Re: Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2009-2010
Final, game #1: UMD 3, Minnesota 1
Gophers came out blazing and throwing the kitchen sink at UMD goaltender Jennifer Harss. In addition to 21 first-period shots on goal, the Gophers had a good number of attempts that missed high -- it looked like they thought that was Harss' weakness. Harss was also giving up a number of rebounds on the low shots, and it was one rebound that Laura May was able to flip over Harss and into the net.
But unfortunately they only got the one in the frame. 
On the other end, the Gophers were giving up some odd-man rushes, but UMD was either missing the net or not completing the final pass. The Bulldogs only had 6 shots on goal in the first period.
The first 10 minutes of the second period was back and forth, but neither team had anything really materialize. Finally it was UMD that got it going and struck paydirt on another odd-man rush; Fridfinnson brought the puck up the ice and decided to take it herself, beating Grogan five-hole (just barely -- the puck just trickled in) to tie it at 1-1. The Gophers struggled in the latter half... they couldn't get any of the pressure on Harss that they had in the first period.
The third period got a really bad start. After an initial chance by the Gophers, the Bulldogs came back into the Minnesota zone. Fridfinnson dumped a weak backhand onto Grogan, which got past her and sat on the goal line. Katherine Wilson came in and shoved it in the rest of the way. 2-1 Dogs.
The final Bulldog goal came on another odd-man rush. It didn't look like an odd-man rush initially, as the Gophers had the leading two Bulldogs well covered. But Emmanuelle Blais executed a drop pass to a wide-open Fridfinnson -- no Gopher had picked her up coming in behind the play -- and she put it past Grogan for the 3-1 lead.
Finally, with 3:42 left, the Gophers got a power play when UMD's Vanessa Thibault got whistled for interference. But after only getting one really good opportunity on goal in the first 45 seconds of the power play, UMD got it deep in the Gopher zone and was able to hold it down there the remaining 1:15. UMD's forecheck was aided by several blind passes by Gopher defenders into completely open space -- no one around. Ugly, ugly, you-gly. That pretty much sealed it. Despite the fact that the Gophers got a subsequent PP opportunity and pulled Grogan for a 6-on-4, they couldn't capitalize. Game over. 3-1 Dogs.
Not sure what the Gophs can do to improve offensively. The energy in the first period was fantastic. They just needed to get the puck past Harss.
The defensive struggle is a little more obvious... they can't continue to yield the odd-man rushes. Even though UMD couldn't capitalize in the first, it killed us in the second and third. This is exactly what Coach Frost talked about after the North Dakota series two weeks ago.
I'm not even going to comment about the officiating, other than to say that it was Dan Lick and Perrault (not Dave Lick as the box score indicates). But I'll will mention that Shannon Miller called them over for another one of her patented gripe sessions after the second period.
So the rematch is tomorrow at 7 p.m. We'll see what happens. Not good. Not good at all.
Final, game #1: UMD 3, Minnesota 1
Gophers came out blazing and throwing the kitchen sink at UMD goaltender Jennifer Harss. In addition to 21 first-period shots on goal, the Gophers had a good number of attempts that missed high -- it looked like they thought that was Harss' weakness. Harss was also giving up a number of rebounds on the low shots, and it was one rebound that Laura May was able to flip over Harss and into the net.
But unfortunately they only got the one in the frame. On the other end, the Gophers were giving up some odd-man rushes, but UMD was either missing the net or not completing the final pass. The Bulldogs only had 6 shots on goal in the first period.
The first 10 minutes of the second period was back and forth, but neither team had anything really materialize. Finally it was UMD that got it going and struck paydirt on another odd-man rush; Fridfinnson brought the puck up the ice and decided to take it herself, beating Grogan five-hole (just barely -- the puck just trickled in) to tie it at 1-1. The Gophers struggled in the latter half... they couldn't get any of the pressure on Harss that they had in the first period.
The third period got a really bad start. After an initial chance by the Gophers, the Bulldogs came back into the Minnesota zone. Fridfinnson dumped a weak backhand onto Grogan, which got past her and sat on the goal line. Katherine Wilson came in and shoved it in the rest of the way. 2-1 Dogs.
The final Bulldog goal came on another odd-man rush. It didn't look like an odd-man rush initially, as the Gophers had the leading two Bulldogs well covered. But Emmanuelle Blais executed a drop pass to a wide-open Fridfinnson -- no Gopher had picked her up coming in behind the play -- and she put it past Grogan for the 3-1 lead.
Finally, with 3:42 left, the Gophers got a power play when UMD's Vanessa Thibault got whistled for interference. But after only getting one really good opportunity on goal in the first 45 seconds of the power play, UMD got it deep in the Gopher zone and was able to hold it down there the remaining 1:15. UMD's forecheck was aided by several blind passes by Gopher defenders into completely open space -- no one around. Ugly, ugly, you-gly. That pretty much sealed it. Despite the fact that the Gophers got a subsequent PP opportunity and pulled Grogan for a 6-on-4, they couldn't capitalize. Game over. 3-1 Dogs.
Not sure what the Gophs can do to improve offensively. The energy in the first period was fantastic. They just needed to get the puck past Harss.
The defensive struggle is a little more obvious... they can't continue to yield the odd-man rushes. Even though UMD couldn't capitalize in the first, it killed us in the second and third. This is exactly what Coach Frost talked about after the North Dakota series two weeks ago.
I'm not even going to comment about the officiating, other than to say that it was Dan Lick and Perrault (not Dave Lick as the box score indicates). But I'll will mention that Shannon Miller called them over for another one of her patented gripe sessions after the second period.
So the rematch is tomorrow at 7 p.m. We'll see what happens. Not good. Not good at all.
After 5 minutes of discussion, the officials issued minors only for West (which was served by Katie Frischmann), Thibault, and Bozek. No penalty was given for the tossed bottle (which is believed to have been thrown by Shannon Miller). 
