The Gophers hosted Duluth at Ridder Arena Saturday afternoon for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament quarterfinals and won 3-0, securing a spot in the Frozen Four.

The Gophers earned a spot in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals after defeating Ohio State 3-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) on March 4.

Last season, the Gophers were upset by the Bulldogs 2-1 in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Just like last year, Minnesota was ranked second on the USCHO national rankings heading into the NCAA tournament — stuck behind No. 1 Ohio State, again.

This season, Minnesota looked to deny a repeat of history by triumphing over Duluth.

Despite no goals, the first period gave both teams quality scoring chances.

Minnesota’s Madeline Wethington finally broke the deadlock midway through the second period. She went end-to-end, finishing with a shot from the top of the circles that managed to beat WCHA Goaltender of the Year Emma Soderberg.

Duluth challenged the goal for offside but to no avail. As a result, the Bulldogs were stripped of a timeout in accordance with NCAA rules.

Though having the first goal is important, it’s not always enough to propel a team to victory. In last season’s quarterfinal matchup, Abigail Boreen opened the scoring for Minnesota, but Duluth rallied back and won the game.

Wethington’s goal would be the second period’s lone goal, and Minnesota headed into the third period with a 1-0 lead.

Abbey Murphy doubled the Gophers’ lead a few minutes into the third period with a highlight reel goal. Murphy danced through Duluth’s defense, going inside-out on defender Taylor Stewart before beating Soderberg top-shelf from a sharp angle.

Duluth’s coaching staff once again attempted to challenge the goal, this time for the net being dislodged prior to the goal.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, their challenge attempt failed a second time. Since Duluth had already surrendered a timeout, Minnesota was granted a power play.

The Gophers were unable to score during the game’s only power play, recording just one shot on net in the two-minute player advantage.

Midway through the third period, Catie Skaja nabbed the insurance marker, sniping a shot on a breakaway to give Minnesota a comfortable 3-0 lead.

Duluth pulled their goaltender with just over four minutes to play in regulation, hoping for a late comeback.

Nonetheless, Minnesota’s netminder Skylar Vetter continued to stand tall through the final frame, steering away all 14 of the Bulldogs’ third period shots.

The Gophers shut out the Bulldogs 3-0 and clinched a spot at the Frozen Four next weekend, crushing Duluth’s hopes of playing on home ice in the tournament’s subsequent rounds.

Vetter, a sophomore from Lakeville, recorded her seventh shutout of the season.

The game represented an overall outstanding performance from Minnesota’s squad, something they will need to continue in their rivalry matchup versus Wisconsin. The Badgers took down No. 3 Colgate on Saturday 4-2.

Minnesota and Wisconsin will cross paths for the sixth time this season on Friday at 6 p.m. in Duluth, this time with one team’s season and a trip to the NCAA championship at stake.

Over the weekend, Minnesota hosted the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Final Faceoff at Ridder Arena.

The Final Faceoff consisted of four teams: Ohio State, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Duluth.

In the semifinals on Friday, Ohio State faced Duluth, and Minnesota took on Wisconsin. Ohio State defeated Duluth 2-1 and Minnesota downed Wisconsin 4-2 to advance to the championship.

On Saturday, Ohio State and Minnesota faced off in the championship game. The Gophers emerged victorious, defeating No. 1 Ohio State 3-1.

March 3 vs. Wisconsin

Minnesota squared off against Wisconsin on Friday night. The last time these two teams met in the WCHA Final Faceoff was in 2021, when the Badgers took down the Gophers 5-3.

In the WCHA 2022-23 regular season, Minnesota failed to beat Wisconsin a single time in regulation, losing twice in regulation and tying twice.

However, playoffs are a different story, so the Gophers came into this matchup with a fresh slate.

Minnesota’s third line of Madison Kaiser, Peyton Hemp and Savannah Norcross went to work on Wisconsin’s defense, leading to a prime scoring chance in the early stages of the first period.

Eventually, Hemp found Kaiser in the slot and buried a shot far side to open the scoring for the Gophers.

Minnesota held their 1-0 lead entering the first intermission.

Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien evened up the score in the first two minutes of the second period, capitalizing on a turnover under the Gophers’ net.

