Advertisement

Women’s hockey: Gophers use four-goal first period to topple Penn State

staff report, pioneer press
·2 min read

After failing to score first the last three games, the third-ranked Gophers women’s hockey team came out with gusto at the Henderson Collegiate Hockey Showcase, scoring four first-period goals en route to a dominant 5-1 victory over Penn State Friday night in Henderson, Nev.

Minnesota advances to the title game against No. 5 Yale at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Madison Kaiser and Peyton Hemp each had a goal and an assist, Crystalyn Hengler tabbed a pair of assists and the Gophers saw five different skaters score as they bounced back from Sunday’s loss at Wisconsin. Kaiser scored the opening goal at 5:34 in the first, opening the floodgates.

Taylor Heise scored less than three minutes later to extend her point streak to eight games, and Hemp and Grace Zumwinkle scored later in the frame as Minnesota (10-2-2) opened up a whopping 4-0 lead. Zumwinkle’s goal was the 93rd of her career, which ties for seventh most in program history.

“A really good start to the tournament and the game for us,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “Scoring four goals in the first period was obviously huge and we came up with a bunch of big kills in the second and third. Penn State really pushed back in the second, but our four-goal cushion was really beneficial.”

Courtney Correia got the Nittany Lions (10-8-1) on the board in the second period, their first goal in program history against the Gophers. That was all the offense they could muster.

Ella Huber added a third-period goal to finalize the score at 5-1.

Skylar Vetter started in net for Minnesota, stopping 9 of 10 shots in her 10th consecutive start before being replaced by Makayla Pahl midway through the second period. Pahl stopped all 17 shots she faced.

Related Articles