Gophers women's hockey team plays host to rival Minnesota Duluth

The Gophers women's hockey team opened this season with only one victory in its first four games.

"We got off to a slow start," coach Brad Frost said, "with a new staff [two new assistant coaches] and seven freshmen."

Heading into this weekend's series at Ridder Arena against Minnesota Duluth, Frost said the Gophers are "right where we want to be. We're progressing real well."

Since beginning the season by losing twice at home against Ohio State and winning one of two games at Minnesota Duluth, the Gophers — ranked No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll — have gone 12-1-1 to improve to 13-4-1 overall and 8-3-1 in the WCHA.

Last weekend at No. 1 Wisconsin, the Gophers won the opener 3-2 before the teams played to a 2-2 overtime tie. The Gophers won the shootout to earn the extra point in the WCHA standings.

"That was a very fun weekend," Frost said. "We played really well. We got a goal [from Taylor Heise] right out of the gates on Friday, and we got a second one at the end of the first period [from Emily Oden] and that really propelled us."

Heise's goal, 27 seconds into the game, was her 14th of the season. A senior from Lake City, Minn., she is tied for second in Division I in goals scored and is fifth with 1.72 points per game — 14 goals and 17 assists in 18 games.

Minnesota Duluth, ranked No. 9, has won six of its past eight games. The Bulldogs (8-6 overall, 7-5-0 WCHA), split with No. 2 Ohio State last weekend in Duluth. The Bulldogs won 5-2 on Friday before the Buckeyes won 6-2 on Saturday.

The Bulldogs have a trio of seniors — Gabbie Hughes, Elizabeth Giguere and Anna Klein — who are among the scoring leaders in D-I.

Hughes, who played at Centennial High School, leads D-I with 1.93 points-per-game — nine goals and 18 assists in 14 games.

Giguere is fourth with 1.86 points-per-game (eight goals and 18 assists in 14 games).

Klein, from Edina, has 11 goals and 11 assists in 14 games and is second in D-I scoring with .79 goals per game.