(1) Wisconsin at Bemidji State<\/b><\/p>\n
The Badgers skated off with a pair of 6-1 victories to close out the regular season in Bemidji. The two teams will meet again next week – this time in Madison – in the opening round of the WCHA Tournament. On Friday, KK Harvey broke the school record for most points in a single season by a defender when she hit 50 by scoring the first goal of the game, cleaning up her own rebound to have UW up 1-0 at the first break. Bemidji State tied the game early in the second thanks to a power play goal from Genevieve Hendrickson. Wisconsin took the lead back as the period wound down when Cassie Hall put back a rebound from a Lacey Eden shot to make it 2-1. Less than two minutes later, Casey O\u2019Briend scored on a breakaway and pass from Kirsten Simms to make it 3-1 at the second intermission. Laila Edwards, O\u2019Brien and Finley McCarthy each lit the lamp in the third to secure the Badgers the 6-1 lead. In the second game, the Beavers struck first as Raeley Carney scored unassisted and BSU would take that 1-0 lead into the locker rooms. But Bemidji got into penalty trouble in the second and the top-ranked Wisconsin power play took advantage. UW scored four times in the second, three of which came on the power play. Simms bookended the period, scoring power play goals to open and close the Badger scoring in the frame. In the middle, Eden added an extra-attacker goal and Edwards scored at even strength and the Badgers quickly had a 4-1 lead. Simms completed her second career hat trick in the first minute of the third, cleaning up a loose puck and playing to the whistle to make it 5-1. Hannah Halverson scored two minutes later to close out the 6-1 win and weekend sweep. Bemidji State made 35 blocks in the two games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (11) St. Cloud State at (2) Ohio State<\/b><\/p>\n Ohio State pulled out to a 3-0 lead on Friday as Makenna Webster scored in the opening minutes and Joy Dunne struck on the power play to make it 2-0 after one. Joceyln Amos scored three minutes into the second to make it 3-0. But St. Cloud State came rushing back. Alice Sauriol scored late in the second to cut into the lead and make it 3-1. Then Laura Zimmerman scored on the power play and Emma Gentry lit the lamp to tie the game before the midpoint of the third. Amos struck on the power play to regain the lead for OSU and then hit an empty-netter to complete a hat trick and close out the 5-3 win for Ohio State. On Saturday, Dunne took the puck coast to coast midway through the first to make it 1-0 and Riley Brengman scored short-handed in the second to give the Buckeyes the 2-0 lead. But once again, St. Cloud State pushed back. Gentry scored on the power play late in the second and then Abby Promersberger scored with fewer than five minutes left in regulation to tie the game 2-2. But the #2 team in the country dug deep and Webster quickly responded, putting OSU ahead and killing any momentum for SCSU. The Buckeyes skated off with the 3-2 win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (6) Minnesota Duluth at (3) Minnesota\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n On Friday, the teams traded goals and momentum. Emma Kreisz scored late in the first for the Gophers, but UMD quickly responded as Olivia Wallin tied the game before intermission. Ella Huber and Nat\u00e1lie Ml\u00fdnkov\u00e1 scored in the second to put Minnesota up 3-1. Wallin scored again in the third to cut the lead to 3-2, but Minnesota Duluth could not find an equalizer and the Gophers skated off with a 3-2 win. With the win, Hannah Clark became the first Gopher goaltender to reach the 20-win mark as a freshman \u00c8ve Gascon made 48 saves as Minnesota peppered the net, but it was one flukey play that made the difference on Saturday. Midway through the third period, Abbey Murphy ripped a shot that deflected off the back glass and back over the top of the net. It looked as though Gascon had gloved the puck and saved the goal, but upon review, it was shown the puck crossed the line midair and the Gophers were awarded the goal. That proved to be all they\u2019d need to take the game and weekend sweep.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Harvard at (10) Quinnipiac<\/b><\/p>\n Maya Labad and Makayla Watson each scored in the first and then the Bobcat defense stepped up as Kayle Doyle earned her eighth shutout with 26 saves and Quinnipiac took the 2-0 win. They will head to Clarkson for the second round of the ECAC Tournament.