The third-ranked University of Minnesota women’s hockey team closed out the first half of the season with back-to-back dominant showings against St. Thomas on the road. After Saturday’s 6-2 win, the Gophers move to a 13-4-1 (9-4-1 WCHA) record this season and to 18-0-0 all-time over the Tommies.
Due to a family commitment, head coach Brad Frost was not behind the bench for Minnesota on Saturday. Associate head coach Greg May served as acting head coach.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period, courtesy of forward Peyton Hemp’s sixth goal of the season, assisted by Nelli Laitinen. St. Thomas quickly responded with a Rylee Bartz score, bringing the game even with 8:29 left in the period. Laitinen then brought the Gophers back in the lead with her second goal of the season, assisted by Maggie Nicholson, just under 30 seconds later. Minnesota retained its 2-1 lead into the first intermission, also leading 13-11 in shots on goal.
The Gophers extended their lead 10:43 into the second period with junior defender Sydney Morrow’s third power play goal of the season, assisted by Natalie Mlynkova and Abbey Murphy. Peyton Hemp scored her second goal of the game with 3:18 remaining in the period, assisted by Chloe Primerano and Morrow, to extend the Minnesota lead to 4-1 heading into the second intermission. The Gophers outshot the Tommies 14-5 in the second period.
At the 15:36 mark in the third period, redshirt-senior forward Abbey Murphy notched her third goal of the series, assisted by Sydney Morrow. St. Thomas’ Sadie Lindsay gave the Tommies their second score of the game two minutes later. While on a power play in the final seconds of the game, freshman defender Chloe Primerano scored her second goal of the series, finalizing the 6-2 victory for Minnesota.
Freshman goaltender Hannah Clark moved to a 9-2-1 record after making 20 saves and recording a .909 save percentage on Saturday.
Quotable:
“It was a hard fought game,” said Coach May. “St. Thomas definitely brought it from a ‘compete’ standpoint today, made it hard on us. Just proud of our effort, proud of the way that we competed, proud of the way that we finished the second half [of the series] with a big sweep.”
Additional Quotes from Coach May:
On Peyton Hemp
“[Hemp is] steady for us, consistent all the time. Two ‘Peyton Hemp’-type goals to grind it out in front, ‘don’t take no for an answer.’ Just good to get those greasy goals, something we’ve been kind of working on as a team, too. Just fighting for rebounds and attacking the net up front, and she exemplified it tonight.”
On Abbey Murphy
“[Murphy] doing what [Murphy] does, right? Showing up in big moments, scoring a bunch of goals. When she’s on the ice, she’s a threat at all times. Whether she has a puck or not, people are aware of her. And again, a great weekend for her. We wish her the best of luck as she goes to [the Six Nations Tournament] this week.”
Notable:
– Associate head coach Greg May moves to 3-0 in the role of acting head coach. Both of his previous wins came in a series against Bemidji State from Jan. 19-20, 2024.
– Abbey Murphy tied her career-high series-points with 8 points (3g-5a) over the weekend.
– Peyton Hemp tallied her sixth and seventh goals of the season. She now totals 49 career goals.
– Peyton Hemp recorded her second multi-goal game of the season and seventh multi-goal game of her career.
– Maggie Nicholson recorded her first point of the season with an assist on Peyton Hemp’s first period goal.
– Nelli Laitinen tallied her second goal of the season and 11th goal of her career.
– Sydney Morrow scored her third power play goal of the season.
– Five Gophers recorded multiple points in Saturday’s game.
– The Gophers have tallied at least one power play goal in nine of their last ten games. Minnesota had two power play goals on Saturday.
– Minnesota outshot St. Thomas 42-22.
Up Next:
After an extended-break, the Maroon & Gold will be back on Jan. 1 for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game in Lakeville, Minn. The Gophers will face off against the Bemidji State Beavers at Hasse Arena at 5 p.m. CT.
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
