Power Play Club

PPC Chalk Talk – Saturday, February 24 at 12:30 pm

Our final Power Play Club Chalk Talk of the 2023-2024 season is scheduled for this Saturday, February 24, at 12:30 p.m., prior to the Gophers' second game of the weekend against Minnesota Duluth. The Chalk Talk will be held in the Ridder Arena Weight Room on the upper level across the hall from the suites. This is an exclusive event for enrolled 2023-2024 club members; you can still register through our membership page on powerplayclub.org.

#5/5 Minnesota Golden Gophers (24-5-1, 18-5-1-1 in WCHA)
vs.
#2/2 University of Wisconsin Badgers (26-4-0, 20-4-0-0)

Friday, February 16 at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 17 at 2:00 p.m.
LaBahn Arena – Madison, WI

The Gopher Women's Hockey team heads out on its last road trip of the 2023-2024 regular season, traveling to Madison for the next round of the Border Battle against the #2-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Action at LaBahn Arena begins Friday, February 16, at 7:00 p.m. and continues with the rematch Saturday, February 17 at 2:00 p.m.

Game coverage – Video from both contests will be streamed on the B1G+ subscription service, and free audio play-by-play will be on GopherSports.com (Friday and Saturday) starting 15 to 20 minutes before puck drop.

This season against Wisconsin – The Badgers paid a visit to Ridder Arena to close out the 2023 portion of the schedule in December. In the opener, Abbey Murphy lit the lamp twice, Sadie Lindsay netted her second career goal, Solveig Neunzert tallied her first goal in Maroon & Gold, Nelli Laitinen also scored, and Lucy Morgan made 33 saves at the other end of the ice to lead Minnesota to a 5-3 victory. Kirsten Simms recorded a goal and an assist for the Badgers, but Jane Gervais made only 17 saves. Josefin Bouveng put the Gophers up 1-0 in the second period of the rematch, but the Badgers responded with five-straight goals, two coming from Lacey Eden, for a 5-1 win and series split. Simms recorded another goal & assist for a four-point weekend, and Ava McNaughton stopped 23 of 24 shots. Skylar Vetter made 36 saves for Minnesota.

Analyzing the Badgers – Wisconsin started the season by winning their first 12 games. After suffering a 1-4 stretch in late November and December, losing twice to Ohio State, once to UMD, and once to the Gophers, they've gone on another 13-game winning streak. They lead all WCHA teams in scoring offense with a 5.40 goals-per-game average, while yielding a paltry 1.43 goals per contest (2nd in the league). However, despite their performance, they will need help to catch the Buckeyes for the WCHA Regular-Season Championship.

Speaking to their offense, five of the top six WCHA skaters in total scoring and six of the top seven in points-per-game are Badgers. Sophomore Kirsten Simms (#27) has a team-leading 56 points & 25 goals, averaging 2.00 points-per-game, while dishing out 31 assists. Senior Casey O'Brien (#26) has a team-high 37 assists while lighting the lamp 15 times herself for 52 points. Grad student Britta Curl (#17; 17g, 31a) and redshirt junior Lacey Eden (#6; 23g, 22a) have also eclipsed the 40-point mark with 48 & 45, respectively. A pair of sophomores has also passed the 30-point mark: Laila Edwards (#10) has 39 points on 12 goals & 27 assists, while defender Caroline Harvey (#4) has 5 goals and 26 assists for 31 points in only 21 games.

In goal, redshirt junior Jane Gervais (#1) and freshman Ava McNaughton (#30) have matching 13-2-0 records. Gervais has 6 shutouts with a 1.40 goal-against average and a .925 save percentage. McNaughton has 3 shutouts, a slightly better .930 SV%, and a 1.50 GAA. Another freshman, Chloe Baker (#32), made a one-period relief appearance against Bemidji State in October, stopping all 7 shots she faced.

Last weekend for Wisconsin – A road trip to Bemidji provided little difficulty for the Badgers; they shut out the Beavers with 10-0 and 7-0 victories for the series sweep. Kirsten Simms led the Badgers with a 7-point weekend, getting a hat trick in Friday's opener and adding a goal & 3 assists on Saturday. Laila Edwards also recorded a hat trick plus an assist on Friday and dished out 2 more assists Saturday for 6 points, and Casey O'Brien tallied 6 points as well with 2 goals and 4 assists. Jane Gervais & Ava McNaughton stopped the combined 28 shots they faced. BSU goaltenders Eva Filippova and Abbie Thompson combined for 59 saves in the series.

Gophers sweep home-and-home series against SCSU – In a back-and-forth affair last Friday night in St. Cloud, Skylar Vetter stopped all 24 shots she faced from the Huskies, Abbey Murphy netted her 28th goal of the season on a second-period power play, and Minnesota came away with the 1-0 shutout victory to open their weekend series. Jojo Chobak made 19 saves for SCSU. Moving to Ridder Arena for Saturday's rematch, Murphy again opened the scoring with goal #29 in the first period, but Avery Farrell knotted the score for St. Cloud State in the second stanza. However, Ella Huber lit the lamp only 13 seconds into the third frame, Madison Kaiser extended the lead to 3-1 with 6:43 to play, and Huber & Ava Lindsay each tacked on an empty-netter for a 5-1 win and the sweep. Lucy Morgan stopped 21 of 22 shots for Minnesota, while Sanni Ahola made 24 saves for the Huskies.