Roughly five minutes later, Madeline Wethington regained the lead for Minnesota, slamming home a loose puck following a net-front scramble.

The Badgers did not back down, yet again evening the score with a power play goal from Nicole LaMantia later on in the second period.

Entering the third period, the game was level at 2-2. For Wisconsin, this scenario wasn’t ideal. Prior to this game, the Badgers were 0-4-0 in games this season where they were tied entering the third period.

Under pressure, Wisconsin’s Britta Curl took down Taylor Heise to put Minnesota on the power play.

Less than 30 seconds into the power play, Grace Zumwinkle fired a shot from the point that was deflected to Catie Skaja, who rang a shot off the post. Skaja’s rebound came out to Abbey Murphy, who managed to bury the rebound to give Minnesota the lead.

Skaja tacked on an empty-netter late in the third and the Gophers held off Wisconsin 4-2.

Skylar Vetter was credited with 23 saves, and Minnesota marched on to face Ohio State in the WCHA championship game on Saturday.

March 4 vs. Ohio State

Last season, the Buckeyes defeated the Gophers in the WCHA championship game, so Minnesota was out for revenge.

Again, Minnesota’s third line came up big as Norcross opened the scoring late in the first period. Ohio State attempted to challenge the play for goaltender interference, but to no avail as the on-ice ruling was upheld.

At the end of the first period, Ohio State’s Jennifer Gardiner took a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head.

The Gophers began the second period with a 1-0 lead and a five-minute power play. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the Buckeyes would kill the entire five minutes as they played solid lockdown defense.

Gabby Rosenthal took another penalty for Ohio State later on in the second period, giving Minnesota their second straight power play.

This time, the Gophers were able to capitalize and Murphy beat goaltender Amanda Thiele far-side to increase her team’s lead to two goals.

Rosenthal compensated for her penalty, burying Makenna Webster’s rebound.

Minnesota’s third line once again struck as Hemp responded just one minute later.

The Gophers were 20 minutes away from taking home a WCHA championship, holding a 3-1 lead over the Buckeyes.

Though Minnesota dominated on offense in the later parts of the second period, Ohio State turned the tide at the beginning of the third.

Ohio State’s pressure proved too much and Hemp was forced to take a slashing penalty five minutes into the third period.

Nonetheless, Vetter stood tall in net and Minnesota killed off the power play.

Despite recording 13 shots and pouring on heavy offense, Minnesota managed to fend off No. 1 Ohio State and win the WCHA title 3-1.

Gophers Murphy, Heise, Hemp, Wethington and Vetter were named to the All-WCHA Tournament Team. Murphy was awarded with the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

In a press email, Head Coach Brad Frost said, “To be able to win in a tournament format is a big deal for this group because they haven’t done that in a while.”

This was Minnesota’s first WCHA championship since 2018 and Frost’s fifth as the Gophers’ head coach.

Additionally, the win gives Minnesota an automatic qualification for the NCAA tournament.

The Gophers can now ride their momentum into the NCAA tournament, where they will look to earn their first trip to the Frozen Four since 2019.

No. 3 Minnesota will host No. 6 Wisconsin at Ridder Arena Friday evening for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) semifinals.

As if the regular season Border Battle games weren’t intense enough, the two WCHA powerhouses face off in a playoff elimination matchup.

Wisconsin holds the edge in the regular season series with a 2-0-2 record. In the first regular season series in November, the two teams tied 3-3 in the first game, but Wisconsin dominated Minnesota 4-1 in the following game. The two teams tied yet again in February in their first game, and the Badgers emerged victorious 7-5 in the second game.

Is keeping the score low the key to victory?

Minnesota’s final matchup against the Badgers, the 7-5 loss in February, was quite uncharacteristic of the Gophers: in 35 games this season, Wisconsin averaged 1.9 goals a game.

In games this season where the Gophers allowed 4 or more goals, they’re 1-5-1. Despite being an offensive juggernaut, the Gophers seem unable to compete in high-scoring games.

A game Minnesota should aim to replicate is their 4-2 victory over No. 1 Ohio State in early February.

