Boston College comes to Ridder for quarterfinal matchup with Gophers

Both the Minnesota women’s hockey team and their opponent are both trying to bounce back.
No. 2 Minnesota (31-4-3 overall, 23-2-3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association ) hosts No. 6 Boston College (22-8-5 overall, 14-5-3-1 Hockey East ) in the NCAA quarterfinals.
Both teams are coming off a loss in their respective league championship game. Boston lost to New Hampshire 2-1 while the Gophers dropped a 5-3 decision to Wisconsin.
First year Sarah Erickson looked at the loss with a positive attitude.
“Coming off a loss, I mean its not the way we wanted to end the WCHA season but I think it gives us a little more grit going into the NCAA tournament,” she said.
With the winner of this game going onto the NCAA Frozen Four in Boston and the loser going home, Minnesota knows improvements need to be made after Sunday’s game. Coach Brad Frost said his team is aware of the fact that they didn’t play a complete hockey game against the Badgers.
“We just tried to do too much and became undisciplined at times,” he said. “We’ll just have to get back to how we were playing before Sunday.”
One of the areas needing improvement is the number in the shot column as Minnesota was outshot by Wisconsin. The Gophers shots will be on Boston’s junior goaltender Molly Schaus, who was a top-ten finalist for the Patty Kazmaier award this year.
Frost said Minnesota is going to prepare for Boston’s strong goaltending by doing the same thing they have done all year.
“We’re going to try to get as many pucks to the net as we can and try to take her eyes away,” he said. “We’ll see if we can’t get a couple by her.”
Besides getting shots on net, Erickson said the Gophers need to win the one-on-one battles for the puck in the corner.
“We have a great team and we do have a championship team,” she said. “I think it’s just waiting to come out right now.”
The last time the Gophers faced B.C. was last season; the two teams tied in the first meeting followed by a 2-1 win by the Gophers . Senior captain Gigi Marvin said it will be nice to play a team the Gophers don’t compete against four or five times a year.
Even though Minnesota doesn’t play Boston College every season, the Eagles have some ties to Minnesota. A familiar face is Boston’s assistant coach Courtney Kennedy . She was a member of the Minnesota women’s team from 1998-2001 and was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier award. Boston also has four skaters from Minnesota .
Erickson said she has talked to some other players who have taken on the Eagles already this season and knows they won’t be an easy team to get by.
“After seeing the rankings, I know that Boston College is a great team and talking with some of the players out East ¬— they’re one of the top teams,” she said. “They’re going to give us a run for our money.”