Western Collegiate Hockey Association
UMD sophomore Kim Martin had the shutout, getting help here from Laura Fridfinnson, skating the puck out of danger. |
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Bulldogs Build Slowly, then Erupt for 9-0 Romp
March 8, 2008
By John Gilbert
DULUTH, MN. - Top-seeded Minnesota-Duluth stayed on course through the tightly contested first half of the first WCHA - Women's Final Faceoff Saturday afternoon, then erupted for a flurry of goals to advance to Sunday's championship game with a 9-0 romp over St. Cloud Stata.
The Bulldogs (30-4-1) got two goals from both Elin Holmlov and Haley Irwin, and the usual perfect goaltending from Kim Martin on their home Duluth Entertainment Convention Center ice to end the season for the Huskies (18-15-5), who played a near-flawless game to trail just 1-0 for nearly a period and a half.
"I'm very pleased at how we played throughout our lineup, strting with Kim in goal, and everyone contributed, while I got to play our entire bench," said UMD coach Shannon Miller. "I thought both goalkeepers, ours and theirs, made it a 0-0 game for most of the first period."
It was not as easy as the 9-0 score implies."The game started out well, and the team worked hard," said St. Cloud State coach Jeff Giesen. "We played exactly how we wanted to play, even when it got to be 1-0. We were a couple inches from making it 1-1, but then it got away from us a little."
St.Cloud State senior Kendall Newell dueled Martin in the scoreless goalie duel for the first 17 minutes. UMD broke through when freshman defenseman Jocelyn Larocque fired a hard shot that Emmanuelle Blais deflected past Newell at 17:20 for a 1-0 lead.
It remained 1-0 while UMD killed off a pair of penalties in the second period, then Holmlov smacked in a set-up from Blais for a goal at 9:21, making it 2-0. Even that was manageable for the Huskies, but the goal seemed to ignite a quick-acting sequence. Laura Fast was penalized 13 seconds later, and Holmlov scored again on the power play just 11 seconds after it started, at 9:45, to make it 3-0. The Huskies claimed they weren't dispirited by the quick change from 1-0 to 3-0, but Laura Fridfinnson scored another for UMD at 10:44, making it a three-goal barrage in 1:23, for a 4-0 lead.
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"At 1-0 and even 2-0, they still could feel like they're in the game, so the third goal was huge," said Irwin, a freshman from Thunder Bay, Ontario, who led the WCHA in scoring, and notched her 20^th and 21^st goals in the game.
St. Cloud State seemed to break through Martin's flawless goaltending at 13:38 of the middle period, but the goal was kicked in, and, after a review, disallowed. Fast went off for an extremely rare slashing double minor at 14:05, and Sara O'Toole scored with a carom shot off Newell from behind the goal line for a 5-0 cushion at the second intermission.
"This isn't how we pictured this weekend going," said Newell. "We planned on winning and playing again tomorrow. But I think all of us seniors take pride in what we've accomplished over four years, and hope the team can keep going from here."
Once UMD got rolling, it kept up the momentum. "We moved the puck very well, and we had fun out there," said Holmlov, who now has 19 goals.
Erin Olson got her first goal of the season to open the third period, then Irwin stickhandled around and through the faltering Huskies defense to score on her own second shot at the crease for a 7-0, and when Newell was given relief by Ashley Nixon, Saara Tuominen and Irwin scored for the final margin.
