Bemidji State at (1) Wisconsin
KK Harvey had three assists and Adéla Šapovalivová scored twice to lead the Badgers to a 7-0 win in the first game of the best of three series for the opening round of the WCHA playoffs. Laney Potter, Cassie Hall, Kirsten Simms, Maggie Scannell and Laila Edwards also scored in the win. On Saturday, Wisconsin needed overtime but a snipe from Edwards 1:14 into the extra frame left no doubt that the Badgers were moving on. Bemidji State put pressure on UW this whole weekend. In the second game they kept them off the score sheet in the first and then struck themselves in the second to take a 1-0 lead on a goal from Hailey Armstrong. Wisconsin goalie Ava McNaughton turned the puck over behind the net and then fell to the ice, leaving her net wide open for the Beavers to capitalize. Maggie Scannell tied the game for UW two minutes later and then Adéla Šapovalivová scored from her knee on the PP to make it a 2-1 game in the final minute of the period. BSU pushed back in the third, but couldn’t find the equalizer until they pulled their goalie. Morgan Smith’s shot had a number of deflections and found the back of the net to tie the game and force overtime. After a full intermission, it took just 74 seconds for Edwards to end it and send Wisconsin back to the WCHA Final Faceoff.
St. Thomas at (2) Ohio State
Sara Swiderski had the Buckeyes’ first two goals of the day, shooting from distance to beat the defense and make it a 2-0 game late in the second. Joy Dunne added a goal 35 seconds later to extend the OSU lead to 3-0. Whitney Horton scored early in the second to get St. Thomas on the board, but Jordan Petrie and Hilda Svensson added goals later in the third to secure a 5-1 win for Ohio State. Swiderski led the team with two goals and two assists. Freshly returned from the Olympics, Mira Jungåker and Svensson led the Buckeyes on Saturday with a goal and two assists each. They each scored in the first to give OSU a 2-0 lead. Sanni Vanhanen added to the lead in the second. Maddie Brown pulled it back immediately for St. Thomas to make it 3-1, but Vanhanen scored early in the third to secure a 4-1 win and sweep to send Ohio State back to the WCHA Final Faceoff.
Syracuse at (3) Penn State
PSU’s Olympians came back in high style as Tessa Janecke tallied a hat trick while Matilde Fantin and Nicole Hall also scored. Mya Vaslet and Abby Stonehouse added to the tally, giving Penn State a 7-0 win in the best of three series in the semifinals of the AHA Tournament. In the second game, Tessa Janecke scored five minutes into the first to give Penn State a 1-0 lead. Jackson Kinsler’s power play goal tied things 1-1 in the second. But Abby Stonehouse’s goal just before the end of the middle frame proved to be enough to give the Nittany Lions the win and sweep as they advanced to the AHA championship game.
St. Cloud State at (4) Minnesota
St. Cloud State put the Gophers on their heels on Friday, keeping their high-powered offense to the outside and controlling the pace and flow of the game. Minnesota outshot the Huskies 42-20, but Emilia Kyrkkö was outstanding in net for SCSU and her defense helped keep many of those shots from being very threatening. In overtime, Laura Zimmerman won a faceoff to the left of Gopher goalie Hannah Clark, pulling the puck straight back to Grace Wolfe, who was waiting at the top of the circle. Wolfe scooped and wristed the puck to the back of the net to win the game for St. Cloud. In the second game, Tereza Plosová put Minnesota up 1-0, redirecting a shot from the point by Chloe Primerano. Abbey Murphy set a new Gopher program record with her goal early in the second. The slapshot from the circle was the 140th goal of her career, putting her ahead of Nadine Muzerall for most in Minnesota history. Primerano added a power play goal late in the second to make it 3-0. Mikaela Mikaelyan pulled one back for St. Cloud early in the third, but they couldn’t mount a comeback and Murphy’s empty-netter secured the 4-1 win for the Gophers to force a game three. On Sunday, Minnesota came out on fire and could not be stopped. Goals from Bella Fanale and Jamie Nelson had them up 2-0 before seven minutes had passed. Zimmerman cut the lead to 2-1 early in the second, but the Gophers pushed right back as Gracie Graham, Josefin Bouveng and Fanale, who scored short-handed, each lit the lamp to make it a 5-1 game. Bouveng’s empty-netter secured the 6-1 win and sent Minnesota into the WCHA semifinals.