The Gophers held the Buckeyes to just 2 goals and 33 shots. For comparison, Ohio State has averaged approximately 42 shots and 4 goals per game this season. Additionally, in that game versus Ohio State, Minnesota held a 2-goal lead entering the third period.

Wisconsin is 1-8-1 this season after either being tied or trailing entering the third period.

Gophers look for revenge

Minnesota finished in second place in the WCHA standings, while Wisconsin landed in third place. However, there was a significant 8-point difference between the two teams in the standings.

As the two seed, the Gophers faced seventh-place St. Thomas in their first-round matchup. After only finding the back of the net six times against St. Thomas the weekend prior, Minnesota regained their scoring abilities, winning both games. The Gophers shut out the Tommies 7-0 in Game 1 and 6-2 in Game 2.

Meanwhile, in Madison, the Badgers squared off against sixth-place Minnesota State. Wisconsin held the Mavericks to just 1 goal over the weekend, winning Game 1 3-0 and taking Game 2 4-1.

The last time these two teams played against each other in the WCHA Final Faceoff was in March 2021, when Wisconsin defeated Minnesota 5-3 at Ridder Arena. Minnesota will look to avenge that playoff loss to Wisconsin in addition to this season’s losses on Friday starting at 5 p.m. at Ridder Arena.

The Gophers dominated the seventh-place Tommies in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs. With Wisconsin sweeping Minnesota State in their first round series, the Gophers will face off against the Badgers in the semifinals of the Final Faceoff. 

The WCHA Final Faceoff will be hosted at Ridder Arena. Both semifinal games will occur on Friday, with Minnesota playing Wisconsin at 5:00 p.m. The winners of the semifinal games will advance to the WCHA championship.

Feb. 24 vs. St. Thomas:

Minnesota hosted St. Thomas in Game 1 of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) first round on Friday night. 

The two teams met in the final regular season series on Feb. 17 and 18, where Minnesota swept St. Thomas in two close games. The Gophers struggled to find the back of the net despite pouring out more than 100 shots combined in the two games. 

Unlike their struggles in the regular season series, Minnesota had a rather easy time putting the puck in the back of the net against the Tommies during the playoffs.

Grace Zumwinkle opened the scoring for the Gophers just over a minute into the first period. She again followed up at the 13-minute mark for her sixth multi-goal game of the season. 

Abbey Murphy scored a late powerplay goal with only eight seconds left in the first period to give the Gophers a 3-goal cushion going into the intermission.

Less than a minute into the second period, Taylor Heise scored a highlight reel goal, faking a slap shot into a toe-drag then finishing far side. 

Peyton Hemp joined in on the scoring fun, burying a one-time setup beautifully by Savannah Norcross.

Minnesota took a 5-0 lead into the third period. 

St. Thomas replaced starting goaltender Saskia Maurer with first-year Maggie Malecha to start the third. 

Malecha played well to start but was eventually met with two quick goals by Madeline Wethington and Heise in the later stages of the third period.

Minnesota dominated all facets of the game, outshooting St. Thomas 51-14. Gophers netminder Skylar Vetter picked up her 6th shutout of the season in Minnesota’s 7-0 win.

Feb. 25 vs. St. Thomas:

The Gophers looked to complete the sweep over the Tommies on Saturday afternoon. 

Zumwinkle continued the theme of early scoring, netting her third goal of the series to open the scoring for Minnesota. 

The game remained a 1-goal difference heading into the intermission, mostly thanks to Tommies goaltender Maurer, who had 25 saves alone in the first period. 

St. Thomas managed to suppress Minnesota’s high flying offense for a short period of time in the second frame. This led to Brieja Parent managing to beat Vetter five-hole to even the game at 1-1. 

An unlikely goal scorer gave the Gophers the lead once again; Crystalyn Hengler sniped a shot top shelf past Maurer to break the tie.

Heise followed up less than 20 seconds later, performing yet another nifty toe-drag move to beat the St. Thomas defense. 

Murphy banked home a loose puck in the crease shortly after to give the Gophers a comfortable 3-goal lead heading into the third period.

In the first three minutes of the final frame, St. Thomas’ Maija Almich cut her team’s deficit to two goals after a mishap by Vetter that led to an own goal. 

