Minnesota has needed scoring from a variety of sources to be successful this season. On Saturday versus the Huskies, an Allie Sanchez game winner at 17:38 of the third period provided the variety in a 4-2 win.
More often than not, the Gophers (22-9-1, 17-8-1 WCHA) have also needed some punch from Erica McKenzie. The sophomore wing did her part, completing her hat trick moments later with an empty net goal, in addition to an assist on the Sanchez goal.
“We were in a battle tonight,” said coach Laura Halldorson. “It’s great to pull out a win late in the game, with a senior scoring the winning goal on the power play. It’s just nice to come away with four points against a very good team.”
After trading goals in each of the first two periods, the two teams stayed deadlocked until Minnesota went on the power play with four minutes remaining. St. Cloud State (15-16-1, 12-13-1 WCHA) appeared to have made a critical clear as the penalty wound down, but the Gophers’ Anya Miller sped along the blue line to keep the puck in the zone. That play ultimately led to the game-winner.
“Anya hustled over there – it was awesome,” said Sanchez. “I think Mac picked it up, and she just dished it off to me. The killers were picking up the people on the back door, so I had an open shot. I didn’t pick a corner or anything, just took the shot, and it went five hole.”
“That was kind of a bad penalty that we took to put us down a man, and they capitalized on it,” said St. Cloud coach Jason Lesteberg. “It was very frustrating — we were that close.”
The late goal and empty-net insurance foiled another strong performance by SCSU goalie Lauri St. Jacques, who stopped 40 of the 43 shots she faced.
“We rotated early in the year, and we’ve been waiting for one of [our goalies] to step up,” Lesteberg said. “Each one of them had games where they played well or didn’t play very well. St. Jacques has just stepped up the last so many games and has been playing really well.”
Denelle Maguet got the visitors off to a flying start with a goal off of a Kristy Oonincx steal just 12 seconds after the opening whistle. Minnesota goalie Kim Hanlon got a piece of Maguet’s shot, but not enough to keep it out of the net.
“They came ready to play, and obviously, we didn’t the first shift out,” McKenzie said.
“It was a great start,” Oonincx said. “We read the play, she was going D-to-D, and Maguet was open in front of the net. It was just a little flip pass, and Maguet put it home. It was nice to get that goal, the first goal, but it didn’t really help in the end.”
St. Cloud also scored in the opening minute of the second period, when Ashley Stewart slid in the rebound of a Brittni Kuyper drive on the power play for a 2-1 lead.
After both St. Cloud goals, McKenzie answered back just over five minutes later. First she made it 1-1, poking in the puck after St. Jacques made a sparkling save with her toe to deny Gigi Marvin.
“I chipped it off the boards and beat the D wide,” McKenzie said. “It was actually a 2-on-2, and Gigi burned the other D, and I slid it across to her. She made a nice deke, and the goalie made a huge save. The puck was there, and I just poked it in, so I feel like Gigi did all of the work.”
In the second period, Minnesota’s leading scorer took a pass from Sanchez, went in alone on St. Jacques, and beat her high to the blocker side.
“Sani made a great play,” said McKenzie. “I think she had like two or three St. Cloud players around her, and she poked it up. Yesterday, I was on an open break and lost the puck or stumbled with it when I tried to deke. Today, I saw the left side open, so I shot there, and hit the back of the net.”
While McKenzie and Sanchez had the big goals, their success would not have been possible without other less heralded efforts — like Miller preventing the clear prior to the game-winner.
“We know that we have a lot of different players that can step up,” Halldorson said. “Today, Erica McKenzie with a hat trick, and Allie with the winning goal — it’s great to see them get the job done for us. But a lot of other people contributed, even if they might not have scored goals. We know that we need everybody in order to be successful.”
The Huskies have secured at least a split in every series they have played starting in December — except for the two home-and-home series with Minnesota. The Gophers have proven to be St. Cloud’s biggest nemesis over the years, leading the all time series 29-1.
“One of the things that they have — all of the other teams in the league are fast, but I think Minnesota’s got a step,” Lesteberg said. “They’ve got more kids that can move at a higher pace, and they just kind of took away our time and space.”
The Huskies can still secure a top-four seed and open the WCHA tournament at home by winning next weekend in Bemidji.
“It’s definitely one of our goals,” Lesteberg said. “Coming into the year, our initial goal is to get in the top four and get home ice advantage for the playoffs. We still control our destiny.”
“We don’t have to change much,” Oonincx said. “We’re working hard, and that’s all we can ask right now. So hopefully, things start going our way next weekend.”
By cooling off one of the nation’s hotter teams, Minnesota stays on a roll of its own, having won nine of 12. Players like Sanchez have quietly been instrumental.
“I’m more of a defensive defenseman,” Sanchez said. “That doesn’t get noticed all of the time, but our team’s good about recognizing the little things. Everybody has a role on the team, and everybody’s a little bit different. I just try to play to my strengths and go with that.”
The Gophers look to finish the regular season strong next weekend when they host North Dakota.
Halldorson said, “I think that shows that we are mentally pretty strong right now, to be able to come back from a deficit, late in the game especially, pulling out a win. That bodes well for us as we head into postseason here.”
