Women's Hockey

The word “dominance” is synonymous with Shaquille O’Neal in his prime, a young Mike Tyson or Michael Jordan in the fourth quarter.

Oh, and the Gopher’s women’s hockey team, too.

After back-to-back road series, the No. 2 Gophers (15-3, 9-3 WCHA) will conclude a dominant first half of the season with a home series versus Ohio State. Then the team will take a break until Wisconsin comes to town Jan. 6.

Minnesota has crushed a majority of its opponents throughout the first half and is in the top-three nationally in numerous major statistical categories.

The No. 2 Gophers women’s hockey team split its final road series of the season’s first half with rival North Dakota.

Minnesota (15-3-0, 9-3-0 WCHA) dominated the Sioux in Friday’s contest, 7-2, to give No. 5 UND its first home loss of the year. But the Gophers failed to score a goal for the first time all season Saturday and fell 3-0.

“It was a tale of two different games. [Friday] we were able to get on the board early and often and were able to carry that momentum on throughout the game,” Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said.

The No. 2 Gophers women’s hockey team put its historical East Coast struggles aside and capped its nonconference season with a sweep of No. 9 Harvard in Boston.

Forward Emily West had five points on the weekend and forward Kelly Terry recorded a hat trick Sunday.

The wins give Minnesota (14-2-0, 8-2-0 WCHA) a 6-0 record in nonconference play.

“It was only our third road trip of the year,” head coach Brad Frost said. “To come all the way to Boston and play a very good Harvard team and to [sweep] was great for [the team’s] confidence,”

The No. 2 Gophers women’s hockey team will head east to No. 9 Harvard this weekend for its final nonconference series of the season.

Minnesota (12-2-0, 8-2 WCHA) is fresh off two blowout home wins over New Hampshire.

The Gophers’ only two losses this season were away from Ridder Arena. Minnesota split both its road series with No. 1 Wisconsin and Bemidji State.

This weekend’s trip will be the first of back-to-back road series, but goalie Noora Räty said the team has something to prove against (5-1) when it lands on the East Coast.

For the No. 2 Gophers women's hockey team, taking a two-goal lead after one period at home wasn't enough -- not nearly enough.

Minnesota (11-2) scored six second period goals against New Hampshire -- three by Amanda Kessel -- and went on to defeat the Wildcats 11-0 at Ridder Arena on Friday night.

Minnesota’s Jen Schoullis, Amanda Kessel and Mira Jalosuo of the women’s hockey team represented their respective countries in the Four Nations Cup last week.

The four-team tournament features the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden and has been held every year since 2000.

Schoullis and Kessel played for Team USA, and Jalosuo played for Finland. The United States won the tournament in dramatic fashion by beating Canada 4-3 in a shootout.

Team USA was 2-1 in the preliminaries, while Finland was 1-3.