Early penalties hampered the No. 11 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team Friday night in 5-3 loss to top-ranked Ohio State University inside the OSU Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio.
Â
The Bulldogs were strapped with nine minutes worth of infractions in the first period, including a five minute major that sent Laini Gnetz to the locker room early. UMD – which entered the night with the nation's second-best penalty kill – ran in to a Buckeye power play buzzsaw, and OSU scored three power play goals from 8:21 to 15:42, including two on the Gnetz major.Â
Â
UMD gathered itself to counter punch at the 16:00 mark when Rae Mayer went the length of the ice and wristed a shot from above the extended goal line to make it a 3-1 game.
Â
Â
The Bulldogs pulled within a single goal 1:13 into the second period when Zoey Krock finished off a 2-on-1 with Molly Cole. But the Buckeyes responded at 5:46 to push their lead back to two goals and went ahead 5-3 at 11:46.
Â
Â
Cole buried a goal of her own to record her third multiple point game of the season on a power play goal 1:03 into the final frame of play.
Â
Â
OSU had just a single shot on goal advantage over UMD at 28-27 but went 3-of-4 on its power play while the Bulldogs went just 1-of-3. Overall, UMD had 17 minutes of penalties called against, while the Buckeyes were just in the box for eight minutes.
Â
Freshman goaltender Marliou Grenier had the first point of her UMD Bulldog career with an assist on Mayer's goal. Grenier had 23 saves in the game and allowed just two goals at even strength.
Â
The Bulldogs (6-5-0, 3-4-0) will take another shot at the nation's No. 1 team at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon in the OSU Ice Rink.
