MINNEAPOLIS — Dani Cameranesi recorded six points, including a pair of goals, and Hannah Brandt had a hat trick plus a helper as Minnesota opened the postseason by rocketing past Minnesota State 10-0.
Brandt scored on two of her first three shifts and completed her hat trick in the second period.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit with our starts,” Brandt said. “I think that was a big key tonight was getting on them right away.”
Gophers’ coach Brad Frost was happy that his edict was received.
“The message tonight was, ‘No more slow starts; we don’t have time for it,'” he said.
Brandt’s three goals combined likely didn’t travel more than six feet.
“I hope I certainly learned a lesson from that,” Brandt said. “It’s a good spot to be in. When people find you, it works out well usually.”
Cameranesi came into the game nine points shy of 100 points for her career at Minnesota (30-2-4).
“Obviously, we’re in playoffs now, so it’s more of a team thing, rather than individual,” Cameranesi said. “I wasn’t really focusing on that.”
Trailing 4-0 after 20 minutes, the Mavericks (3-31-1) were able to limit the damage to one goal against in the middle frame, but it eroded quickly in the final period.
Maryanne Menefee, the other wing on the Gophers’ top line, added a goal and four points. Nine Gophers had multiple points, including three-point games for rookies Cara Piazza and Sydney Baldwin, who posted her first multi-goal game.
“For a freshman to put the puck in the net, especially a defenseman, is big for her and her confidence down the stretch,” Frost said.
The WCHA quarterfinal series resumes with game two at 4:07 p.m. on Saturday.
“When you’re trying to end a team’s season, like we are this weekend with them, you’ve got to get on them right away and give them no hope, so that’s what we’ve been trying to do, and we’ve got to do that again tomorrow,” Brandt said.