<\/span> Connecticut vs. (12) Boston University<\/b><\/p>\n Credit where it\u2019s due – UConn had put themselves in a difficult position heading into the final weekend after losing three of five games in February. They had to sweep BU, winning both games in regulation, to win their second-straight Hockey East regular season titles. If the Terriers earned a single point on the weekend, the title was theirs. And UConn delivered, winning 4-1 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday to deny Boston University and earn their second-ever conference championship. With a strong BU defense taking out some of UConn\u2019s bigger threats, younger players really stepped up. Freshman Sadie Hotles had just one goal all season heading into Friday\u2019s game, but her first-period goal have UConn the 1-0 lead at the first intermission and she doubled the lead early in the second, scoring her second and third goals of her career. Martha Mobarak scored her second goal of the season at the midpoint to make it 3-0. In the final minutes of the second, Jada Habisch scored her seventh goal in the last seven games to push the lead to 4-0. Lindsay Bochna\u2019s power play goal ruined the shutout and got BU on the board, but they could not muster more offense and Connecticut skated off with a 4-1 win. On Saturday, defender Ava Rinker scored her second and third goals of the season to lead the Huskies. Rinker\u2019s first period goal had UConn up 1-0. Luisa Welcke scored late in the second to tie the game 1-1. Rinker struck again early in the third to make it 2-1. Because BU just needed the game to go to overtime, they pulled their goalie with more than four minutes to play, but UConn pressured hard and Habisch\u2019s empty-netter secured the 3-1 win, weekend sweep and conference title.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n RPI at (13) Princeton<\/b><\/p>\n The Engineers defeated the Tigers in the final week of the regular season, but Princeton overcame an early deficit to end RPI\u2019s season and advance in the ECAC tournament. Aylah <\/span> Cioffi\u2019s shot went just under the crossbar on the power play to give Rensselaer a 1-0 lead and it looked like they\u2019d carry that into the first intermission, but Mackenzie Alexander tied things up with 15.3 seconds left in the frame on a spin-o-rama in the slot to make it 1-1 at the break. Late in the second, Emerson O\u2019Leary\u2019s pick off sent Alexander and Izzy Wunder in on a 2-on-1 that Wunder capitalized on to make it 2-1. RPI pushed back in the third and was successful at tying the game midway through when Sophie Helgeson\u2019s wrister off the faceoff hit the top corner to make it 2-2. The tie lasted just 90 seconds as Rosie Klein\u2019s power play goal gave Princeton the 3-2 lead and they were able to hold on over the final few minutes to earn the win. The Tigers will head to Colgate for the next round of the ECAC tournament.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (14) Northeastern at Vermont<\/b><\/p>\n Northeastern led in shots 5-4 after the first on Friday, but neither team could find an advantage. That changed early in the second as Maddy Skelton crashed the net following Lara Beecher\u2019s breakaway. The loose puck deflected off her skate and into the net :21 into the second to put Vermont up 1-0. Thirty-seven seconds after that, Ashley Kokavec settled a loose puck and let go of a wrister to give UWM a 2-0 lead. Evelyne Blais-Savoie extended the lead, dangling through the slot just after a power play expired to give Vermont a 3-0 lead four minutes into the second. But as Northeastern is wont to do, they came out firing in the third. Lily Brazis and Skylar Irving each found the back of the net in the opening minutes of the third to cut the lead to 3-2. Jane Gervais made 20 of her 25 saves over the course of the second and third periods and nabbed a puck destined to tie the game with just eight seconds left in regulation to hold off the Huskies and earn Vermont the win. Sophomore goalie Mattie Robitzer earned her first career win on Saturday, making 18 saves to lead the Huskies to a 3-1 victory. After a scoreless first frame, Natalie Zarcone capitalized on the power play in the opening minutes of the second to give the Catamounts a 1-0 lead. That held into the third, but Northeastern found another gear at intermission and came out firing. It paid off in two goals over 37 seconds as Lily Shannon and Taze Thompson each lit the lamp. Irving\u2019s late empty-netter secured the 3-1 win and weekend split for the Huskies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n New Hampshire vs. (15) Boston College<\/b><\/p>\n After a scoreless first on Friday, Keri Clougherty caused a UNH turnover, getting the puck to Sammy Taber, who fed Julia Pellerin to put BC up 1-0 midway through the second. Early in the third, Alanna Devlin cleaned up the rebound of a Gabby Roy shot to put the Eagles up 2-0. Boston College\u2019s defense served up 19 blocks and Grace Campbell made 28 saves to earn the win and shutout. In the second game, Charlie Rauch scored late in the first and UNH carried that 1-0 lead into the third frame. Six minutes in, Katie Ham equalized and neither team could find the go-ahead goal, even through overtime. Gabby Roy\u2019s goal secured the shootout for BC, who earned home ice for the Hockey East tournament with the two points. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (1) Wisconsin at Bemidji State The Badgers skated off with a pair of 6-1 victories to close out the regular season in Bemidji. The two teams will meet again next week – this time in Madison – in the opening round of the WCHA Tournament. On Friday, KK Harvey broke the school record for most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":151492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[949],"tags":[819],"coauthors":[823],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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