The fourth-ranked Gophers women’s hockey team and eighth-ranked Minnesota Duluth skated to a 1-1 tie on Friday night at Ridder Arena.
Gophers women’s hockey skates to tie with Minnesota Duluth
The Gophers won a shootout to earn an extra point in the WCHA standings.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 24, 2024 at 4:00AM
After a scoreless overtime, the Gophers won the shootout to earn an extra point in the WCHA standings. Ella Huber started the shootout by scoring, and it was the only goal among the six skaters.
The Bulldogs (18-11-4, 15-10-2 WCHA) took a 1-0 lead in the first period on an unassisted goal by Mary Kate O’Brien.
The Gophers (24-7-2, 18-7-2) tied the score midway through the second period on a power-play goal by Abbey Murphy.
Skylar Vetter of the Gophers and Hailey MacLeod of the Bulldogs each had 26 saves.
“Really good game here tonight,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “It was a grind, kind of like playoff hockey. Fun to win in the shootout, Skylar was great. Fun to have Abbey Murphy score her 30th goal this season, which is pretty awesome. All in all, really happy with our effort and how our team competed here tonight.”
Going into the game, MacLeod, a sophomore, led the nation with .958 save percentage and was third in goals-against average (1.13).
Only Clarkson (with 13) and Colgate (with 12) have more shutouts than the Bulldogs’ 10.
The teams will conclude the series and close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Ridder. The Gophers are locked into third place in the conference, with Ohio State the regular-season champion, Wisconsin second and UMD fourth.
Niko Medved could be the next Gophers men’s basketball coach after making his third NCAA tournament in four seasons with Colorado State.
