MINNEAPOLIS — Grace Zumwinkle’s slap shot found its way through Lauren Bench with 26.7 seconds left in overtime to give Minnesota a 3-2 win over Bemidji State.
“Great team win, gutting it out again against a very good team,” coach Brad Frost said. “Finding a way to pull it out there in overtime again is a pretty special feeling for our team, and we’re pretty excited about it.”
It was the second straight win in an extra session for the Gophers (14-4-1, 9-3-1-0 WCHA) and their fourth of the season.
After the Beavers (5-10-2, 3-7-1-1 WCHA) had the better of play in the first couple of minutes of OT and the contest appeared headed for a shootout, Caitlin Reilly was able to send a pass across to Zumwinkle, who hammered a shot on net.
“It’s one of my strong assets, so utilizing that will help me in college hockey,” she said of her eighth goal of her freshman season.
BSU opened the scoring at 16:25 of the first period. Briana Jorde’s shot from the point went off the skate of Minnesota defenseman Patti Marshall and into the net for Jorde’s first tally as a Beaver.
“You get one, you want to get that next one,” Beavers coach Jim Scanlan said. “I thought that would have been key to go up two. We had some great chances.”
Reilly tied it up on a power play at 13:42 of the second stanza. She was about to pick her glove up when the puck came to her in the slot, so she opted to shoot sans glove, and her shot snuck through the five hole.
“That power-play goal, as unorthodox as it was by Caitlin, trying to pick up her glove, in every game, special teams are big,” Frost said.
Less than two minutes later with the teams skating four on four, Emily Brown gave the Gophers their first lead with a snipe from the left point.
“Sometimes the puck has eyes, sometimes it doesn’t,” Scanlan said.
The Beavers knotted the score in the final minute of the frame when Paige Beebe picked the top corner on a rush.
“Very frustrating to come out with nothing,” Scanlan said. “Really good hockey game, really proud of our effort tonight.”
Sidney Peters made 24 saves to garner her eighth win, while Bench was saddled with the loss despite recording 34 stops.
The season series concludes with a 4:07 p.m. faceoff on Saturday, and the Gophers know it won’t be easy.
“You look at their team now, compared to what they were a couple years ago, and how much faster, bigger, stronger, more offensive they are,” Frost said. “Jim is doing such a nice job getting those guys up on their toes and applying the pressure. Sometimes, you just have to weather the storm, in particular with the four D or three D that we had there for a while.”