Nothing to fear for Minnesota, as Heise scored a few minutes later to put the Gophers up by three goals once again. 

In the final minute of the game, Catie Skaja buried a rebound for her first goal of the weekend. Skaja had a hard time finding the back of the net despite numerous chances over the two games.

Skaja’s marker capped off another dominating performance for the Gophers as they took down the Tommies 6-2. With the win, Minnesota swept St. Thomas and advanced to the WCHA Final Faceoff. 

This is the second season in a row in which the Gophers have ended the Tommies’ season in the WCHA first round. St. Thomas goaltender Maurer had 85 saves over the weekend and played a major role in keeping her team in Game 2.

Minnesota will host rival Wisconsin at Ridder Arena on Friday for the semifinals of the WCHA Final Faceoff. This highly anticipated Border Battle rematch will determine who heads to the WCHA championship match and who goes home. 

Minnesota will host St. Thomas at Ridder Arena Friday, Saturday and potentially Sunday to open the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) playoffs for the second consecutive season.

St. Thomas, unranked, finished the 2022-23 WCHA regular season with a measly 12 points and a 3-24-1 conference record. This point total was good enough for seventh place in the WCHA, placing the Tommies ahead of Bemidji State.

Minnesota, on the other hand, finished the regular season with a 23-3-3 conference record, landing second place in the WCHA standings.

Deja vu in the WCHA first round

Last season, the Tommies had nearly the same record (3-23-1) as this season. However, they only managed to collect 10 points in the 2021-22 regular season, landing them dead last in the WCHA.

Conversely, Minnesota put up an impressive 21-6-1 record and 68 points, winning the WCHA regular season title. Heading into the playoffs, the Gophers were ranked on top of the NCAA at No. 1 on the USCHO rankings.

The WCHA’s playoff format set the two teams up for a first-round matchup at Ridder Arena.

Minnesota swept St. Thomas with two commanding wins, both by a margin of 4 goals. The Gophers would go on to beat Minnesota Duluth in the semi-finals but fall to Ohio State in the championship game.

A head-to-head comparison for this season

Minnesota played four games – two series with two games in each series – against St. Thomas in 2023, winning all four games and sweeping both series.

The Gophers won their first two January matchups convincingly by 3 or more goals. However, when the two teams met in the final regular season series this past weekend, St. Thomas managed to keep it close.

The Game 1 win took overtime and Game 2 was close from start to finish. Though Minnesota won both games, St. Thomas proved they can compete.

Minnesota only managed to score 6 goals against St. Thomas in their most recent series, the third-lowest combined goal totals the Gophers have had in a WCHA series this season.

So how does a team like Minnesota, who has the most goals scored in the WCHA, only put up 6 against a team like St. Thomas? The Tommies’ goaltenders are key.

Sophomore goaltender Saskia Maurer held down the fort for St. Thomas in Game 1, making 53 saves on 55 Gopher shots. Senior Alexa Dobchuk would top Maurer’s performance in terms of saves, recording 55 saves on 59 shots in the following game.

Both goalies, Dobchuk and Maurer, are at the top of the WCHA in saves per game, averaging 36.42 and 36.14 saves. Of the two, Maurer has the better save percentage at .912, while Dobchuk has a .892.

Minnesota’s high-powered offense will have to figure out a way to solve St. Thomas’ goaltenders this weekend.

The Gophers have the top four scorers in the WCHA with Abbey Murphy, Abigail Boreen, Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle.

On Thursday morning, Heise and Zumwinkle were named to the All-WCHA First Team, while Boreen, Murphy and the Gophers’ goaltender Skylar Vetter were named to the All-WCHA Third Team.

Minnesota will hope to utilize its scoring prowess and replicate last season’s first-round sweep of St. Thomas, starting with Game 1 on Friday night at Ridder Arena. Game 2 will be Saturday afternoon and Game 3, if necessary, will be on Sunday afternoon.

The Gophers traveled to Mendota Heights on Friday to face off against St. Thomas with hopes of passing the Ohio Buckeyes in the standings.

Heading into Friday, Ohio State held a 3-point advantage over Minnesota in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) standings.

