Gophers' title chase ends in semifinal loss

All too often seasons are ended abruptly in mid-March, as was the case Friday for the Gophers women’s hockey team.
No. 3 Minnesota saw its season come to a close with a 3-2 loss to No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA semifinals at Ridder Arena.
The game played out similarly to the teams’ previous meeting, a 3-2 Bulldogs victory in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship game March 7, with Minnesota-Duluth (30-8-2) jumping out to a 2-0 lead in both.
The first goal came when Bulldogs forward Laura Fridfinnson wrapped around the net and had her shot initially denied by Gophers freshman goalie Noora Räty . But the puck slid under Räty and just past the goal line only 5:55 into the game.
Minnesota (26-9-5) outplayed its rival for much of the first period. The Gophers didn’t tally a penalty in the first 20 minutes, while Minnesota-Duluth was called for too many players on the ice twice.
Although the Gophers outshot their opponent 13-7 in the first period, they couldn’t find the back of the net.
“I think everyone thought we had the jump on them throughout that whole period,” junior forward Emily West said. “It’s tough going in, but you have to realize that there are two more periods to play and try and gather yourself and do everything you can to get back in it.”
The second period was a different story, though. The Gophers took four penalties and couldn’t get their offense set up.
“It’s just a momentum thing,” head coach Brad Frost said. “[The Bulldogs] naturally got some shots … but I thought we did a nice job killing [penalties]. In the first period we were all over them; we were moving our feet and doing a lot of great things. Then they started moving their feet a little more, and I guess we started … doing the things that put us in the box.”
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs cleaned up their first-period mistakes and didn’t visit the penalty box in the second period.
Emmanuelle Blais put Minnesota-Duluth up 2-0 at 12:55 in the second.
“I think obviously it was good for us,” Blais said. “I think it helped us a lot and maybe break their confidence a little bit.”
The Gophers finally got on the board when sophomore Sarah Erickson caught a pass from West in the neutral zone, rushed the net and knocked the puck past Minnesota-Duluth goalie Jennifer Harss at 17:30 in the second period.
But Blais answered with her second goal less than two minutes later to restore the Bulldogs’ two-goal lead.
“The first minute after every goal is huge for us,” Erickson said. “We didn’t capitalize after we got that first goal, and they did.”
After a back-and-forth third period, the Gophers sought to mount a late-game comeback and pulled Räty with a little over one minute to play. West managed to knock the puck out of the air in a crowd and past Harss to make it 3-2 with just less than 55 seconds remaining.
“[Our plan was to] just empty the tank,” West said. “We knew that there’s 50 seconds that could possibly be left in our season.”
It proved to be too little too late for the Gophers, who lost in the national semifinals for the second-straight year.
The Bulldogs advanced to Sunday’s championship game at Ridder Arena against Cornell, which upset top-ranked Mercyhurst in overtime Friday.
The Gophers defeated Minnesota-Duluth in the teams’ first two meetings this season, but they lost their fourth straight to the Bulldogs on Friday.
“I think we’re a team with a lot of heart, and that’s why it’s so hard to swallow right now,” West said. “Because you look at those six games, and they got some bounces, I would say, and sometimes we couldn’t buy a bounce … It is what it is.”
With a roster full of returning talent, including five of the team’s top six scorers, Frost said next year’s Gophers will be hungry for another chance at a national title.
“It’s tough,” Frost said. “I felt like we played hard right until the final horn. I don’t think there were too many people that felt we would be in this position at the Frozen Four … so it’s been a great journey, and [I’m] sad to see it come to an end tonight. But I think our players can hold their heads high and be proud of their effort.”