Caroline Harvey's overtime goal pushes UW past Minnesota at Frozen Four and into national championship game
DULUTH, Minn. – The game-winner, the goal that will go down as one of the most dramatic in Wisconsin history was just a blur to its author.
Freshman Caroline Harvey’s third game-winning goal of the season lifted the Badger women's hockey team to a 3-2 overtime victory over Minnesota on Friday night in front of a crowd of 3,425 at AMSOIL Arena and sent UW to the national final for the third time in four seasons.
Seniors Britta Curl and Jesse Compher got the assists on the game-winner. Also, give freshman Laila Edwards an unofficial assist for allowing the puck to pass her and reach Harvey.
The play was symbolic of the effort it took to knock off the No. 2 seed Golden Gophers in the tournament. It also punctuated another back-and-forth battle between the border rivals and earned the Badgers (28-10-2) a date with No. 1 Ohio State in the national final at 3 p.m. Sunday.
By then Harvey will probably have seen the play countless times.
“Honestly, I blacked out, but it was pretty crazy…,” Harvey said when ask to recall what happened. “It was a great team play out there. I was excited for our team to come together at the end like that.”
The goal completed a six-game grudge match between the two programs this season that featured three overtimes and two ties.
The Badgers and Gophers had a back-and-forth affair
To get the win Wisconsin shook off a slow start and an early deficit. The team then put on an impressive display during the second and for most of the third periods before giving up a potentially heart-breaking goal with 71 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
It was the kind of night that could leave you breathless.
“How good of a game was that,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said. “It was fun. Obviously we’re really excited. It was great ebbs and flows of overtime, both teams having great chances and opportunities …. This is the sixth time we’ve played each other and most of the games have been like that.”
BOX SCORE:Wisconsin 3, Minnesota 2 overtime
Minnesota (30-6-3) started fast, getting a goal from senior Taylor Heise during the fourth minute. For a good portion of the period the Gophers lived in UW’s zone, play that disappointed Johnson.
“The second media timeout (the message) was get back to little things,” he said. "We’ve got to move our feet. We’ve got to get the puck into the offensive zone. We’ve got to try to create some opportunities.
“Even between the first and second period I told the team we’ve got to go play like we’re capable of playing and leaving everything out there and I thought the latter part of the first period we started do some thing better and then we built of that.”
Laila Edwards, Sophie Shirley score back-to-back for UW
While Wisconsin began to right its ship late in the first period, its game really took off in the second when it out shot the Gophers, 17-7. The Badgers, however, weren't rewarded for their work until seventh minute of the third period.
Edwards tied the game off a pass from Compher at the 6:32 mark. Senior Sophie Shirley got the go-ahead score at the 7:25 mark off a pass from junior Maddi Wheeler.
“Our team knew we were due to score,” Harvey said. “We kept pressing on them. We were so close for so long. It about time we were going to put one in the net and it happened. Our team has so much fight in us, so much grit that we knew we were going to come back.”
The plays were the back end of a major momentum swing. At the 6:19 mark of the period, Gophers senior Grace Zimwinkle appeared to score, but officials quickly waved off the goal, ruling she used a high stick to make the play.
If that play isn’t waved off, Wisconsin goes down, 2-0 with about 14 minutes to play. Minnesota coach Brad Frost could have had requested a review of the play, but didn't want to burn a timeout for something he didn't think would be successful.
“I just know these refs. I was able to look on the screen, too at the replay," he said. "I would say 90% of the time whatever the call is on the ice is what it's going to be after replay, maybe even more like 95%. . And he waved it off right away.
Badgers maintain composure after allowing tying goal late in regulation
Closing out the game wouldn’t be easy, though. The Gophers mounted a furious rush during the final 5 minutes, which led to the game-tying score from Madeline Wethington with 71 seconds to play.
It was a potentially crushing moment that on this night didn’t have a lasting effect on the Badgers.
“I didn’t expect this to be an easy game. Minnesota is really a skilled team,” Kronish said. “We’ve had a lot of good battles with them this year. Every game we’ve played this year has been mental preparation for games like this.”
Kronish made 10 saves in overtime and finished the night with 37. Her save to stop a two-on-one break midway through the overtime period was arguably her best play of the night.
UW hopes she has more of those in her. In Ohio State, the Badgers will face a team that won three of the four meetings including the last contest, a 3-1 victory that clinched the Buckeyes the WCHA title.
Friday Ohio State had a relatively easy afternoon in eliminating Northeastern, 3-0
“I think it comes down to taking everything day by day,” Kronish said about preparing to face Ohio State. “Coach always tells us not to look too far ahead. It’s a three-period game. You can’t look too far to the end, just realizing we have 60 more minutes of hockey to play. It’s not over.
“We can ride that high tonight, but tomorrow morning it’s a clean slate and we need to get back to out game plan and focusing on what is coming next.”
More:Like his father Bob Johnson, Wisconsin women's hockey coach Mark Johnson loves to teach the game
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin women's hockey beats Minnesota, advances to national final
