St. Cloud State at (1) Wisconsin
Saturday’s game started 1-1, but the Badgers took off from there. Lacey Eden became the fourth player in program history to record 100 goals and did so in explosive fashion, with a hat trick and two assists. Kelly Gorbatenko added four goals and Wisconsin skated to a 9-2 win. Sydney Lamb and Grace Wolfe scored for St. Cloud in the loss. On Sunday, Wisconsin clinched their 11th WCHA regular season title with a 4-2 win. Mackenzie Jones scored her first career goal while Laney Potter, Cassie Hall and Eden each lit the lamp for the Badgers. Lamb and Sofianna Sundelin scored for the Huskies in the loss.
(2) Ohio State at Bemidji State
On Friday, Kaia Malachino had a hat trick and an assist while Emma Peschel added a goal and three assists to lead the Buckeyes to a 7-1 win. Hailey Armstrong’s power play goal was the lone tally for the Beavers. In the second game, Kate Johnson’s goal in the opening five minutes put Bemidji State up 1-0. But OSU responded with two goals in the course of a minute late in the frame as Malachino and Sloane Matthews each lit the lamp to take a 2-1 lead. Raeley Carney scored 14 seconds into the second to tie things for Bemidji State, but Ohio State once again scored twice in a minute to take the lead again as Sara Swiderski and Maxine Cimoroni each found twine to make it 4-2 Buckeyes. Peschel added a goal less than three minutes later to push the lead to 5-2. Bemidji State pushed back one more time as Hannah Graves scored in the first two minutes of the third, but they could not complete a comeback and Malachino added an empty-netter to secure the 6-3 win.
(10) Minnesota Duluth at (3) Minnesota
Madison Kaiser’s goal just 3:27 into the first put Minnesota up 1-0. UMD responded at the midpoint of the first with a hard shot from Zoey Krock. Madi Burr gave the Bulldogs the lead on a shot from the slot midway through the second to make it 2-1. Ava Lindsay put back a rebound midway through the third to make it a 2-2 game and eventually force overtime. In the extra frame, Tova Henderson intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and took it the length of the ice to beat Hannah Clark and give UMD the 3-2 overtime win. In the second game of the series, the two teams each had just five shots each in the first. It was Caitlin Kraemer on the power play with under two to play in the first that opened the scoring to give Minnesota Duluth the 1-0. Bella Fanale tied the game midway through the second and that would be all the scoring in this game until Henderson did it again. The defender ripped a shot in overtime to defeat Minnesota for the second straight game.
(5) Northeastern at (6) Connecticut
Things got off to a chaotic and fast start on Friday. Ashley Allard scored three minutes into the game to put UConn up 1-0. Northeastern responded 11 minutes in with a power play goal from Rylie Jones. Claire Murdoch’s goal in the final minute of the opening frame gave Connecticut the 2-1 lead at the first break. Stryker Zablocki scored late in the second to tie the game 2-2. Neither team broke through in the third, but it took just 60 seconds of overtime for Northeastern to win the game as Morgan Jackson lit the lamp.
(5) Northeastern at Providence
It looked like this game would be all Providence on Saturday as the Friars scored on each of their first two shots and had a 2-0 lead 1:03 into the first period. Northeastern regrouped at the intermission and came out firing in the second. Stryker Zablocki’s breakaway goal got the Huskies on the board to make it 2-1. Midway through the third, Northeastern scored twice in 36 seconds as Allie Lalonde and Lily Shannon each found twine to give the Huskies a 3-2 win. Zablocki added an empty-netter to secure the win for Northeastern.
Merrimack vs. (6) Connecticut
Claire Murdoch scored her first career hat trick to lead UConn to a 5-3 win on Saturday. Julia Pellerin’s goal 7:27 into the game put the Huskies up 1-0, but that lasted just :22 before Merrimack’s Mady Cipolla tied things at 1-1. Murdoch got her first and Brooke Campbell scored on the power play during the second frmae to give Connecticut a 3-1 advantage. But the Warriors pushed back to open the third as Olivia Grabianowski and Cipolla each scored before six minute had elapsed to tie the game once more. Murdoch stepped up from there, scoring midway through the frame and adding an empty-netter to secure her hat trick and the game.
(15) Minnesota State at St. Thomas
A three-goal third period powered a come-from-behind win by the Mavericks on Friday. Taylor Otremba scored 13:04 into the first to give MSU a 1-0 lead. St. Thomas immediately fought back, with Rylee Bartz scoring just 24 seconds later. And Ella Boeger beat the buzzer, scoring with 4.1 seconds left in the 1st to send St. Thomas to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Zoe Lopez’s goal in the second tied the game for Mankato. Sophie Stramel, Mercury Bischoff and Kamryn Van Batvia each scored in the final frame to give Minnesota State the 5-2 win. Saturday’s game started slow, with just a goal each in the first two periods. Ayla Puppe’s first period power play goal had MSU up 1-0. Bartz tied things for St. Thomas later in the second. Things wnet a little crazy in the third. Stramel had a power play goal 1:08 in to make it 2-1 Mankato and Bischoff doubled the lead five minutes later. But St. Thomas didn’t go down without a fight. Whitney Horton’s power play goal 9:54 into the third cut the lead to 3-2 and Boerger’s goal with 8.1 left in regulation tied the game to force overtime. In the extra frame, Kianna Roeske scored early to give the Mavericks the 4-3 win.
ECAC Tournament
Union at (12) Clarkson
Freshman goalie Emma Rhéaume made 39 saves, including a behind the back beauty on a puck that bounced off her neck, to help power Union to an upset in the opening round of the ECAC Tournament. The win snapped the Golden Knights’ 27-game winning streak against Union and was the first time the Garnet Chargers defeated Clarkson since November 5, 2011. All the scoring happened in the first frame. Karianne Engelbert set a single-season record with her eighth power play goal to put Union up 1-0. Megan Duplantie extended the lead to 2-0 three minutes later on a chip in from the slot. Janelle Evans scored on the power play for Clarkson to make it a 2-1 game, but the Golden Knights could not find an equalizer as Union stood tall on defense and took the win.
RPI at (14) Colgate
Colgate outshot RPI 17-9 in the opening frame, but neither team found the back of the net. Kylie Toye put the Engineers on the board first seven minutes into the second. Reese Keating was outstanding in net for RPI, but Colgate finally broke through in the closing minutes of the middle frame. The Raiders scored three times in less than four minutes to break the game open. First Dorothy Copetti put one top shelf and then Alexis Petford and Alexia Aubin also lit the lamp to make it 3-1 Colgate. Petford scored again early in the second to make it 4-1. Nina Christof, fresh back from the Olympics, scored a power play goal late for RPI, but they ran out of time to mount a comeback as the Raiders took a 4-2 win.