Feb. 17 at St. Thomas:

On Friday, Minnesota squared off against seventh place St. Thomas on the road. The last time these two teams met, the Gophers swept St. Thomas at home during their series in January.

The game was deadlocked through the first two periods.

St. Thomas goaltender Saskia Maura kept her team in the game, stopping 36 shots during the first 40 minutes of play. Nicole Vallario finally opened the scoring for the Tommies three minutes into the third period with an unassisted tally.

Minnesota’s Taylor Heise responded about a minute later with her 24th goal of the season.

The two teams went into overtime. Abbey Murphy scored midway through the extra frame to win the game, capitalizing on a two-on-one. Murphy’s goal was her fifth game-winning goal of the season to put Minnesota over St. Thomas 2-1.

Feb. 18 at St. Thomas:

Minnesota looked to complete their second sweep versus St. Thomas this season on Saturday.

Before the game on Saturday, Minnesota trailed Ohio State by 2 points in the standings. Ohio State fell to Wisconsin in overtime during their first game of the weekend, setting Minnesota up for a chance to reclaim first place.

Though the Gophers won the night before, the win came in overtime, giving them 2 points instead of the 3 they would have earned with a regulation win. A regulation win would have allowed Minnesota to only be 1 point behind first place in the standings.

Standings aside, Minnesota had a game to play Saturday night.

Abigail Boreen opened the scoring for Minnesota midway through the first period. She scored again in the second period to give the Gophers a 3-1 lead.

Boreen’s second goal of the game served as the game-winner as St. Thomas would score early in the third period to bring the score to 3-2.

Abbey Murphy inserted the dagger with a third period tally to help the Gophers complete the sweep over St. Thomas with a 4-2 win.

In a press release, head coach Brad Frost said, “we’re proud of our group for how they competed and persevered” against St. Thomas over the weekend.

Minnesota dominated offensively in both games, recording more than 50 shots in both games.
With their sweep over St. Thomas, the Gophers temporarily held first place by a margin of 1 point.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 3-1 in the second game of their series on Sunday, reclaiming first place in the WCHA.

The Gophers finished the 2022-23 WCHA regular season with a 23-3-3 record, enough for second place in the conference.

“Now it’s time to turn the page and head into the playoffs,” Frost said.

The Gophers’ weekend in Mendota Heights would be a preview of what the first round of the WCHA playoffs will look like; Minnesota will host St. Thomas at Ridder Arena on Friday, Saturday and potentially Sunday.

After falling in both games to Wisconsin in last week’s Border Battle, Minnesota has found itself in second place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).

Minnesota now enters the last weekend of the regular season to face seventh-place St. Thomas on the road. This matchup will factor into their final position in the standings in the WCHA.

The Gophers only managed to gain one of the available six points last weekend versus the Badgers via a shootout loss in the first game.

Head Coach Brad Frost was quoted in a press email saying, “A frustrating result … certainly not the outcome we were hoping for.”

Though the Gophers are no longer able to control their fate in the standings, there is still hope to regain first place.

“Still a lot of hockey left and we’ll regroup and be back at it next week,” Frost said.

Back in first place in the conference, Ohio State is in the driver’s seat when it comes to determining the final standings. The Buckeyes, with 66 points, have 3 points over the Gophers.

Ohio State enters its last series of the season to face Wisconsin at LaBahn Arena this weekend.

The two teams have faced each other in one series so far this season, with Ohio State winning both matchups in the series. The Buckeyes were at home that weekend, so the atmosphere was a factor in their two victories.

Although the Buckeyes are nearly perfect on the road this year, LaBahn Arena is a completely different environment. In their series against St. Cloud, Wisconsin had an attendance of over 14,000 fans at their first game.

For Minnesota to win first place in the WCHA, the Gophers have to either tie or surpass Ohio State’s point total. If the two teams manage to tie in points, the Gophers hold the advantage in the tiebreaker because they have a better head-to-head record against the Buckeyes.

Minnesota can reach a maximum of 69 points this season, while Ohio State can achieve 72. If Ohio State reaches 70 points, Minnesota cannot win the WCHA regular season. The Gophers need Wisconsin to either win at least one game in regulation, force Ohio State to overtime in both games and win at least one, or sweep Ohio State in regulation.

