WCHA Weekly Roundup: Feb. 21-22

The WCHA closed out the regular season with milestones, hat tricks, lots of offense, and a goalie duel that ended in a way no one could have imagined. Buckle up!

Series of the Week: Number-six Minnesota Duluth vs. Number-three Minnesota

Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth clashed in a top-10 matchup but it was the Gophers that came away with a 3-2 win. Emma Kreisz opened the scoring for Minnesota with six minutes left in the first period. A few minutes later, Olivia Wallin equalized the game for Duluth. In the second period, Ella Huber helped the Gophers re-take the lead with her 12th goal of the season. Natálie Mlýnková then extended the lead 3-1. The Bulldogs managed to cut the deficit to one with another goal from Wallin late in the game but they couldn’t find the back of the net as time expired. Hannah Clark stopped 28 of 30 shots en route to her 20th win of the season.

The Gophers and Bulldogs were ready for round two to end the regular season. Fans were treated to a delight when the game became a goalie duel as Clark looked to earn her program record 21st win and Éve Gascon hoped to stop the hot Minnesota offense. But the Gophers would end the weekend with the sweep after a 1-0 win. The game was scoreless up until midway through the third period! Even with a combined nine power play opportunities through two periods, neither team was able to score. Abbey Murphy’s game winner ended up being a sort of weird goal. After the puck deflected off the back glass and towards Gascon, she gloved it but her glove crossed over the line and resulted in the Minnesota goal and later the victory for the team. A true heartbreaker in the last regular season game. Clark earned her second career shutout and finished the season with a 21-7-1 record on her way to earning the most wins by a freshman goaltender in program history.

(I still can't believe this happened!)

Around the Conference:

It was a case of déjà vu that will continue into the conference playoffs for top-ranked Wisconsin and Bemidji State. The two met in Bemidji to end the regular season and will see each other once again this weekend but in Wisconsin for the WCHA First Round playoff matchup. The Badgers ended the regular season with back-to-back 6-1 wins. In Friday’s game, Caroline Harvey broke the school record for most points in a single season by a defender when she scored six minutes into the game for her 51st point. The Beavers answered back with a goal by Genevieve Hendrickson but it was all Badgers the rest of the way as they scored five unanswered goals. Goaltender Ava McNaughton collected her NCAA-leading 29th win. 

Kirsten Simms had herself a game on Saturday as she recorded a league-high six points over the weekend thanks in part to her second career hat trick. Interesting enough, her first actually came against the Beavers last season and was also at Sanford Center. Simms is the second Badger to record a hat trick this season. Wisconsin ended the regular season with 77 points in all. That is the most the school has ever earned. What a way to do so!

Ohio State hosted St. Cloud State to close the regular season. The Buckeyes were in a battle with Minnesota for seeding in the WCHA standings but Ohio State managed to take care of business and secure the second overall spot in the conference behind a 5-3 win. Jocelyn Amos netted her second hat trick this season. The scoring was started by Makenna Webster four minutes into the game. A few minutes later Amos recorded her first goal of the game for a 2-0 Ohio State lead. In the second, the Huskies got on the board with a goal from Alice Sauriol and added two more early in the third with star forward Emma Gentry tying the game at three. But St. Cloud’s comeback would fall short as Amos answered back with two more goals for the hat trick and the Buckeyes win. Amos has scored a goal in the last four games for Ohio State and with her power play goal, she finished in the top-10 in program history after her nine power play goals this season. 

It was another game where Ohio State got out to an early lead just to see the Huskies come back to tie the game. The Buckeyes scored back-to-back goals in the first period thanks to Joy Dunne and Riley Brengman who scored her first career shorthanded goal. St. Cloud found the back of the net in the second period as Gentry also scored in her second straight game. With five minutes left in the game Abby Promersberger tied the game at two. For the second straight game, the Huskies couldn’t finish the comeback as Webster scored the go-ahead goal for the 3-2 Ohio State victory.

Check this out! While it was senior weekend for Ohio State, the team opened up the festivities on Friday with graduate forward Jenna Buglioni singing the national anthem while graduate forward Makenna Webster signed the anthem alongside Buglioni. Pretty cool!

Minnesota State had themselves one of the best weekends to end the regular season out of the whole conference starting with a dominant 8-3 win. The Mavericks put up eight goals in a game for the second time this season in their series opener against St. Thomas. Mankato scored three goals in both the first and second periods alone. Kamryn Van Batavia was the only Maverick who finished with a multi-goal game, the first of her career.

Things only got better for Minnesota State as they ended the regular season with a 3-0 win. Goaltender Hailey Hansen recorded 17 saves for her third shutout of the season. Her Mavericks teammates contributed goals with Madison Mashuga recording her 10th goal of the season while Jamie Nelson marked her 100th career point with her assist on Mashuga’s goal. Claire Vekich scored in her second straight game as the Mavericks finished the weekend with the sweep.

The eight teams of the WCHA have been commemorating their senior class over the last few weeks as the regular season came to an end. The teams have also been hosting ceremonies to celebrate those seniors and I thought it would be nice to, once again, include some of those photos here. Enjoy!

Weekly Awards:

The final weekly awards of the 2024-25 regular season are here!

WCHA Forward of the Week: Kirsten Simms - Wisconsin

Simms put up a league-high six points in Wisconsin’s weekend sweep of Bemidji State. She recorded two assists in Friday’s win. She followed that up with a hat trick on Saturday and another assist. Simms is top three in the nation in points per game with a 1.76 average.

WCHA Defender of the Week: Caroline Harvey - Wisconsin

Harvey recorded two goals and two blocked shots against the Beavers. She also had a milestone weekend when she broke the school record for most points in a single season by a defender when she scored a goal in Friday’s game for her 51st point this season.

WCHA Goaltender of the Week: Hannah Clark - Minnesota

Clark had an undefeated weekend when Minnesota swept Minnesota Duluth. She stopped 50 of 52 shots and finished with a .962 save percentage. She also recorded her second career shutout on Saturday stopping all 22 shots faced. She finished the regular season with a 21-7-1 record. She now has the most wins by a freshman goaltender in program history with her 21 wins.

WCHA Rookie of the Week:  Mira Jungåker- Ohio State

Jungåker saved the best for last as she earned her first Rookie of the Week honor in the last set of awards this season. The defender recorded three assists, two on Friday for her fourth multipoint game of her career. She also had three blocked shots over the weekend.

Looking Forward:

It's playoffs time! The WCHA First Round begins Friday and runs through Sunday. It is a best of 3 series and while the playoffs are fun all on their own I am looking forward to another rendition of St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth facing off in the playoffs as per usual it feels. I am also looking forward to the St. Thomas and Ohio State series because the last time these two met just weeks ago, the Tommies pushed the Buckeyes to the brink. Let's hope for a super fun playoff weekend!

Here is the bracket for this weekend's matchups!

Weekly Scoreboard:

Friday:

St. Cloud State 3 Ohio State 5

Wisconsin 6 Bemidji State 1 

Minnesota State 8 St. Thomas 3

Minnesota 3 Minnesota Duluth 2

Saturday:

St. Cloud State 2 Ohio State 3

Wisconsin 6 Bemidji State 1 

Minnesota State 3 St. Thomas 0

Minnesota 1 Minnesota Duluth 0

Full schedule here