For the second night in a row, No. 1 Minnesota picked up a convincing road win over Minnesota State on the strength of its specialty teams. In yesterday’s 6-1 win, the Gophers had three power play goals and two shorthanded goals. In today’s 6-0 victory before 610 fans at All Season Arena, the Gophers netted two power play goals and three shorthanded.
The offense of the Gophers (8-0-0, 8-0-0 WCHA) was too much for the defense of the Mavericks (0-5-1, 0-5-1 WCHA) as Minnesota junior forwards Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell combined for nine points on the night.
“That first line of theirs is unbelievable,” said MSU coach Jeff Vizenor. “The team that can finally contain Darwitz, Wendell and [Kelly] Stevens will have some success.”
The Gophers, who haven’t trailed all season, once again jumped out to an early lead after Darwitz and Wendell each scored first period goals. The Mavericks only managed six shots on goal in the opening period.
In the second period, Darwitz exploded for three goals, two of which were short-handed. Minnesota State was failed to score on six power plays and fell behind 5-0 at the secnd intermission.
“[The short handed goals are] something I’m really disappointed in,” Vizenor said. “We actually got better on the power play when we moved to just regular lines. Just playing with their own line and communicating a little bit better, we had more success.”
The Gophers came out firing again in the third period, but the Mavericks limited them to one goal. The lone score came just 33 seconds into the period, after Minnesota freshman forward Bobbi Ross slapped the puck past sophomore goaltender Laura Brennan while falling to the ice. Brennan made 22 saves in the third period and 43 total for the game.
“I was impressed with both the goalies for Minnesota State,” said Minnesota head coach Laura Halldorson. “I know they’re young so they’ll only get better. They have big skates to fill in Shari Vogt, but they’re doing a great job.”
Even though Minnesota dominated the weekend’s play, Vizenor believes the series was a learning experience for his team.
“I know we had to play at a pace and a speed that we had not had to until this point,” Vizenor said. “With the best team in the country, we really had to move our feet. The times we didn’t move our feet, all the sudden it’s in the back of our net. It’s only gonna make us better.”
With each weekend the Gophers seem to get more confident, but complacency isn’t something Halldorson is too worried about with her team.
“It’s something that I’m sort of guarding against,” Halldorson said. “What I’m happy about is I think our team is so competitive that they’re not going to let that happen.”
Another concern for Minnesota is getting contributions from other places than just the first line, which is something Halldorson is working on.
“We want to get scoring from different sources, but we know that a big part of our offense comes from our power-play and our top line,” Halldorson said. “We’ll keep working on it with the other players and try to get some goal scoring from other sources, but they’re working hard and I think it will come.”
The Gophers really haven’t faced a true challenge this season. With the over-powering play, the question arises, “Can this team go undefeated?”
“That’s a great question,” Vizenor said. “I think it’s pretty tough to stay that consistent and that healthy for the whole season, but they have a shot at it.”
Minnesota will try to keep their winning streak in tact as they host Ohio State next weekend. The Mavericks willl travel to St. Cloud State in search of their first win of the season.