This is, however, assuming Minnesota manages to sweep St. Thomas and achieve their maximum. The Gophers have faced the Tommies twice this year, winning both games by a margin of three goals or greater.

If Minnesota fails to pass Ohio State in the standings, they will most likely face off against St. Thomas again in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

Since the Gophers play on Friday, Ohio State will have the advantage of knowing Minnesota’s point potential going into their first game against Wisconsin on Saturday.

Whatever the final score of the Buckeyes and Badgers games may be, the Gophers have to focus on ending on a high note to build momentum for the playoffs.

Feb. 10 vs. Wisconsin:
The Gophers hosted No. 8 Wisconsin at a sold out Ridder Arena on Friday night for the second round of the Border Battle.

Wisconsin opened the scoring in this highly-anticipated rivalry matchup. Badgers defender Katie Kotlowski ripped a shot from the point that managed to find the back of the net for her first goal of the season. Abbey Murphy responded shortly after, stuffing home a loose puck in the slot. The game was even at 1-1 entering the second period.

Wisconsin’s Jesse Compher put home her 11th goal of the season nearly midway through the second period to give the Badgers the lead once again.

Minnesota was heavily outshot in the second period, 17-7, but Skylar Vetter was able to limit Wisconsin to just one goal.

Taylor Heise tied the game at 2-2 about three minutes into the third period. Her 21st goal of the season was a beauty: she walked through multiple Wisconsin defenders and finished off with a shot that went off the left post and in.

Both goaltenders managed to hold down the fort for the remainder of regulation, meaning overtime would ensue.

Despite a power play through the late third period and the beginning of overtime, Minnesota was unable to notch the game winner. It took a shootout to determine who would get the extra point for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) standings.

Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms shot first, but was stuffed by Vetter. She was followed by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle, who couldn’t beat Wisconsin goalie Cami Kronish. Badger Lacey Eden and Heise were both stopped in the second round.

Badgers captain Britta Curl managed to beat Vetter to start the third round. Kronish shut down Murphy to give Wisconsin the extra shootout point, but the final score of the game was a 2-2 tie.

Feb. 11 vs. Wisconsin:
Minnesota returned to Ridder Arena on Saturday night in search of their first regulation win versus the Badgers this season.

Heise would give the Gophers a pleasant start, scoring her 4th short-handed goal of the season. The last time Wisconsin allowed a short-handed goal this season was on Nov. 19, 2022, when the Gophers visited the Badgers at LaBahn Arena.

Catie Skaja extended the Gophers’ lead to two goals with a tally on the power play.

Wisconsin’s Simms took a five minute major penalty for hitting from behind to send Minnesota to an extended power play. However, midway through the power play, Heise was called for a controversial embellishment call, negating the Gophers’ power play.

Back at even strength, Wisconsin’s Claire Enright struck to cut Minnesota’s lead to one goal. Laila Edwards followed up on the power play to tie the game at 2-2.

In the final minute of the second, Simms capitalized on a two-on-two rush to give Wisconsin a one goal lead heading into the intermission.

Simms scored once again to open the third period scoring, marking Wisconsin’s fourth unanswered goal. Murphy responded a minute later, then followed by Heise to tie the game at 4-4.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, a structured Wisconsin zone-entry allowed Maddi Wheeler to find Caroline Harvey for a wide-open one timer. Casey O’Brien scored just over a minute later to deliver the dagger to the Gophers.

Jesse Compher tacked on an empty-netter, and Grace Zumwinkle scored in the final minute for a meaningless goal.

Wisconsin took down Minnesota 7-5 in game two of the Border Battle’s second round. This was their first home regulation loss to the Badgers since March 2021. Seven goals is the most the Gophers have allowed in a game this season, and the second most they have allowed in a game versus Wisconsin in Border Battle history.

The Gophers now sit at 63 points in second place, while Ohio State holds first place with 66 points.

Because of their losses to Wisconsin, Minnesota is no longer in control of their fate in the WCHA standings. Minnesota now relies on Wisconsin to take down Ohio State in their series next weekend.

