Saturday was Brooklyn Park Community Day at Ridder Arena. In honor of the event, Krissy Wendell, the city’s most famous hockey-playing daughter, treated the 1,781 in attendance to quite a show.
Wendell scored a pure hat trick in Minnesota’s 7-0 win over North Dakota (7-19-3, 4-18-1 WCHA). Kelly Stephens netted two goals, and Natalie Darwitz added another, as the line piled up a dozen points.
“I’m not surprised by anything that they can do,” said the trio’s coach, Laura Halldorson. “I’ve seen a lot of great things from them, whether it be practice or a game. I do enjoy watching some of the plays, because there were a couple tonight–just things of beauty. You just have to admire the skill and teamwork they have.”
Stephens gave the Gophers (26-1-2, 21-0-2 WCHA) all the offense they would need when she stole the puck on the power play and scored unassisted at 9:43 of the first period. Her determined play ensured her team would get off on the right foot.
“I think one of our team goals is basically to focus on ourselves this weekend and play our game, because of our performance in St. Cloud,” she said. “As starters of the game, we want to go out and try and set a tone. We just want our three lines going hard and setting tones consistently as we go out shift after shift.”
Andrea Nichols knocked in the Gophers’ final goal–the only goal that did not involve the top line.
“I think the whole team turned it up,” Wendell said. “We had a tough weekend last weekend. Mentally, I don’t think we were all in it. We had a good week of practice, and I think everybody came out here pretty prepared.”
Still, the Gophers remain unsatisfied with their accomplishments to date.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Wendell said. “We didn’t play [in the defensive zone] a whole lot, so it’s hard to really pick it apart, but I thought overall we played well in front of the goal.”
Senior Brenda Reinen made 15 saves, and she has yet to allow a goal this season in three appearances at her home rink.
For the Fighting Sioux, the game marked another step along the gauntlet that is their first season playing a WCHA schedule. This series completes a stretch where North Dakota played three straight weekends at less than full strength against top four teams. The absences include the team’s leading goal scorer Cami Wooster.
“We’re short right now,” said UND coach Shantel Rivard. “[Cami Wooster] is out of the lineup. We have another D out of the lineup. So we were only playing with four D. It gets pretty tiring when you’re going every other shift against that high level of competition.”
To their credit, the Sioux competed hard throughout.
“The effort was definitely there,” Rivard said. “They were out there battling. They weren’t giving up.”
Goaltender Amber Hasbargen stopped 38 shots in the losing effort.
North Dakota, with seven Minnesota natives on the roster, hopes to improve in Sunday’s contest.
“We usually come out more relaxed the second day,” Rivard said. “They have all this energy, like anxious energy, when you come play a big team like this. Usually they settle down in the second game.”
The Gophers’ energy is slowly building.
Stephens said, “We’re going to keep working, and take it game by game, and keep chipping away.”
