five-hole at 10:46, extending her current scoring streak to five-games in the process.
UMD tacked on a third goal in the second period, another Wallin to Hunt connection that started on a long breakout pass from rookie defenseman Quinn Dunkle. Dunkle found Wallin on the boards, and Wallin found Hunt again in the slot for a one-timer at 6:49 to stretch the Bulldogs lead to 3-0.
Despite starting the third period with two players in the box, UMD held off the Tommies power play. UST's lone goal came off an errant UMD pass off the boards behind the net at 8:55, but the Tommies would get no closer. A Bulldog goal was called off at 11:58 and instead, UMD was forced to fend off a five minute major penalty. But like all UST power plays on the evening, the Bulldogs never broke and kept the Tommies scoreless on seven power play attempts in the game.
UMD outshot UST 35-24 and got outstanding goaltending from Sophomore netminder Hailey MacLeod, who had 23 saves, including nine in the third period alone. Malecha had 32 for UST, which fell to 4-7-0 overall and 0-7-0 in WCHA play.
The Bulldogs (7-2-0, 5-2-0) will wrap up the series tomorrow with a 3:00 p.m. puck drop against the Tommies at AMSOIL.
BULLDOG NOTES: Mannon McMahon has now notched a point in her last five games – the graduate center has recorded two goals and five assists over that span for seven points … Olivia Wallin is on her own four-game scoring spree … the senior has one goal and five assists for six points in four outings.