All the Gophers can do is sweep their next series and hope for the best in the Badgers versus Buckeyes series. Minnesota takes on St. Thomas on the road Feb. 17 and 18 for their final regular season matchup.

Matchup History
On Friday and Saturday, No. 8 Wisconsin visits No. 3 Minnesota at Ridder Arena for round two of the Border Battle.

Minnesota has faced Wisconsin twice this season, winning one game in a shootout and losing the other in regulation. The Gophers have not suffered a home loss to Wisconsin since March 2021 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Final Faceoff.

In the overall series, the Gophers lead with 55 wins, 46 losses and 15 ties. Of the 42 home matchups that have not ended in a shootout or a tie, Minnesota has won 26 games.

Of their 10 most recent games, Minnesota has won six, although three of those wins were decided in a shootout.

Wisconsin’s win earlier this season snapped Minnesota’s five-game winning streak in the Border Battle; the streak spanned from December 2021 until November 2022.

Down Goes No. 1
In January 2022, Wisconsin was ranked first on USCHO’s women’s hockey rankings. The Badgers only had one regulation loss all season long coming into their late-January rivalry matchup at Minnesota.

The singular regulation loss: December 2021 vs. Minnesota.

After that loss, Wisconsin rebounded by nearly sweeping a top-five team in Quinnipiac; the Badgers took the first game in regulation and tied in the second game. Their next series would be against No. 5 Minnesota at Ridder Arena.

The Badgers would leave Minneapolis that weekend with two more regulation losses on their record.

A Goalie Battle
Wisconsin and Minnesota hold the two lowest goals-against averages in the WCHA with 1.42 and 1.67, respectively.

The two teams’ defensive success can be credited to two particular individuals: Skylar Vetter and Cami Kronish.

So far, Vetter, a sophomore, has been awarded WCHA goaltender of the month three times. She has an astounding five shutouts thus far, all in conference play. She has an impressive .934 save percentage and an individual 1.63 goals-allowed average in 23 WCHA games this season. This puts her in second in the WCHA for both categories, trailing behind none other than Kronish.

Kronish, a redshirt senior, trails Vetter by just one shutout in WCHA play with four. However, overall, Kronish has six shutouts. In 16 WCHA games played, she has a league-leading 1.18 goals against average and a .941 save percentage.

Wisconsin’s backup goaltender, Jane Gervais, also proves to be a solid option. The redshirt sophomore has two shutouts, one of them coming against an in-conference opponent. Gervais has a .918 save percentage and a 1.86 goals-allowed average in nine WCHA games played.

In the series in November, Vetter started both games for the Gophers. Kronish and Gervais were supposed to split the two games, but Gervais left the second game early following an injury. That weekend, Vetter stopped 76 out of the total 83 shots she faced, while Kronish stopped 64 out of 68 shots.

High-Powered Offense
Two of the top three offenses in the WCHA will be on display at Ridder Arena on Friday night. Minnesota is first in the conference with 113 goals scored in 24 games, averaging 4.71 goals per game. Wisconsin trails the Gophers’ overall goal total by 15 and averages 4.08 goals per game.

The top three goal scorers in the WCHA all belong to the Gophers; Abbey Murphy and Abigail Boreen are tied for first with 18 goals each, while Grace Zumwinkle resides in second with 17 goals. On top of this, Minnesota has two more players in the WCHA’s top 10 goal scorers, Taylor Heise and Peyton Hemp with 14 and 11 goals, respectively.

Heise, Zumwinkle and Murphy also hold the top three spots in the conference for point leaders: Heise has 44, Zumwinkle has 39 and Murphy has 33. Further, Heise is third in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in overall points with 50.

Wisconsin has two of the top 10 goal scorers in the WCHA. Britta Curl is in seventh with 13 goals, while Casey O’Brien is in ninth with 11 goals. O’Brien and Carolina Harvey have 27 and 26 points respectively, putting them as seventh and eighth in the WCHA point leaders.

The Stakes
Though there is a nine-point differential between the two teams in the standings, a sweep for either team can determine the outcome of their regular season.