Boston University at (5) Northeastern
Lisa Jönsson made 40 saves and her defense made 27 blocks to lead Northeastern to a 2-1 win in the second overtime of this single-elimination game. Éloïse Caron put the Huskies up 1-0 a few minutes into the game. Lily Shannon’s shorthanded goal in the second tied the game before the midpoint of regulation. The teams would then play more than 52 minutes of scoreless hockey before freshman Emy McDermid scored her second goal of the season to send Northeastern into the Hockey East semifinals. Kristina Allard used some pretty skating to get in on net. Mari Pietersen made the initial stop, but McDermid put away the rebound to win the game
Maine at (6) Connecticut
UConn took control of this game early and did not look back. They scored twice in each period to cruise to a 6-1 win. Claire Murdoch led the Huskies with a goal and three assists. Christina Walker, Kyla Josifovich, Livvy Dewar, Julia Pellerin and Megan Woodworth all lit the lamp. Isabelle Michaud scored a late power play goal for Maine to spoil the shutout, but Connecticut took the win and advanced to the Hockey East semifinals.
Brown at (7) Quinnipiac
Kahlen Lamarche continued her dream season by scoring the only goal in the first on Friday. The Bobcats doubled their lead 39 seconds into the second on a great rush through traffic by Ella Johnson, who found Taylor Brueske at the back post to make it 2-0. Jade Iginla put Brown on the board midway through the second, but Quinnipiac responded immediately as Avery Bairos scored just 21 seconds later to make it 3-1. Margot Norehad’s power play goal in the final minute of the second made it 3-2. Peyton Cormier one-upped Brueske by scoring 38 seconds into the third on a short-handed goal to make it 4-2 QU. Emerson Jarvis went coast to coast to make it 5-2. Brown pulled the goalie early and that allowed LaMarche to score an empty-netter. Norehad pulled one back late, but Quinnipiac took the 6-3 win. In the second game, Brown goalie Anya Zupkofska posted a career-high 49 saves to help push the Bears to a 3-2 overtime win. Jade Iginla’s top-shelf snipe late in the first gave Brown the 1-0 lead. LaMarche scored midway through the second to tie the game 1-1. Norehad scored on a breakaway later in the second to give Brown a 2-1 lead. LaMarche scored her fourth on the weekend on the power play in the third to tie the game and force overtime. In the extra frame, Norehad scored from the slot to give Brown the win and force a third game. In the third game, LaMarche once again took over, scoring a hat trick for a total of seven goals this weekend. Quinnipiac looked to have control of this game, taking a 5-2 lead at the midpoint of third. Jarvis scored 32 seconds into the game and Zoe Uens doubled the lead. Monique Lyons’ power play goal midway through the first cut the lead to 2-1. LaMarche’s short-handed goal midway through the second made it 3-1 Quinnipiac. Sam Broz cut the lead again, making it a 3-2 game. LaMarche pushed the lead to 4-2 in the second and 5-2 in the third. But Brown didn’t go down without a fight. Iginla scored on the power play a few minutes after LaMarche’s third goal to make it 5-3. India McDadi scored with the extra attacker to make it a one-goal game with just under four to play, but Quinnipiac closed down on defense and escaped with the 5-4 win to make the ECAC semifinals.
