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MINNEAPOLIS — In the end, it was the team’s depth that did it. Behind a balanced offensive attack spearheaded that included four different goal scorers, as well as a goal and assist from senior Rachel Bona, the Minnesota Golden Gophers defeated the Harvard Crimson, 4-1, to reclaim the national championship in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,400 at Ridder Arena Sunday.
For Bona and her senior classmates, Meghan Lorence and Rachel Ramsey and Shyler Sletta, it was their third national championship in four years. However, Ramsey deflected any mention of dynasty.
“I don’t know if the team or coach or players want to say, ‘Yes, this is a dynasty,'” said Ramsey. “I will say that I think what we’ve done is incredibly special. Don’t know if it will happen again. We’ll leave it up to you guys to decide if it’s a dynasty or not.”
Concurred Minnesota coach Brad Frost, “I think I’m in the midst of something really special. Like I said earlier, I don’t know what is going on, but being a person of faith, I know that God has a plan, and I said that a couple of years ago. … We have unbelievable kids. We don’t talk a lot about winning; we talk about the process, and we end up winning three national championships in the last four years. It’s kind of ironic how that works.”
The first period proved a defensive battle, Minnesota getting two power plays and Harvard three, but neither team could get the special teams goal. Both teams settled into an up and down flow, with neither willing to make a mistake.
However, with under a minute to go, Dani Cameranesi sent a perfect pass to Megan Wolfe in the right faceoff circle, and Wolfe took two strides and roofed a shot top corner with 51 seconds left in the period. It was Wolfe’s third goal of the year.
“I’ve been playing with Megan all year, and that’s her shot to be honest,” said Bona. “I’ve seen numerous of those pucks go in that same exact spot, so I wasn’t very surprised when it went in.”
“Late period goals are no fun, number one,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone. “These are the kinds of games where things happen like that. You’ve got an unsung hero. Someone steps up, maybe has a point or two in their season, and all of a sudden they make it happen, because they really aren’t expecting it much.”
Despite the late goal, Minnesota didn’t seize the momentum early in the second, and for a few minutes, the Crimson put the Gophers on their heels, generating a lot of shots, but were unable to beat Minnesota goaltender Amanda Leveille.
“She’s good; she’s a good goaltender, and honestly we didn’t get to the goaltender much except for flurries in the game,” said Stone. “I think that’s a testament to their defense and their transition defense. They blocked a lot of shots, they took things away from the middle of the ice.”
“They are a very fast team, and in my opinion one of the fastest we’ve played all year,” said Ramsey. “We thought going in that they were going to play as a team and as a full unit, and they did that. They were fantastic in the neutral zone. I think it’s interesting because most teams, most games, it’s like that where you’re in your zone 50-50 like that, and we’re not used to it. I’m sure for anybody watching, it’s a strange sight to see, but we were very happy with how we played in the D zone.”
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Neither team could capitalize offensively in the second. The third continued with a lot of defense first. Then at 8:50, Minnesota’s top scorer, Hannah Brandt, came through. Maryanne Menefee carried the puck up the left-side boards and passed it to Brandt in the slot, sending her in alone on Harvard goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer. Brandt lifted a backhander stick side to put Minnesota up by two and seemingly seal the deal as time was winding down.
However, Harvard quickly pulled back within one when Sarah Edney carried the puck deep along the boards and sent an off-angle shot from almost in the left corner that hit Leveille and bounced in at 15:06.
“I’m thinking, ‘Man, I’d love to get it to two,’ and then we did, and they come back to get that one,” said Frost. “I love the way our team plays in the third with a lead. We were forcing them to go 200 feet.”
Harvard barely had time to think it was back in the game before Minnesota’s depth came up big. Freshman Kelly Pannek got a pass off to Meghan Lorence in the right faceoff circle, and Lorence quickly buried a shot top shelf at 16:54.
“As I was telling Rachel Bona and Kelly, I said, ‘Your line has to make a difference tonight,'” said Minnesota coach Brad Frost. “Harvard has such great defensemen that it was hard to get matchups with Brandt’s line as to who we wanted out there in regards to their D. What a difference those guys made tonight. Our third line played exceptional tonight as well.”
Harvard was kept pinned in its own end for the next minute, and when it finally got the puck into the zone, Maschmeyer went to the bench for an extra skater. It proved a bad time however, as Bona stole the puck in the Minnesota zone while Maschmeyer was almost at the bench and raced up ice, scoring an empty-net goal to seal the win at 18:12.
“I don’t know how you explain what’s going on,” said Frost. “To have these two and Meghan Lorence and Shyler Sletta play four national championship games in a row in their career, and then to come away with three of them, I just think it speaks volumes to our team and our program and our players. We are so blessed and so fortunate. I feel incredibly blessed to coach at the University of Minnesota, let alone to coach such great people and players as these guys are.”
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