A hat trick of power play goals by Minnesota-Duluth captain Caroline Ouellette was enough to complete a sweep of North Dakota with a 4-1 win.
The Fighting Sioux (7-18-3, 4-17-1 WCHA) carried most of the play in the second period and outshot the Bulldogs (22-2-2, 20-2-2 WCHA) 9-3 in the frame and 14-11 through two periods, but they had no goals to show for it, and the power play made all the difference.
Ouellette netted the game’s first goal at 17:27 when she won a rebound amidst a scrum in front of the net. Defenseman Julianne Vasichek’s initial shot was stopped by UND goalie Amber Hasbargen, but Ouellette made no mistake on the rebound.
At 19:42 Duluth struck again when Ouellette fed the puck to freshman Karine Demeule on the rush, and she tipped the puck past Hasbargen for a 2-0 lead. The goal was Demeule’s second in as many weeks since recently joining the team.
That score held until 7:09 of the third period, when Ouellette netted her second power-play goal of the game on a feed from Demeule. At 13:03 she completed the hat trick with her third power-play goal of the game. She finished the game with four points and eight for the weekend.
“We wanted to play hard, have quick shifts, and use everyone and I think we created a lot of chances,” Ouellette said.
Sioux goalie Amber Hasbargen turned in another strong performance with18 saves, nine of which were in the third period. The loss put her record to 4-11-1 for the season.
“That’s what we were looking for from our goaltending all year long,” UND coach Shantel Rivard said. “She was confident and solid back there and it helps the team to be confident in who’s back there between the pipes.”
“The North Dakota goalie was really good, especially in the third period,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “She denied us several times when we had great opportunities.”
Bulldog senior Patricia Elsmore (Sautter) made 20 saves at the other end for her second win in as many games since rejoining the team. Prior to last weekend, she last appeared in UMD’s third NCAA championship win in 2003.
The only goal for UND was scored by freshman Cara Wooster, her ninth of the year, on a backhander in front.
North Dakota next goes on the road to play No. 1 Minnesota, while Duluth travels to St Cloud to play the Huskies next weekend.
