If there was any doubt that Minnesota’s Krissy Wendell would be healthy for this weekend’s Harvard Shootout tournament, she put it to rest in a matter of minutes against Northeastern on Friday afternoon.
Wendell scored an unassisted power play goal just 2:17 into the game and finished with a hat trick in her team’s 8-1 win over the Huskies. The No. 1 Gophers (12-0-1) took a 3-0 first period lead on Northeastern (2-9-1) and never looked back.
Wendell had missed most of Minnesota’s 2-2 tie last Saturday against Minnesota-Duluth with an abdominal wall contusion but showed no ill effects today.
“I knew I was going to play in my mind,” Wendell said. “I just made sure I didn’t take any major hits and generally I felt good out there. Any mistakes out there were mistakes I’d have made regardless of injury.”
Aside from Wendell’s hat trick, the Gophers received scoring from players listed on every line. Sophomore Becky Wacker, senior Noelle Sutton and freshman Erica McKenzie all had goals for the Gophers. The Gophers went 4-for-7 on the power play and 1-for-8 on the penalty kill.
“We tried a lot of different people on the PK,” said Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson. “So it was good to see different personnel out there and get a good look at other players as we continue to fine-tune our line combinations.”
Northeastern’s brightest moment was a goal by Nikki Petrich on a two-man advantage.
“On the 5-on-3 they played it perfect,” said Northeastern coach Laura Schuler. “It was great puck movement, and they read and reacted and adjusted well, and Nikki was right there to fire it in. I couldn’t ask for a more picture-perfect power play goal. Hopefully we can do the same thing for tomorrow.”
Halldorson said she was impressed with Northeastern’s work ethic, which Schuler hopes will carry over to tomorrow’s game against No. 5 Wisconsin.
“We definitely want to keep the same intensity, and play with the same heart and energy,” Schuler said. “What we do want to do tomorrow is capitalize on any opportunities we get.”
The Gophers are excited to play No. 4 Harvard tomorrow, seeing as it is one of the few opportunities they have to play a top eastern opponent.
“I know we could have played a little better today, but I also know there is a natural tendency to think about the next day’s opponent more when you know they are such a good team, so I thought it was a pretty good game,” Halldorson said.