The race for first place will be close as Minnesota only leads second-place Ohio State by two points. Failing to achieve enough points in this series could allow the Buckeyes to reclaim the top spot.

Wisconsin cannot move up or down in the WCHA standings no matter the outcome of this matchup but can gain ground on Minnesota and Ohio State with a sweep. All three teams have two series remaining, including this upcoming series.

The outcome of this edition of the Border Battle has implications for both the WCHA and NCAA playoffs. Both teams’ ranking can shift, promptly placing them in either a better or worse situation for the postseason.

The teams will face off at 6 p.m. on Friday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Ridder Arena. The final push before the playoffs begin.

Feb. 3 vs. Ohio State:
On Friday, Minnesota hosted No. 1 Ohio State at Ridder Arena for the two teams’ second series of the season.

The last time these teams faced off was in late October. Minnesota took the first game of the series 4-2 and lost 5-4 in a shootout in the second game.

Minnesota’s Peyton Hemp opened the scoring with a backdoor tap-in, set up beautifully by first-year Josefin Bouveng. Hemp’s first-period marker was her 14th goal of the season.

Abigail Boreen brought the fans to their feet early in the second period with yet another backdoor tap-in, this time set up by Taylor Heise.

Roughly seven minutes later, Ohio State’s Madison Bizal tripped Hemp on a Gophers’ penalty kill, setting Minnesota up for a power play after Madison Kaiser’s penalty expired.

Kaiser’s penalty expired a minute later, giving the Gophers the player advantage. Despite the extra skater, Abbey Murphy elected to make a solo effort, finishing on a far-side shot after a magnificent toe-drag move to beat a Buckeyes’ defender.

Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall called for a timeout after Murphy’s goal in an attempt to kill the Gophers’ momentum.

Four minutes later, Gabby Rosenthal would score for the Buckeyes to cut Minnesota’s lead to 3-1.

Just 16 seconds into the third period, Ohio State’s Jennifer Gardiner scored to put the Buckeyes within one goal.

Despite Ohio State’s late push, Murphy’s second goal of the game would be the dagger; Heise set Murphy up in the slot to put Minnesota up by two goals. Heise’s assist was her third of the game, helping the Gophers shut down the No. 1 Buckeyes by a score of 4-2.

Skylar Vetter held down the fort with 31 saves on 33 shots, including 14 saves in the third period alone.

Feb. 4 vs. Ohio State:
The two teams clashed again for an afternoon matchup at Ridder Arena.

Minnesota got on the board first for the second game in a row as Madeline Wethington scored her second goal of the season. Wethington fired a shot from the blue line that managed to beat Ohio State’s goaltender Amanda Thiele.

Midway through the first period, Sloane Matthews tied the game for the Buckeyes. Hadley Hartmetz followed up 19 seconds later with her fourth goal of the season to put the Buckeyes up 2-1.

The Gophers conceded another early third-period goal, this time from Rosenthal to extend the Buckeye’s lead to two goals.

Kenzie Hauswirth and Paetyn Levis would score nearly a minute apart to put Ohio State up by four goals.

Nine Buckeyes managed to get on the scoresheet as Minnesota was routed 5-1 on home ice.

This loss marked Minnesota’s first defeat at Ridder Arena this season. In fact, this was their first home loss since March of 2022, when the Gophers fell to Minnesota Duluth in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.

It’s also the Gophers’ first loss since Nov. 26, 2022, and only their fourth regulation loss of the season.

Nonetheless, Ohio State scored five goals against the Gophers, the most Minnesota has allowed in one game all season.

The Gophers’ position on the USCHO rankings did not change following the series split with the Buckeyes. However, they do move up on Patrick Donnelly’s “Power 10” rankings, passing Ohio State and claiming the number one spot on Donnelly’s list.

Minnesota still holds a two-point edge over Ohio State in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) standings, currently residing in first place.

The Gophers are currently set up to play Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

A sweep in their upcoming series against No. 8 Wisconsin could help Minnesota clinch first place in the WCHA for the second season in a row.

The Badgers visit Ridder Arena for the first time this season on Feb. 10 and 11 for the Gophers’ penultimate regular season series. Minnesota looks to get revenge on their rivals for their 4-1 loss in late November.