Another victory and a couple more records broken. Just another day in the life of Gophers women's hockey players Saturday night as they routed Bemidji State 8-0 in the second game of the WCHA first-round, best-of-three playoff matchup at Ridder Arena.
Eight different players scored to help the Gophers win the series 2-0 and advance to the WCHA Final Face-Off, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Ridder Arena. The Gophers will play Ohio State at 7 p.m. Friday, after Wisconsin and North Dakota meet in the 4 p.m. semifinal.
After notching her 40th-career shutout Friday night -- an NCAA record -- senior goaltender Noora Raty set the NCAA single-season shutout record with her 15th of the year. She stopped 19 shots for the victory.
"I'll take all shutouts I can get," Raty said. "I'm happy if I get them because as long as I get a shutout, we can't lose."
Senior captain and fellow Patty Kazmaier top-10 finalist Megan Bozek tallied a goal and two assists to make her the single-season highest-scoring Gophers defenseman in team history. She already holds the Gophers' career mark for defenseman and leads the country with 18 goals and 34 assists for 52 points for a blue-liner this year.
"Seems like every week something like that is happening," coach Brad Frost said of another record-breaking game.
Minnesota moved to 36-0 on the season while stretching its NCAA-record winning streak to 44 games.
The Gophers opened the scoring with some fireworks, as freshman defenseman Milica McMillen rushed the puck into the offensive zone, faked a shot, pulled a toe-drag around a Beavers defenseman and rung the upper-left post to put Minnesota up 1-0 3:49 into the first period.
