Someday St. Cloud State will beat the Gophers women's hockey team at Ridder Arena for the first time. But not Thursday.
Senior forward Grace Zumwinkle scored two goals in the third period as the No. 2-ranked Gophers edged the Huskies 2-1 in the first game of a three-game series over four days.
It was the 15th consecutive victory for the Gophers (6-1 overall and WCHA) over St. Cloud State and improved their home record against the Huskies to 45-0-2. This was the 100th game in the rivalry; Minnesota holds a commanding 94-3-3 lead.
Olivia Cvar gave SCSU (2-5) a 1-0 lead with 1 minute, 39 seconds left in the second period on a power-play goal.
"Even though we got down a goal there, we still felt like we were playing well," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "We were generating, we were pressuring the puck, and it was great there to have Zummy score pretty quickly into the third and then end it there."
Zumwinkle, the Gophers co-captain, tied the score on her sixth goal of the season at 1:41 of the third. She got the winner at 14:25.
SCSU's Emma Polosny had 40 saves. Lauren Bench had 24 for the Gophers.
