WCHA Weekly Roundup: Dec. 6-7

Welcome to another roundup. Six WCHA teams were on the ice this week in the return to conference play. Minnesota Duluth finished the weekend with five points behind two stellar performances from netminder Éve Gascon. Minnesota’s offense couldn’t miss while Wisconsin ended the first half of the season with a 19-1 record. Plus, we take a look at the weekly awards, a shoutout to a WCHA alum in the PWHL, and the latest in National team news.

Series of the week: Minnesota Duluth vs. St. Cloud State

The top-10 matchup did not disappoint as fourth-ranked Duluth came back after being down early in both games against the eighth-ranked Huskies. Friday’s game began with a 1-0 lead for St. Cloud after Alice Sauriol scored her third goal of the season on a two-on-two breakaway five minutes into the first period. After a quiet second, the Bulldogs scored early in the third off an Olivia Mobley goal to tie the game at one. St. Cloud wasn’t able to convert on the power play late in the third. This was the third straight game where the Huskies’ power play could not connect. The teams headed to overtime where no one found the back of the net and the game was marked as a tie, but someone needed to win the extra point so to the shootout they went. Mobley scored the lone goal in the shootout as her teammate, netminder Éve Gascon stopped all three shots she faced to hand Duluth the extra point. The Bulldogs entered the game with a record of 2-5 when trailing after 40 minutes. Mobley has now scored four goals in her last five games.

Saturday’s game felt a little like déjà vu. The Huskies got out to another 1-0 lead from a Taylor Larson goal. The second period was quiet once again and the Bulldogs found their offense in the third period for the second game in a row. Once again Olivia Mobley scored, this time shorthanded, to tie the game at one. But this time, Duluth added two more unanswered goals to secure the win in regulation. Clara Van Wieren scored the game winner with four minutes left in the game and Mary Kate O’Brien added an empty netter with less than a minute to go. For the fourth straight game, the Huskies power play did not convert on any chances. The Bulldogs’ goalie Éve Gascon had another fantastic outing, stopping 27 of 28 shots for her eighth win of the season. Duluth finished 2024 taking five league points from the weekend series. 

Around the Conference:

Top-ranked Wisconsin visited Minnesota State in Mankato, Minnesota. The Badgers won a close one on Friday, earning a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Caroline Harvey and Kirsten Simms. Wisconsin killed off two Mavericks power plays in the third period while holding a one goal lead to secure the win. On Saturday the Badgers shut out Minnesota State, 5-0. Maggie Scannell scored twice but it was goalie Ava McNaughton who stole the show this weekend. She allowed one goal on Friday and earned her sixth shutout of the season on Saturday. She now has 18 wins overall, which leads the NCAA. The Badgers enter the holiday break with a 19-1 record.

Minnesota traveled to St. Paul to play St. Thomas over the weekend. The Gophers blanked the Tommies 5-0 in Friday’s win. Abbey Murphy recorded five points off two goals and three assists, freshman Chloe Primerano tallied her second career goal, and fellow freshman Hannah Clark recorded her first career shutout. The Gophers swept St. Thomas after a 6-2 win on Saturday. Peyton Hemp scored twice while Murphy added her third goal of the weekend. Primerano had two points off a goal and an assist as part of another strong offensive showing for the Gophers. Minnesota finishes the first half of the season with a 13-4-1 record.

The postponed game between Ohio State and Mercyhurst that was to be played on Dec. 2, will now be played on Jan. 21, 2025 in Erie, Pennsylvania, the WCHA announced.

Weekly Awards:

WCHA Forward of the Week: Abbey Murphy - Minnesota

Murphy earned her second Forward of the Week honors after notching eight points in the series sweep of St. Thomas. She recorded five points on Friday and three more on Saturday and now has 32 points on the season.

WCHA Defender of the Week: Chloe Primerano - Minnesota 

Primerano scored two goals over the weekend to earn her first conference weekly honor. The freshman also added two assists for a career-high four point weekend. 

WCHA Goaltender of the Week: Éve Gascon - Minnesota Duluth

Gascon helped the Bulldogs secure the extra WCHA point by stopping all three shots in the shootout against St. Cloud State. The sophomore goalie stopped 49 of 51 shots faced over the weekend.

WCHA Rookie of the Week: Maggie Scannell - Wisconsin

Scannell scored twice including the game-winning goal in Wisconsin’s win against Minnesota State on Saturday. The freshman had a strong outing after having missed four games prior to the series against Mankato.

Looking Forward:

We have one series to wrap up 2024 in the WCHA as Bemidji State visits Minnesota State for a weekend series in Mankato. Both teams have had great goaltending recently. Hailey Hansen won consecutive Goaltender of the Week honors and Kaitlin Groess was Rookie of the Week prior to that for her outstanding performance against Minnesota Duluth. Perhaps we are in for a goalie duel in Mankato. I'll put that down as a prediction.

The Six Nations Tournament continues through Sunday with plenty of current WCHA players and even more conference alumni taking part. The tournament runs from Dec. 11-15.

The season will restart after the holiday break on Jan. 1, 2025 with a matchup between Bemidji State and Minnesota in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum Face-Off Classic.

A peek into the PWHL:

For this week’s peek I am highlighting Wisconsin alum Daryl Watts who scored an incredible goal her first of the season in her return to Toronto. Watts was in the right place at the right time to score and give the Sceptres the lead.

National Team News:

Congratulations to Ohio State’s Jocelyn Amos, who was named captain of Team Canada, and Jenna Buglioni, who was named an alternate captain for the Six Nations Tournament.

More congratulations are in order,, this time for Minnesota’s Chloe Primerano. Her big week keeps on getting better, as she was named to Canada’s roster for the 2025 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships, which will be held in Finland from Jan. 5-12, 2025.

Weekly Scoreboard: 

Friday:

Minnesota Duluth 1, St. Cloud State 1 (SO)
Wisconsin 2, Minnesota State 1
Minnesota 5, St. Thomas 0

Saturday:

Minnesota Duluth 3, St. Cloud State 1
Wisconsin 5, Minnesota State 0
Minnesota 6, St. Thomas 2

Full schedule here.