Gophers women's hockey rolls to 5-1 victory over Minnesota Duluth in WCHA Final Faceoff

After playing eight consecutive games against teams in the bottom half of the conference standings, the Gophers women's hockey team was eager to test itself against some stiffer competition in the WCHA Final Faceoff.

Consider that first test aced after top-ranked Minnesota rolled to a 5-1 victory over No. 8 Minnesota Duluth in the first semifinal on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena.

Catie Skaja, Abigail Boreen and Emily Brown each had a goal and an assist, Crystalyn Hengler and national scoring leader Taylor Heise also scored, and Lauren Bench made 21 saves for the Gophers (29-7-1). Minnesota, seeking its eighth WCHA tournament championship, will play No. 2 Ohio State, a 2-1 winner over No. 3 Wisconsin, in Sunday's 1 p.m. title game.

"It was a pretty thorough performance," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "When you get into the playoffs, you have to play 60 minutes of hockey. Our team did a great job with that."

The Gophers outscored their previous eight opponents by a combined 45-9 and kept up their dominant ways by outshooting the Bulldogs 39-22.

"When we are at our best, we have a really relentless forecheck," Frost said. "I think you saw that."

The Bulldogs' top line of Anna Klein, Gabbie Hughes and Elizabeth Giguere combined for 57 goals entering the game. Giguere scored the lone UMD goal but not until the Gophers led 4-0 in the third.

The Gophers struck quickly Saturday, with Skaja's shot trickling through the pads of Bulldogs goalie Jojo Chobak 51 seconds into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Boreen and Emily Brown assisted on the goal, and Heise's presence helped make the play.

"That all came from Heise picking for me. She took three of their girls, and I was just able to walk the seam," Skaja said. "We've always harped on, 'Shot, shot, shot.' I shot it, and it went in."

The Gophers bumped their lead to 2-0 with 12 seconds left in the first with some good fortune. Defenseman Crystalyn Hengler fired a shot from the blue line that hit the shaft of Bulldogs defenseman Taylor Stewart's stick, caromed straight down and bounced past Chobak.

"We had a pretty good stretch in the first, and they got that one at the end," Minnesota Duluth coach Maura Crowell said. "A lot of their goals came at opportune times for them."

Minnesota stretched its lead to 3-0 at 3:18 of the second period when Madeline Wethington won a puck battle and fed an open Boreen, for a one-timer from the slot.

Only 14 seconds into the third, Heise blasted a slapshot past Chobak for a 4-0 lead and her 29th goal of the season.

"Fast starts from the drop of the puck are huge for us,'' Skaja said. "We haven't really had that the last few games."

Ohio State 2, Wisconsin 1: Amanda Thiele made 33 saves and Liz Schepers of Mound and Gabby Rosenthal of Blaine scored second-period goals as the Buckeyes (28-6) beat the two-time defending national champion Badgers (25-7-4) to advance to the final.

The Buckeyes are on a six-game winning streak during which they have given up only four goals. Ohio State swept Minnesota at Ridder Arena 4-2 and 4-1 in the season-opening series in early October, and the teams split two games in Columbus in January with the Gophers losing 2-1 in overtime and winning the second game 5-3.