Western Collegiate Hockey Association
Deluce Sends Badgers to Frozen Four
March 15, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS -- Led by goals from three freshman, including the game-winner 1:29 into overtime by Mallory Deluce, the No. 4/5 Wisconsin women's hockey team outlasted No. 5/4 Minnesota 3-2 Saturday night at Ridder Arena in an NCAA quarterfinal.
Kelly Nash (Bonita, Calif.) and Hilary Knight (Hanover, N.H.) each scored in regulation as the two-time defending NCAA champion Badgers (28-8-3 overall) advanced to the Frozen Four, held March 20 and 22 in Duluth, Minn., for the third straight season.
Just as in the previous two runs to the national title, the Badgers needed overtime to reach the Frozen Four. Junior goalie Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) made 21 saves, all in regulation, to improve her career NCAA record to 7-0-0.
At the other end, freshman goalie Jenny Lura stopped 23 shots for Minnesota, which closed out the season with a record of 27-7-4.
Nash gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead 8:19 into the opening period with her seventh goal of the season. Junior Kayla Hagen (Crosslake, Minn.) fired a shot at the net from the bottom of the right circle that hit Nash in front and deflected past Lura. Freshman defenseman Olivia Jakiel (Santa Clarita, Calif.) earned the second assist on the play.
Gigi Marvin tied the game at 1-1 with just over four minutes left in the first period. After a deflected shot found Marvin all alone in front of Vetter, Marvin made a quick move with the puck and flipped the puck over Vetter for a power-play goal.
The game remained tied until the final second of the middle stanza. Emily West fired a shot on goal that hit Vetter and went in with no time showing on the clock. However, it was determined that the puck went in before the period ended and the Gophers went to the locker room with a 2-1 lead.
Knight wasted no time in coming up with a response for the Badgers. After Lawler won the opening faceoff of the third period, freshman Malee Windmeier (Champlin, Minn.) hit Knight with a pass heading into the UM zone. Knight cut to the net and tucked a backhander over Lura's shoulder and under the crossbar for her 20th goal of the season just 14 seconds into the third period.
The rest of the third period passed by without a goal and the two teams returned to the ice for overtime. Deluce (London, Ontario) then punched Wisconsin's ticket to the DECC with her 13th goal of the season 1:29 into the extra session. Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) and Jinelle Zaugg (Eagle River, Wis.) worked the puck to the net where Deluce deflected it past Lura in a scramble.
The Badgers finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play while Minnesota went 1-for-2.
Wisconsin will face No. 1-seed Harvard in the first semifinal of the
Frozen Four on March 20 at the DECC. Faceoff is slated for 5 p.m. CT.
The game will be a rematch of the epic four-overtime NCAA quarterfinal
from last season, when 5,125 fans at the Kohl Center saw Zaugg send the
Badgers past the Crimson 1-0.
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