The No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team got a natural hat trick from graduate forward Reece Hunt and a fourth goal for good measure in its skate past the University of St. Thomas 4-1 at the Saint Thomas Ice Rink in Mendota Heights, Minn. Friday night.
Hunt's hat trick was her second of the season and fourth overall Bulldog hat trick on the year. It also marked the second time this season UMD has had a player notch four goals – Mannon McMahon did it back on Oct. 6 against Long Island University.
"Once we got the hang of it and found our footing, I thought, you know, a lot of lines did a lot of good things tonight, and it's not just the kids that end up on the scoresheet," said Bulldog head coach Maura Crowell. "Obviously, Reese had a heck of a game in the back of the net for us. I think they were really tough to play against tonight, and that's the name of the game in this league."
Hunt's first goal came late in the first period off a backhanded pass from senior center Clara Van Wieren, who found Hunt outside the crease at 16:54.
The Hunt, Van Wieren and
Olivia Wallin connection put the Bulldogs up 2-0 at 8:57 of the second period when Wallin dropped the puck for Van Wieren in the high slot and Van Wieren found Hunt coming across the goal for her second of the night.
Less than seven minutes later, Van Wieren again found Hunt for the one-time redirect for the natural hat trick and 3-0 Bulldog advantage.
The Tommies finally broke through on sophomore goaltender Hailey MacLeod with a goal from Rylee Bartz 1:20 later to make it a 3-1 game, but UMD's second line again pushed its lead to three goals when Hunt finished off a 2–on-1 with Wallin that started before mid ice to give the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead.
MacLeod finished the game with 23 saves on her ninth win of the season, and the Bulldogs outshot UST 27-24 and held the Tommies scoreless in three penalty kill attempts. Olivia King made 23 saves for UST, who fell to 8-21-1 overall and 2-19-1 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action.
The Bulldogs (16-11-2, 13-10–0) will play for their second series sweep in a row Saturday when they drop the puck on game two against the Tommies at 6:00 p.m. Saturday.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD has now had four hat tricks this season – (Reece Hunt twice, Mannon McMahon and Clara Van Wieren) – the most hat tricks in a single season by a Bulldog squad since the 2010-11 season, when UMD had five (three from Haley Irwin, and one each from Jessica Wong and Perilla Winberg … Hunt has now had six multiple point games this season and three games with two or more goals … Clara Van Wieren and Olivia Wallin each had three assists on the night … It marks the fifth multiple point game for Van Wieren and the third effort for Wallin … Hunt now has 16 goals on the season and leads UMD with 26 points … while UMD remains unbeaten against UST (10-0-1 all-time), the Bulldogs have now scored three or more goals against the Tommies in 10 of those games, and four or more goals in seven skates.
