WCHA Weekly Roundup: Jan. 31 - Feb. 1, 2025

We are entering the final month of the regular season in the WCHA, which means no ranked opponent is safe from St. Thomas. The powerhouses of Ohio State and Minnesota gave us all the duel we were expecting. Wisconsin keeps up their winning ways, plus we take a look at the weekly award winners!

Series of the Week: Ohio State vs. Minnesota

Buckle up for the Series of the Week because wow! We had two of the top three nationally ranked teams facing off in Minneapolis and it was incredible.

In Friday’s tilt, the Gophers skated away with a 3-1 win. The game was quiet in the first two periods with power play opportunities on both sides but no goals to show for it. That all changed in the third period. Minnesota went on another power play but this time they capitalized with a goal from Ella Huber one minute into the period. Seven minutes later, Huber scored again for a 2-0 Gophers lead for her 12th multi-point game of her career. Abbey Murphy put the game away with a power play goal for her 24th goal after Ohio State was handed a five-minute major. Minnesota earned their 22nd win of the season with that victory.

On Saturday, the tide changed when the Buckeyes answered back with a 7-3 win to split the weekend. The scoring began with Minnesota’s Emma Conner less than two minutes into the game. That 1-0 lead held until early in the second period, when Sloane Matthews answered to tie the game for Ohio State. Five minutes after that, Peyton Hemp scored her fifth power play goal of the season to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead. A minute and a half after that, Matthews answered back with another goal. Are you noticing a pattern here? Whenever Minnesota scored, Matthews would then score too. She did it again late in the second, after Hemp scored her second of the period, Matthews scored with less than a minute left in the period for the hat trick and to tie the game at three. It is her first career hat trick. She has scored five goals in the last four games for Ohio State. The third period was all Buckeyes as they scored four unanswered goals including three consecutive power play tallies. The win puts Ohio State back in a tie with Minnesota for second place in the WCHA standings. This is the second time in a little over a year the Buckeyes have scored seven goals against Minnesota. The last came in January of 2024 in a 7-0 win.

Around the Conference

St. Thomas continued their incredible play this weekend by splitting with 11th-ranked St. Cloud State in a home-and-home series. In Friday’s game, the Huskies skated to a 5-2 win, with Sofianna Sudelin and Alice Sauriol having big games and finishing with three points each. But the story was goaltender Sanni Ahola who earned her 35th career win after stopping 13 shots, making her the all-time wins leader in program history, a record that had been held since 2003.

Saturday was a different story for the Huskies. They couldn’t get the shots to go especially with the Tommies’ continuous efforts to block shots. St. Thomas got on the board in the second period and held the lead until the Huskies were able to score with eight minutes left in the game. The Tommies stepped up to the challenge and put their bodies on the line during a late penalty kill. Ella Housey, who is second in blocks in the conference, made two huge blocks to keep the game tied. Just 36 seconds into overtime, Lauren Stenslie scored the game winner to hand St. Thomas the win, like she did the week prior against Minnesota Duluth. The Tommies have gone to overtime against a nationally ranked opponent five times this season and won the last two.

The top-ranked Badgers faced the now sixth-ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, a team looking to get back on track after being swept last weekend. Duluth got on the board early with a goal from Grace Sadura for her second the season and a 1-0 lead. Wisconsin answered six minutes later when Marianne Picard scored. The teams were quiet in the second and third period as the 1-1 tie held up. No one was able to capitalize on any power play chances either, so the teams went to overtime, where Kirsten Simms scored with 37 seconds left for the Badgers’ 15th straight win. Wisconsin’s Ava McNaughton stopped 26 of 27 shots faced to earn her 25th victory of the season.

In Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win for the Badgers, they fell behind 1-0 again until the third period, when Laila Edwards tied the game at one with her 26th goal of the season. Later in the period, Sarah Wozniewicz added another goal to seal the win for Wisconsin. McNaughton was stellar in net again, only allowing one goal and making 25 saves for her 26th win of the season. The bright side for the Bulldogs despite the sweep is they held Wisconsin to two goals in both games. The Badgers average 5.60 goals against so far this season. That’s a good silver lining from this weekend.

Minnesota State and Bemidji State met for a series that was a battle. The Beavers got on the board midway through the first period, thanks to senior defender Makenna Deering, who scored her first goal of the season. Bemidji added another goal in the second for a 2-0 lead, but Mankato answered back with two goals from Whitney Tuttle to end the period. The teams played a quiet third period, and 21 seconds into overtime, Deering scored her second of the game to beat Mankato 3-2. The win is the Beavers’ first since Jan. 4 and snaps a six game skid for the team.