Union at (8) Yale
This series started off with a goal from Carina DiAntonio on a penalty shot that gave Yale a 1-0 lead after the first. Megan Duplantie scored on a deflection to tie the game 1-1 for Union. Gracie Gilkyson got a lucky bounce of her own as her shot deflected into the net to make it 2-1 Bulldogs heading into the third. Union came back one more time as Emma Fulawka tied the game for the Garnet Chargers. A major penalty on Union gave Yale a long power play and Stephanie Stainton took advantage, scoring the eventual game-winner with a slap shot. DiAntonio closed things out, picking up a loose puck after a Yale block and scoring an insurance goal to make it a 4-2 win for the Bulldogs. The Elis put Saturday’s game away early, scoring four goals in 10 minutes of the first period to put it out of reach. Stainton, Kennedy Walker, Molly Boyle and DiAntonio made it a 4-0 game with seven minutes left in the first. Boyle had a power play goal in the second to push it to 5-0. Reanna Loberg’s power play goal at the end of the second broke up the shutout, but it was all Union could muster. Jordan Ray’s empty-netter secured the 6-1 win and sweep for Yale, who advance to the ECAC semifinals.
(14) Minnesota State at (9) Minnesota Duluth
In the first game, UMD outshot Mankato 45-23 as Madi Burr scored on an odd-player rush in the second and Molly Cole scored from an odd angle in the third. Ève Gascon had her 10th shutout of the season as Minnesota Duluth took the 2-0 win. On Saturday, Whitney Tuttle was the offensive hero for MSU while Hailey Hansen made a season-high 55 saves to help the Mavericks to a 2-1 win in double overtime. Tuttle scored in the opening minutes of the game off a strong forecheck by Minnesota State that did not let UMD cleanly out of the zone. A few different Mavericks held up the puck until Tuttle came through and sniped a goal to make it 1-0. Thea Johansson tied the game for UMD in the second. Then the teams played 50 or so minutes of scoreless hockey until Tuttle scored on a wrap around with four minutes left in the second overtime to give the Mavericks a 2-1 win and force game three. Her goals in this game were just Tuttle’s fourth and fifth of the season. Sunday’s game was about fortunate – or unfortunate – bounces as first Kianna Roeske scored for MSU minutes into the game on a puck that went through traffic and into the net. Then Johansson tied things up as her shot found the back of the net after deflecting off the skate of an MSU defender. Ava Guillemette cleaned up a rebound midway through the second to give Mankato the 2-1 lead and then their defense and goaltending took care of the rest. Hansen was out of this world for the Mavericks, 140 of the 144 shots she faced in this three game series. Minnesota State survived to take the 2-1 win and advanced to their first WCHA Final Faceoff since 2009.
Harvard at (10) Princeton
In the first game of the series, Issy Wunder scored 2:14 into the game and that would turn out to be the only goal of the game as Princeton took a 1-0 win. Ainsley Tuffy made 39 saves for the Crimson as Princeton outshot Harvard 66-48 overall and 40-27 on goal. In the second game, Tuffy once again was spectacular for Harvard, making 41 saves as her team was outshot 42-20. But the Crimson were opportunistic, scoring three goals in under six minutes in the second period. Morgan McGathey, Carla McSweeney and Angelica Megdanis each found the back of the net to put the Crimson up 3-0. Wunder pulled one back early in the third, but Princeton could not break through and Harvard forced a game three with a 3-1 win. On Sunday, it seemed as though Princeton would not be denied. Riley Sorokan and Katherine Khramtsov scored towards the end of the first to make it a 2-0 game. Mackenzie Alexander and Ellie Dimatos scored 50 seconds apart to make it a 4-0 game. Emi Biotti got Harvard on the board to make it 4-1, but Brooklyn Nimegeers responded and then Princeton shut things down in the third to earn the win and advance to the ECAC semifinals.
(13) Colgate at (11) Cornell
Goals from Georgia Schiff and Delaney Fleming had Cornell up 2-0 six minutes into the second in game one. But Colgate pushed back in the third thanks to the efforts of Alexis Petford, who scored on the power play early in the frame and then again with 2:03 left in regulation to tie the game and force overtime. In the extra frame, Avi Adam picked up a puck with her back to the goal and turned with a snipe to win the game for the Big Red. In the second game, Annelies Bergmann made 30 saves as Rose Dwyer, Avi Adam and Georgia Schiff each lit the lamp for the Big Red. Elyssa Biederman’s power play goal was the only tally for the Raiders in the loss. Schiff’s steal and breakaway as Colgate pulled the goalie to try and equalized iced the game for Cornell and sent them to the ECAC semifinals.