With two minutes left in the third period Friday afternoon in game one of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association First Round showdown between the University of Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State University, it appeared the Huskies were going to pull off the one thing that has eluded them over their successful season – a win over UMD. But the Bulldogs had other ideas, and after the final buzzer sounded at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn., UMD had gone up 1-0 in the series.
The sixth-ranked Bulldogs clawed back to strike a 3-2 upset rejection blow to the Huskies behind the two goals of Caitlin Kraemer and the game-winner from Olivia Wallin with just five seconds left to secure their first postseason win of 2024-25.
"I'm super proud of our team, they found a way to win," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler, who picked up her first postseason victory in the process. "That was a fun game, really fun there at the ending, what a battle. Back and forth all game long, we knew it was going to be a tough one against them, they've come out strong against us. But just really proud of our players for finding a way."
The lone goal of the first period came on UMD's power play, a power play that had been extended by a challenge to a minor penalty on the Huskies and changed to a five minute hitting from behind call on Dayle Ross at 13:13. The Bulldogs delivered at the 16:59 mark, a tic-tac-toe passing sequence between Clara Van Wieren down to Olivia Wallin on the extended goal line. Wallin found Caitlin Kraemer for a nasty one-timer in the slot, and the Bulldogs owned the game's first lead.
SCSU wouldn't be denied in the second period, and after being held scoreless by Eve Gascon and UMD for their last 10 periods of play, used the last second of a power play to equalize at 9:56. Just over four minutes later, the Bulldogs put the Huskies on another power play, and this time, SCSU struck within the extra skater confines to go ahead 2-1 at 14:07.
That 2-1 score would hold uncomfortably late for UMD, who pulled goaltender Eve Gascon at 17:44 to chase the one goal deficit. When Van Wieren unloaded a shot that beat SCSU goaltender Sanni Ahola over her left shoulder but was rejected by the pipe 10 seconds later, a casual fan might worry the hourglass was running out on the Bulldogs. But just nine seconds after Schuler called a timeout, Kraemer swept into the slot and buried another goal line feed from Wallin into crease traffic to pull UMD even in the most dramatic of fashions at 18:05 of the third.
One goal wasn't enough for the Bulldogs, however, and with just five seconds left in the frame, Wallin wheeled on a rebound from Nina Jobst-Smith and unloaded a knuckle of a shot over a lowered Ahola to call and take game one in the rudest of fashion from the Huskies.
Wallin was one of two players that figured on every single UMD goal (1g, 2a), while Van Wieren had three secondary assistants. Kraemer's two goals gave the Bulldogs three players with multiple points overall.
SCSU outshot UMD 34-31, but the Bulldogs peppered Ahola with 12 shots in the third. Gascon made 32 saves for the Bulldogs, her 11th game this season with 32 or more saves, while Ahola had 28 for the Huskies. Each team had one power play tally – UMD was 1-of-4, while SCSU went 1-of-3.
"We're fully confident in our group," said Wallin. "We have a lot of belief in this group and know that anyone can step up at the right moment. We had full confidence going out there, even a goal down."
UMD (20-13-2) and SCSU (15-14-6) will do it all over again in game tomorrow of the best-of-three series. The puck is set to drop at 1:00 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES: The Bulldogs picked up their 20th win of the season Friday, their fourth-straight season with 20 or more tallies and the 18th in program history … this marks the second time this season the Huskies have led UMD into the third period of play, only for the Bulldogs to come out with the victory … the Bulldogs are now 4-8-1 when trailing after two periods of play … UMD (twice) and Minnesota are the only two teams to force that fate on SCSU … UMD improves to 37-10 all-time in quarterfinal games and is now 10-1 against the Huskies in the WCHA Playoffs, including 9-1 in the quarterfinals … Eve Gascon remains unbeaten in six games against the Huskies over her two-year career … Gascon is averaging exactly the amount of saves she made Friday against SCSU – 32 … Clara Van Wieren now has 19 points (9g, 10a) against SCSU in 25 career outings … Caitlin Kraemer has now scored two or more goals six times this season, and has posted multiple point games in three of her last five skates … Olivia Wallin has had nine multiple point game, including three with three or more… Wallin has averaged a whopping 1.87 points per game over the month of February … it was Clara Van Wieren's eighth multiple point game of the season … it also marks just the third time this season UMD has won when they have been outshot by an opponent (3-9-0) … the Huskies power play goal was their first of the season against the Bulldogs, breaking a 14-extra skater attempts drought in 2024-25 (the Huskies have not scored on the power play against UMD in four seasons) … UMD has scored three goals now four times out of five outings against the SCSU this season.
