University Park, Pa — Noami Rogge’s wrister with fewer than two minutes to go in the second overtime sent Minnesota Duluth to their first national title game since 2010 and their seventh in program history.
McKenzie Hewett put pressure on Maddie Mills in the neutral zone as Mills tried to break out. Élizabeth Giguère picked up the loose puck and quickly fed it to Rogge, who had room in the center of the zone. She took a touch to gather the puck and put it through Skylar Fontaine’s legs. That seemed to be enough to fool Aerin Frankel, as the puck snuck under her arm at about waist height and into the net.
“You know when you’re in a double overtime game and people are getting tired and just wearing each other down, that something good is gonna happen. You just don’t know what side it’s going to be on. We were very happy that the puck wound up on Rogge’s stick from Giguère making a great pass and she had a fantastic finish,” said Minnesota Duluth coach Maura Crowell.The win was all that much sweeter for the Bulldogs, who were ousted from last year’s semifinal in overtime by this same Northeastern team.
“This is probably the best moment I’ve ever had in my career,” said Crowell.
It was a demanding, hard-fought game with a lot of back and forth and plenty of chances for both teams. The low score is a testament to the stellar goaltending on display. Two-time Goalie of the Year Frankel made 48 saves for Northeastern while UMD’s Emma Soderberg stopped 46.
Northeastern coach Dave Flint was effusive in his praise for Frankel.
“She gives us a chance to win every night. They play looser in front of her knowing that.
I’ve coached teams that didn’t have confidence in their goalie and they go in and play poorly. Not only does she stop a lot of shots, but she allows us to play the style of game we want,” he said.
Both teams did a great job of neutralizing their opponents’ top lines. Northeastern was able to keep Giguère to the outside and did a great job keeping a defender on her at all times. UMD were great with their sticks, poking the puck away, clearing the zone and not letting pucks get in on Soderberg. The Bulldogs also racked up 30 blocks. Patty Kazmaier top-ten finalist Alina Müller finished the game with just one shot.
After a scoreless first period, Northeastern freshman Skylar Irving scored her sixth goal of the year, but second goal of the tournament to put her team on the board first. Northeastern entered the zone with speed in a three on two. Katy Knoll carried it in and dropped it to Maddie Mills, who put a shot on net from the top inside of the left faceoff circle. Soderberg came out a bit to cut the angle and took the puck off the chest, but was not able to catch it. Mills nabbed her own rebound further out to the left and put the puck back towards the crease, behind Soderberg who was now out of position. Lizi Norton blocked that and then the next shot from her knees, but the rebound fell to Irving, who poked it in.
The Bulldogs withstood a flurry of pressure from the Huskies to close out the second and that might have been the difference in the game. Northeastern used goals in the waning seconds of the period to help propel both their NCAA quarterfinal and Hockey East championship wins.
Minnesota Duluth scored midway through the third on a tremendous shot from Taylor Anderson, who had six goals coming into the game, was able to settle an active puck in the slot and simply backhand it through traffic and over Frankel’s shoulder to tie the game. Naomi Rogge won the faceoff to the left of the net and the bounding puck went from her to McKenzie Hewett to Anderson for the goal.
Crowell called Anderson a Frozen Four killer – she scored one of her four goals last season in the semifinal against Northeastern.
Minnesota Duluth advances to face the winner of the second semifinal between Ohio State and Yale. The National Championship game is at 4 pm Eastern on Sunday, March 20 and will be televised on ESPNU.
