Nobody knew why Minnesota defenseman Ashley Albrecht was floating along her blue line in the final two minutes of overtime while the puck was deep in her team’s defensive zone — not her coach, her teammates, her opponents, or even Albrecht herself.
But though she received some good-natured ribbing about cherry picking, the Gopher team was happy with the result. Bobbi Ross gained control of the puck, hit Albrecht in stride, and sent her in alone on Maverick goaltender Britni Kehler. The Minnesota senior made a move to her forehand and lifted the puck over Kehler’s pad and into the net.
“I never get in this situation, so I was really nervous,” Albrecht said of her winning rush. “I didn’t think I scored, but then I did.”
Kehler nearly added another save to the 34 she made on the night.
She said, “On Albrecht’s goal, I thought I got across, but she went low to my blocker.”
Minnesota (18-8-1, 13-7-1 WCHA) enjoyed winning in sudden death for a change, after twice suffering OT defeats to Ohio State this season, including one last Saturday.
“That was huge for us, for our confidence,” Albrecht said. “We really needed this win.”
For Minnesota State University, Mankato (11-13-3, 8-11-2 WCHA), the ending foiled a third-period comeback.
“This season we’ve had trouble coming back when we’ve gotten down, so it was good to battle back and get that goal,” Kehler said. “Going into over time, I figured that even if we couldn’t get the win, at least get the tie and get one point out of it, but tonight it didn’t work out for us.”
Maverick coach Jeff Vizenor liked his team’s aggressive approach in the extra session.
“Our team is pretty disappointed,” he said. “It’s a tough loss for us, but we lost going for it. We had an attack, we had a D jump in the play, we were looking to make something happen on an offensive rush. We had a turnover, and somehow their D gets loose.”
Goaltending dominated for much of the contest, with Kehler and Kim Hanlon posting save after save.
In the final minute of the second period with the teams skating 4-on-4, Erica McKenzie broke a scoreless tie by scoring her team-leading 18th goal and ending a personal goal-scoring drought that hand lasted for two series. Jenelle Philipczyk hit a streaking McKenzie at the MSU blue line, with nobody between her and Kehler.
“She got her head up, I was screaming, and she made a great pass,” McKenzie said. “I kind of looked for one spot I usually go to, and it was closed, so I made a deke to my forehand and it went in – I was pretty pumped.”
For half of the third period, it appeared that the 1-0 lead would stand. But with one player from each team again in the penalty box, junior center Shera Vis tipped Jen Jonsson’s shot past Hanlon to even the score. Kristina Bunker also earned an assist.
“We need to get our shots through from the point,” Vizenor said. “The one we did score, Shera tipped it from the middle of the slot, because the D gets it through.”
For the third straight game against Minnesota this season, Kehler held the Gophers to one goal over the first 60 minutes.
“She’s not real big, but she moves very well,” Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson said of the Minnesota State net minder. “We’ve struggled to score on her, really all year.
“They do a nice job in front of her too. You really have to work hard to get to the net, and then you have to beat their goalie.”
That the Gophers were able to emerge with two WCHA points despite Kehler’s play was due in no small part to the steady performance they have come to expect from freshman Hanlon, who stopped 21 shots in improving to 7-2 on the season.
Most notable of those came when she stopped MSU’s leading scorer Maggie Fisher on a third period breakaway.
“I thought Kim made some big saves at different points in the game,” Halldorson said.
Hanlon’s play has been one bright spot in Minnesota’s season. Quietly, she has made her mark on the national statistics. Her 1.04 goals against average matches that of leader Meaghan Guckian of St. Lawrence, while Hanlon’s .948 save percentage is tops in the country.
She approached the defensive-minded Mavericks like any other opponent.
“Nothing different – just try to stay mentally ready,” Hanlon said. “It doesn’t matter who we play.”
As the season advances, the importance of every game becomes magnified. That made the two points earned by the Gophers extra sweet.
“We came out last weekend and had a rough overtime,” Hanlon said. “You could just feel it – we came out [tonight], and I thought, ‘We are not going to lose.'”
Saturday’s rematch will be contested on the Olympic-sized ice sheet of Mariucci Arena. Vizenor doesn’t anticipate making major adjustments.
“In Mariucci, people that are on the wall aren’t very dangerous from there – they are an area code away,” he said. “Keep them to the outside and do our best to clog things up as much as we can.”
The Gophers will need to finish their chances to improve their production versus Kehler.
Halldorson said, “We were going to the net hard, and hopefully, tomorrow some of those will go in.”
