Olivia Knowles' goal at 3 minutes, 5 seconds of overtime gave the No. 2 Gophers women's hockey team a 4-3 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena on the first day of the inaugural Minnesota Cup.
The Gophers (18-2-1), who have an 11-game winning streak, will play St. Cloud State at 4 p.m. Sunday in the championship game.
Anna Klein put UMD ahead with the game's first goal at 53 seconds. Taylor Williamson of the Gophers tied the score at 11:44 of the first and gave them a 2-1 lead at 6:15 of the second.
The score was tied twice more in the third. Gabbie Hughes' power-play goal for UMD (6-9-2) at 25 seconds made it 2-2. Grace Zumwinkle answered for the Gophers at 8:50, but the Bulldogs tied it at 3-all on Sydney Brodt's goal at 14:55.
Alex Gulstene had 33 saves for the Gophers, Maddie Rooney 17 for UMD.
St. Cloud State 2, Minnesota State Mankato 2 (SCSU wins SO): Jenniina Nylund scored the only goal in a three-round shootout, advancing the Huskies (7-15-2) to the title game. Officially, the result will be a tie.
In regulation, Nylund put the Huskies ahead 1-0 with 2:50 left in the opening period. The Mavericks (8-7-4) took a 2-1 lead in the second on goals by Rebekah Kolstad and, with one second left, Corbin Boyd.
The Huskies, after pulling their goalie, got the tying goal from Abby Thiessen with 1:08 left in the third.