On Saturday, Minnesota State’s JuliAnna Gazdik scored on the power play late in the period but the Beavers answered just 30 seconds later to tie the game at one. Mankato would go on to score four unanswered goals, two from Alexis Paddington, while Tuttle added two assists. Goaltender Jessie McPherson made 34 stops to settle for the series split.

Weekly Awards

WCHA Forward of the Week: Sofianna Sundelin — St. Cloud State

Sundelin earned her first weekly honor after recording four points in St. Cloud’s split against St. Thomas. She had three goals and one assist over the weekend. She now has 16 points on the season.

WCHA Defender of the Week: Makenna Deering — Bemidji State

Deering makes her debut as a recipient of a weekly honor thanks to her strong play against Minnesota State. She scored two goals, including the game-winner 21 seconds into overtime to help the Beavers win their first game since Jan. 4.

WCHA Goaltender of the Week: Ava McNaughton - Wisconsin

McNaughton went undefeated over the weekend as the Badgers swept the Bulldogs. She stopped 27 shots on Friday and 25 on Saturday for her 26th win of the season.

WCHA Rookie of the Week: Dani Strom — St. Thomas

She's back!!!! Dani Strom earned her second consecutive Rookie of the Week honor. Strom stood tall in net in Saturday’s overtime win against the 11th-ranked Huskies. She didn’t allow a goal until late in the 3rd period and made 60 saves over the weekend. Though she is still looking for her first career shutout, Strom has still been fantastic in net.

Monthly Awards

We also had monthly awards announced so let’s take a look at the monthly honors handed out by the WCHA.

WCHA Forward of the Month: Abbey Murphy — Minnesota

Murphy went back-to-back as she also claimed this monthly award for December. She finished the month with 18 points which was the most in the league. She registered at least one point in almost all of Minnesota’s January games, only going scoreless in two contests. 

WCHA Defender of the Month: Sydney Morrow — Minnesota

Morrow had four multi-point games in January and finished the month with nine points. She tallied two power play goals and one game-winning goal. Morrow also finished the month with ten blocked shots.

WCHA Goaltender of the Month: Ava McNaughton — Wisconsin

McNaughton earned her third monthly honor this season after she ended the month with her 26th win of the season – which is like really good, y’all! For context, there are only two other goaltenders with at least 20 wins in the league. McNaughton started in all of Wisconsin’s games and went undefeated with a 7-0-2 record. This season she leads the league in save percentage and ranks second nationally in shutouts.

WCHA Rookie of the Month: Dani Strom — St. Thomas

Strom had an incredible month as she helped lead the Tommies to its first sweep over a nationally ranked opponent, when St. Thomas swept then fourth-ranked Minnesota Duluth. In that series, she made 73 saves and had a .943 save percentage. She was also in net when the Tommies defeated 11-ranked St. Cloud State on Saturday where she allowed only one goal.

Looking Forward

St. Thomas faces Ohio State. Can they continue their streak of stunning ranked opponents? This weekend is another Border Battle between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Will the Gophers take a game this weekend or will the Badgers continue their dominant ways and add to their points total? Will the Bulldogs end their six game losing streak? A lot to ponder this weekend… 🤔

On the International Stage

The Rivalry Series returns!!!

Team USA and Canada are playing two more games this week to wrap up this year’s rivalry series. The teams will play on Thursday, Feb. 6, and Saturday, Feb. 9. With the PWHL on break, it is a great time to support some former WCHA players such as Taylor Heise, Mannon McMahon, Emma Maltais, Cayla Barnes and Daryl Watts, to name a few familiar faces.

Lastly, a big congratulations to Ohio State’s Makenna Webster who will represent the United States as part of the USA field hockey National Team. She previously played with Team USA in the Germany series in the fall and with the U-17 national team in 2018. Webster was a unanimous first team All-Big Ten performer and second team All-American in the fall. She has recorded back-to-back 40-point seasons in the past two years and helped Ohio State with their best start to the season ever. Currently, Webster has 19 points in 20 games for the Buckeyes’ hockey team. Congratulations, Makenna!

Weekly Scoreboard

Friday

St. Thomas 1, St. Cloud State 5
Minnesota State 2, Bemidji State 3
Wisconsin 2, Minnesota Duluth 1
Ohio State 1, Minnesota 3

Saturday

St. Cloud State 1, St. Thomas 2 (OT)
Ohio State 7, Minnesota 3
Minnesota State 5, Bemidji State 1
Wisconsin 2, Minnesota Duluth 1

Full schedule here.