Noora Räty breaks career shutout mark in sweep of St. Cloud State

Each of Noora Räty’s shutouts has been special in its own way, but her 22nd put her in the record books.

Räty’s shutout in Saturday’s win against St. Cloud State moved her past Erica Killewald for most shutouts in Gophers history, and she still has her senior year to add to that total.

“When you look back at school history and all the goalies they have had here, it’s special,” Räty said.

Her effort Saturday helped No. 2 Minnesota (24-4-2, 18-4-2 WCHA) earn a 7-0 victory and finish a sweep of St. Cloud State after it defeated the Huskies 8-1 on Friday.

“She’s the backbone of our team,” Gophers head coach Brad Frost said of his All-American goaltender. “She’s definitely proved that she’s the best goalie in the history of the program.”

The weekend, however, did not start exactly the way Räty and the Gophers would have liked. SCSU (5-23-2, 4-20-0 WCHA) scored just 52 seconds into Friday’s game.

But Minnesota responded with eight unanswered goals that evening.

Amanda Kessel, who hadn’t scored a goal since Jan. 14 against Minnesota-Duluth, led the way with two goals and four assists.

“When I scored my first goal on Friday, I usually don’t celebrate too much on goals, but I actually screamed ‘Yeah!’” Kessel said. “I was pretty pumped. It was a great weekend for everyone.”

Jen Schoullis had two goals, and defensemen Anne Schleper and Megan Bozek had four points apiece.

Saturday was much of the same. Emily West had a pair of goals, and six different Gophers scored on the afternoon.  But the day belonged to Räty.

“It was great to see her break that record,” Kessel said. “I said something with only a few minutes left, and our coach Nadine [Muzerall] kind of made me shut up because she didn’t want me to curse it.”

Minnesota has just two more regular season series before the WCHA tournament. Räty said she was happier that the team as a whole played better than it had in recent weeks against Bemidji State and Minnesota State.

“This weekend we really stepped up,” she said. “The whole team played well. It looks good for next weekend [against Ohio State] and then for North Dakota.”