Junior forward Hannah Brandt made sure the Gophers women's hockey team started fast in the WCHA playoffs.

She scored her 28th and 29th goals of the season in the first six minutes — and then completed her hat trick with her 30th goal late in the second period.

No. 2-ranked Minnesota ultimately won 10-0 on Friday night over Minnesota State Mankato in the opener of a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Ridder Arena.

By the end of the opening period, it was 4-0 Gophers. Maryanne Menefee scored at 8:33 to make it 3-0, and Kate Schipper got the fourth goal with 10 seconds left.

The Gophers, now 30-2-4 overall, won the regular-season conference title while the Mavericks (3-31-1) were at the bottom of the standings, so this was a matchup of the first and eighth seeds, not expected to be too close.

And it wasn't.

The Gophers had outscored the Mavericks 23-5 in going 4-0 against them during the regular season. This game followed the same pattern.

Ahead 5-0 after two periods, the Gophers scored five more times in the third. Dani Cameranesi and Sydney Baldwin each had two goals. Cameranesi also had four assists for a six-point night.

Brandt had nine shots on goals and four points total.

Erin Krichiver had 31 saves for the Mavericks. Amanda Leveille, who played two periods and had 15 saves, and Sidney Peters combined for the Gophers' shutout. Peters had six stops in the third.