Gophers women’s hockey team wins WCHA opener by beating St. Cloud State

Josefin Bouveng and Sarah Paul each had goal and an assist and Abbey Murphy scored the tiebreaking goal as the No. 3 Gophers women’s hockey team opened WCHA play with a 4-1 victory over No. 10 St. Cloud State on Friday at Ridder Arena.

“Really good win tonight,” Gophers coach Brad Frost told reporters. “St. Cloud’s a very tough team. They just play the right way. They’re very detailed. Very structured and they make you work for everything.”

After a scoreless first period, the Gophers (5-0, 1-0 WCHA) scored three times in the second period to take control.

Bouveng opened the scoring 70 seconds into the period with assists from Paul and Gracie Graham. Maria Mikaelyan scored for the Huskies (3-2, 0-1) with 7:01 left in the period to tie the score.

But Murphy and Paul scored 41 seconds apart, giving the Gophers a 3-1 lead with 4:17 left in the period.

Murphy’s goal was her 10th of the season and 113th of her career. She is now third on the Gophers’ career goals scored list — only Hannah Brandt (115) and Nadine Muzerall (139) have scored more. Murphy is eighth on the Gophers’ career scoring list with 211 career points.

The Gophers’ Tereza Plosova added an empty-netter with 76 seconds remaining.

The Gophers have given up only four goals all season. Asked what he attributed that to, Frost said: “Goaltending, but defensively we’re playing pretty well. We still have some areas we need to get better at, but overall when we’re giving up zero or one goals, we like our chances. A good defensive effort tonight.”