Minnesota Women’s Hockey: Gophers fall 3-2 to Badgers in Frozen Four OT game

The Minnesota Gophers running with several fifth-year seniors in an attempt to get them an NCAA title before graduation hit their final brick wall Friday night in Duluth. After giving up a pair of goals to Wisconsin just 53 seconds into the third period, Minnesota used an extra attacker’s goal with 1:11 left in regulation to force overtime. Despite several potential chances in overtime, the Gophers just couldn’t find the back of the net, and at 3:13 of overtime, Wisconsin’s Caroline Harvey rifled a wrist shot past Gopher goalie Skyler Vetter for the game-winning goal. The Badgers continue to play for the NCAA title on Sunday, and the Gophers’ season comes to a crushing end.

Minnesota pressured the Badgers to start the game and kept turning it up. The Gophers’ top line got the first two shots on goal about two minutes in, and Badger goalie Cami Kronish blocked the shot to force a goal. Gopher coach Brad Frost kept his top line on the ice for the extended shift and it paid off, as after a great look from Abigail Boreen recently, the puck bounced back to the point where Emily Oden ripped one wide. But it took a perfect bounce off the backboards and right for Gopher captain Taylor Heise to fire a wrist shot over Kronish’s shoulder to put the Gophers up 1-0. The birthday girl got her first gift of the night.

Wisconsin got its first couple of good looks a few minutes later with back-to-back shots from Laia Edwards and Britta Curl, but Vetter made a pair of tough saves. The Badgers would get their first power play opportunity of the game with just over eight minutes left in the period, but the Gophers would do a great job at the kill, not allowing the Badgers a single shot on goal. Both teams had a few more chances the rest of the period, but nothing too threatening, and the teams headed into the locker room with Minnesota still leading 1-0 and 9-6 in shots from the rim.

Wisconsin came right off the opening kickoff in the second period and really put the pressure on the Gophers. They had eight straight shots on goal in the opening minutes of the period, but Vetter made several great saves and got plenty of help from the defense before unloading his pucks into the boards. They would withstand that onslaught and more.

The Badgers got a power play with 6:31 left when Grace Zumwinkle collided with Kronish while trying to hit the puck, but couldn’t get a shot on goal as Minnesota stole the puck to go up 2-0. off, but Heise was unable to block the shot. He tripped and the rest of the power plays were called off. Both teams had a good 4×4 appearance, but again the goalkeepers dominated.

Minnesota got its first real power play with 3:52 left in the period when Abbey Murphy was literally tackled by Jessie Compher, but other than one look from Murphy, nothing got done.

Wisconsin had one last success as the period ended after Vetter stopped a Lacy Eden shot and the rebound popped up in front of an empty Gopher net, but Abigail Boreen got to the puck first and cleared it off the ice. seconds left. The Badgers outscored the Gophers 17-6 in the second period, but nobody was able to score, and Minnesota still led 1-0 in the second half.

The third set started the same way as the second. Wisconsin applied a lot of pressure, but the Gopher defense was up to the challenge. For a few seconds, Minnesota thought they had taken a 2-0 lead when Zumwinkle fell on a shot from the point and the goal horn went off. Unfortunately for the Gophers, the officials conferred and ruled that Zumwinkle had tipped the shot with the high stick and the goal was disallowed with 6:19 left in the period.

Then the red wave finally broke through the Gopher Dam. Just 13 seconds later, Edwards struck first for the Badgers after WI won a draw in Gopher territory and he skated in and in front of Vetter and put a backhand behind him to tie the game at 1.

Unfortunately, Minnesota’s momentum continued for the Badgers. Just 53 seconds later, The Badgers made it 2-1 when the Badgers blocked a Boreen shot and entered Gopher territory two-on-one. Maddi Wheeler fed fifth-year senior Sophie Shirley, who was part of Wisconsin’s last NCAA championship team in 2019, and she put Vetter on her shoulder to give the Badgers the lead.

Minnesota gradually applied more pressure as the period wore on, but Kronish was stellar for Wisconsin. He kept everything off the grid. The Gophers would pull Vetter with 1:30 left in regulation. The Gophers took control of the puck and Nelli Laitinen ripped a shot from the missed point. The puck bounced to Heise, whose shot was blocked by Wheeler. Then the puck came to Madeline Wethington from the left point. She fired a slap shot that flew past the crowd in front of the Badger net and bounced off Badger defender Nicole LaMantia into the goal with 1:11 left to tie the game at 2.

A late Gopher turnover gave Wisconsin one last chance as time expired, but Boreen blocked one shot as Casey O’Brien’s last-ditch attempt went wide. The teams need additional time to determine the winner.

The follow-up work was absolutely insane. Both teams have great chances, but both Vetter and Kronish managed to save after the save. Until they didn’t.

With just over three minutes left in the game, Minnesota’s Ella Huber tried to take the puck out of her zone. He was bumped off it along the boards and brought back to Gopher territory by the Badgers. After a bit of a battle on the boards and behind the net, Jesse Compher won the puck and passed to Badger freshman defender Caroline Harvey. Harvey took the puck to the left circle and ripped a rising wrist shot over Vetter’s shoulder to give the Badgers a 3-2 win.

Vetter would fight back with 35 losses. Kronish would score 37 to clinch the win. The badgers advance to play Ohio State to the NCAA Championships on Sunday afternoon. The Buckeyes dominated Northeastern 3-0 in the earlier semifinals to make the All-WCHA Championship game for the seventh time in 21 NCAA tournaments. Either the Buckeyes win NCAA Championship No. 2 and go back to back-to-back, or Wisconsin wins NCAA Championship No. 7 and breaks a tie with the Gophers for the most in women’s hockey history.

Minnesota will have to say goodbye to several of its stars who have brought the program back to the heights of the 2010s. Taylor Heise, Abigail Boreen, Catie Skaja, Grace Zumwinkle, Gracie Ostertag, Savannah Norcross, Crystalyn Hengler and Emily Oden are all leaving after stellar Gopher careers. They will be sorely missed next season as Minnesota must try to reload most of its offense. It was a pleasure to watch them play.