MINNEAPOLIS<\/b> — Minnesota continued its dominance over Wisconsin Friday evening, winning their national semifinal 3-1 before a packed house on home ice at Ridder Arena.<\/p>\n
The Badgers have been unable to beat the Gophers in the past 16 meetings.<\/p>\n
The win earns the Gophers a berth to the national championship game, their fourth trip in four years, on Sunday.<\/p>\n
After the teams spent the first few minutes feeling each other out, Wisconsin took control, peppering Minnesota goalie Amanda Leveille and pushing out to an 8-1 lead in shots on goal. They were unable to take advantage of a slow start by the Gophers and by midway through the period, Minnesota settled in and found its footing.<\/p>\n
The Badgers took the lead early in the second period when Emily Clark won a faceoff and centered a puck for NCAA Rookie of the Year Annie Pankowski. With less than a minute gone in the period, Pankowski one-timed it and beat Leveille to put the Badgers up 1-0.<\/p>\n
Clark dominated faceoffs through the first period and a half. She won the first eight straight against Minnesota’s Kelly Pannek. From there, Minnesota coach Brad Frost adjusted his lines, putting his No. 1 against Wisconsin’s No. 2 when there was a draw in the Gophers’ defensive end.<\/p>\n
“[We had a slow start because] we had some matchups that we wanted, line-wise, early on and they weren’t working,” Frost said. “Starting in the second period, once we put Hannah [Brandt]’s line on the Clark-Pankowski line, the tide turned a little bit.”<\/p>\n
Wisconsin used the momentum from their goal to force some long shifts from Minnesota. The Gophers played their first line extensively against both of the Badgers’ top lines for most of the first two periods.<\/p>\n
The tide changed as Minnesota began to put more pressure on Wisconsin, working the puck into the zone. The three Gopher goals came within 8:01 of each other, effectively ending any chance Wisconsin had to comeback.<\/p>\n
Prior to Friday’s contest, the Badgers had been 24-1-2 when scoring the first goal.<\/p>\n
Two straight odd-man rushes resulted in Minnesota getting multiple chances in front of the net. The Gophers capitalized the second time when Brandt slipped one past Wisconsin goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens. Dani Cameranesi and Maryanne Menafree assisted the goal and it was Cameranesi’s 100th point wearing the maroon and gold.<\/p>\n