Nicole Guimond and Laura Stypulkowski had a goal and assist apiece, as Gustavus Adolphus clinched the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship with a 3-0 win over Augsburg Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.
The Gusties won the MIAC title for the second year in a row and third time in the four years the MIAC has sponsored a women’s hockey championship. The Gusties have already clinched the top seed in the MIAC postseason playoffs, which begin next week. Gustavus is now 19-3-2 overall and 16-0-1 in the MIAC. The Gusties have won 18 games or more in each of the last four seasons.
Augsburg drops to 9-12-2 overall and 8-7-1 in the MIAC. Despite the loss, the Auggies remain in contention for the final spot in the MIAC’s five-team postseason playoffs. Augsburg has to claim either a tie or victory in Saturday’s regular-season finale at Gustavus in order to vault past St. Benedict and into the fifth spot in the MIAC standings. Augsburg holds the tiebreaker advantage against St. Benedict based on goal differential in the teams’ earlier series.
Katie Deschenau had two assists for the Gusties, and Anne Kautzer made 15 saves to notch her fourth shutout victory in goal this season.
Gustavus controlled the flow of the game from start to finish, outshooting Augsburg by a 52-15 margin — including an 18-1 edge in the final period. Augsburg could not score on six power-play attempts, while the Gusties were 1-for-3 on the player advantage.
Guimond and Stypulkowski scored goals for the Gusties in the first period, and Ann Katz added a power-play goal early in the second period for all the scoring the Gusties would need in the game.
Katie Fedoryk made 49 saves for the Auggies, the 10th time she has had to made 30 saves or more in her 23 game appearances this season.
