Western Collegiate Hockey Association
UM's Gigi Marvin is the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week |
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Race to the Finish Line - Three Teams in Hunt for WCHA Championship; UM's Marvin, OSU's Bonanno, UW's Deluce Named WCHA Players of the Week
Feb. 20, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
MADISON, Wis. - It will go down to the final weekend to determine who will win the women's Western Collegiate Hockey Association title for 2007-08. Three teams - league-leading and No. 3-ranked Minnesota Duluth, No. 4-ranked Minnesota, which has the nation's longest unbeaten streak, and two-time defending champion and No. 5-ranked Wisconsin - still have hopes of winning the WCHA regular season championship with two games remaining in the season.
The Golden Gophers used a goal and an assist from forward Gigi Marvin in each game and beat St. Cloud State twice last Friday and Saturday (Feb. 15-16) in a home-and-home WCHA series by 4-2 and 5-2 scores. The two victories stretched their nation's best unbeaten streak to 21 games (19-0-2), their winning streak to 11, and moved them within one point of league-leading and idle Minnesota Duluth in the race for the league championship.
Wisconsin got shutouts from goaltenders Jessie Vetter and Alannah McCready and took 4-0 and 3-0 victories over visiting Bemidji State to keep their hopes for at least a share of a third consecutive conference title alive while Ohio State moved into fifth place with 3-2 and 4-0 conference wins over visiting Minnesota State. The Badgers, who have won 13 of their last 14 games, can still earn a share of the regular season crown, although UMD owns the playoff seeding tie-breaker vs the UW by virtue of a 3-1-0 mark in head-to-head competition. If two or more teams tie for the regular season title, they will be declared co-champions.
Minnesota Duluth (25-4-1, 22-4-0 WCHA) continues to lead the league with 44 points, Minnesota (25-4-3, 21-4-1 WCHA) is second with 43 points and Wisconsin (23-7-2, 19-5-2 WCHA) is third with 40 points. St. Cloud State (16-11-5, 11-11-4 WCHA) is fourth with 26 points. The top four teams have all clinched home ice for the playoffs.Ohio State (14-15-3, 9-14-3 WCHA) moved into fifth place with 21 points, two ahead of sixth place Minnesota State (10-19-1, 9-16-1 WCHA). North Dakota (4-23-5, 4-19-3 WCHA) in seventh with 11 points and Bemidji State (4-25-3, 1-23-2 WCHA) is eighth with four points.
There will be four WCHA series contested this weekend (Feb. 22-24), but the key games will be played on Saturday-Sunday when No. 3-ranked Minnesota Duluth, which has won 17 of its last 18 games, hosts St. Cloud State and Minnesota, which is unbeaten in its last 16 games at home, hosts Wisconsin. On Friday and Saturday, Ohio State plays at Bemidji State and Minnesota State entertains North Dakota. First, second and third place in the final WCHA standings are up for grabs on the final regular season weekend, along with the fifth and sixth place spots.
The first round of the league playoffs will be held Feb. 29-March 2 and will feature all eight conference-member teams in a best-of-three series format. The No. 8 seed will play at No. 1, No. 7 at No. 2, No. 6 at No. 3 and No. 5 at No.4 St. Cloud State. The winners of the first round series will then advance to the 2008 WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF at the Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center (DECC) in Duluth, Minn., March 8-9.
In this week's (Feb. 18) two women's Div. 1 national polls - the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll and the USCHO.com/CSTV Poll, the WCHA had three of it's member teams ranked among the top 10. Minnesota Duluth is No. 3, Minnesota is No. 4, and Wisconsin is No. 5 in both polls.
This Week in the WCHA
Games for Friday, February 22: Ohio State at Bemidji State, 7:07 pm CT
North Dakota at Minnesota State, 7:07 pm CT.
Games for Saturday, February 23: Ohio State at Bemidji State, 2:07 pm CT
Wisconsin at Minnesota, 4:07 pm CT
North Dakota at Minnesota State, 3:07 pm CT
St. Cloud State at Minnesota Duluth, 3:37 pm CT.
Games for Sunday, February 24: Wisconsin at Minnesota, 3:07 pm CT
St. Cloud State at Minnesota Duluth, 3:07 pm CT.
• END OF REGULAR SEASON •
WCHA Players of the Week
WCHA Offensive Player of the Week
Gigi Marvin, Jr., F, University of Minnesota
Gigi Marvin, a junior from Warroad, Minn., had four points in the University of Minnesota's series sweep over St. Cloud State last weekend. This marks the third offensive player of the week honor for Marvin this season. She also earned the honor on Dec. 4 (vs BSU) and Feb. 12 (vs OSU).
In the first game last Friday (Feb. 15), Marvin netted a power-play goal and set up another power-play goal en route to a 4-2 Golden Gophers' victory.
She then followed that performance with a four-on-four goal last Saturday (Feb. 16) and also set up another power-play goal for a four-point weekend.
With her four points, Marvin now leads the WCHA in overall scoring with 44 points on 18 goals and 26 assists in 32 games, and she is two points behind UMD's Haley Irwin in the conference scoring race with 16-21-37.
Others nominated this week were: Amanda Stohr, F, Minnesota State
Lisa Chesson, D, Ohio State
and Jinelle Zaugg, F, Wisconsin.
WCHA Defensive Player of the Week
Liana Bonanno, Jr., G, Ohio State University
Liana Bonanno, a junior goaltender from Mount Sinai, N.Y., helped the Ohio State University Buckeyes limit Minnesota State to just two goals in a two-game conference sweep of the visiting Mavericks on Feb. 15-16 at the OSU Ice Rink.
She stopped a combined 41 of 43 shots faced in the two games for a .953 series save percentage as Ohio State recorded 3-2 and 4-0 victories to move into fifth place in the WCHA. She was on her way to recording her third shutout of the season last Saturday (Feb. 16), stopping all 20 shots faced in her 51 minutes of action, before being replaced by Jill Mauch on senior day. She allowed only one power-play goal to the Mavericks as she helped the Buckeyes to a 12-of-13 mark (92.3%) on the penalty-kill.
Others nominated this week were: Anya Miller, D, Minnesota
and Andreanne Thibault, D, Minnesota State.
WCHA Rookie of the Week
Mallory Deluce, Fr., F, University of Wisconsin
Mallory Deluce, a freshman forward from London, Ontario, scored three points last weekend to help host University of Wisconsin earn a two-game WCHA series sweep of Bemidji State in Madison. She previously earned the rookie of the week award on both Oct. 16 (vs OSU) and Oct. 23 (@ SCSU).
On Friday, Feb. 15, Deluce notched the primary assist on teammate Kayla Hagen's goal early in the second period as the Badgers earned a 4-0 win over BSU.
The following day (Saturday, Feb. 16), Deluce recorded a pair of assists, including the primary assist on Jinelle Zaugg's game-winning goal, in Wisconsin's 3-0 triumph.
For the season, Deluce is ranked in the top six on the UW team in goals (11), assists (14), points (25) and game-winning goals (three). She is currently riding a career best five-game point streak, tallying seven points (0-7-7) in that stretch.
Others nominated this week were: Jen Schoulis, F, Minnesota
Nina Tikkinen, F, Minnesota State
and Shannon Reilly, D, Ohio State.
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