Home ice clinched for WCHA quarterfinal series – With Friday night's victory, the Gopher Women's Hockey team clinched a top-four finish in the WCHA's final regular-season standings and home ice at Ridder Arena for the quarterfinal round of the 2024 league playoffs, occurring March 1, 2, and (if necessary) 3. We also note that Saturday's win locked in a top-three position.

Vetter earns league honor after shutout in St. Cloud

Minnesota junior Skylar Vetter was named WCHA Goaltender of the Week following her 24-save shutout performance Friday night on the road against St. Cloud State. The award is the ninth Player of the Week honor in Vetter's career and her second of the season.

Congratulations, Skylar!!

Primerano named as seventh member of 2024-'25 freshman class

Gopher Women's Hockey and head coach Brad Frost named Canadian defender Chloe Primerano (RINK Hockey Academy / Kelowna, BC) as an incoming 2024-2025 freshman on Monday.

Primerano made headlines at the recent 2024 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship, being named tournament MVP with Team Canada after her 16-point (8g, 8a) performance in only 6 games, the most scoring ever by a defender at the U18 WWC.

Primerano will join previously-announced recruits Hannah Clark, Kendra Distad, Gracie Graham, Carly Humphrey, Kate Kosobud, and Ayla Puppe as members of the incoming freshman class. We send a warm welcome to Chloe and look forward to seeing all seven in the Maroon & Gold next fall!!

Distad, Kosobud, Puppe named Ms. Hockey semifinalists

We additionally send congratulations and another shout-out to future Gophers Kendra Distad, Kate Kosobud, and Ayla Puppe on being named semifinalists for the 2024 Minnesota Ms. Hockey award by Let's Play Hockey. We wish all three of them good luck. The top-five finalists will be named this Friday, February 16, and the award will be presented at the Ms. Hockey Banquet on Sunday, February 25 at the Saint Paul Rivercentre.

International & professional news...

Canada wins three-straight over U.S. to claim Rivalry Series

A pair of three-goal third-period performances led the Canada National Women's Hockey team to 4-2 and 3-0 wins over their American counterparts in Games 5 & 6 of the 2023-2024 Rivalry Series last week. Gopher alumnae Kelly Pannek and Emily Brown each earned assists on Hayley Scammura's opening goal for Team USA in Game 5 last Wednesday in Saskatoon, SK, and the Americans took a 2-1 lead into the final frame, but Ashton Bell, Renata Fast, and Laura Stacey (empty-net) earned the win for the Canadians. Friday in Regina, SK, the teams skated a scoreless first 40 minutes, but Natalie Spooner (PP), Emily Clark, and Sarah Nurse lit the lamp in the third and Emmerance Maschmeyer posted a 27-save shutout.

Returning south of the border for a deciding Game 7 in St. Paul, Spooner & Marie-Philip Poulin each lit the lamp on the power play for Team Canada, and Bell extended their lead to 3-0 just past the midway point of the contest. Gopher alum Grace Zumwinkle gave U.S. fans a little hope when she pickpocketed Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens and scored short-handed, but Spooner lit the lamp again 58 seconds later and Emma Maltais tallied twice to wrap up a 6-1 victory, completing the 4 games to 3 series comeback win after being down 3-0.

The teams will next meet at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship, being playing April 3 through 14 at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York.

PWHL announces Minnesota-Toronto at 3M Arena at Mariucci (Feb. 27)

The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced Monday that the February 27 game between PWHL Minnesota and PWHL Toronto will be played at 3M Arena at Mariucci at the U. of M. Game time will be 7:00 p.m. Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow (Thursday, February 15) at 2:00 p.m. CT and will be available via gophersports.com/tickets.

PWHL Minnesota's roster features Gopher Women's Hockey alumnae Lauren Bench (reserve), Abigail Boreen, Taylor Heise, Amanda Leveille (injured reserve), Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein, and Grace Zumwinkle. Former Gopher Olivia Knowles is on PWHL Toronto's roster.

Around the WCHA...

Buckeyes roll past Mavericks – Jenna Buglioni tallied two goals and an assist, Stephanie Markowski & Kiara Zanon each added a goal and two helpers, and Raygan Kirk posted a 20-save shutout on Friday as Ohio State earned a road sweep of Minnesota State, 3-0 and 6-2. Whitney Tuttle & Claire Vekich each lit the lamp for MSU.

Bulldogs earn road sweep against Tommies – Reece Hunt and Olivia Wallin each posted six-point weekends for Minnesota Duluth in 4-1 & 5-1 victories on the road against St. Thomas. Hunt netted all four goals for UMD in the opener, then added the game-winning goal & an assist in the rematch. Olivia Wallin assisted on three of Hunt's goals Friday, then tallied her own goal and two more assists on Saturday. Rylee Bartz and Brieja Parent lit the lamp for UST.

Upcoming games – All four league series feature Friday and Saturday games. St. Cloud State visits Minnesota Duluth for a pair of afternoon contests. Elsewhere, St. Thomas heads to Columbus to face Ohio State, and Minnesota State hosts Bemidji State.

Standings: (* clinched home ice for conference quarterfinal series)
1. Ohio State* – 67 points (.931 pts%), 23-1-0-0, 2-0 in OT (26-2-0 overall)
2. Wisconsin* – 60 points (.833 pts%), 20-4-0-0, 1-1 in OT (26-4-0 overall)
3. Minnesota* – 56 points (.778 pts%), 18-5-1-1, 1-1 in OT (24-5-1 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth – 41 points (.569 pts%), 14-10-0-0, 1-0 in OT (17-11-2 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 33 points (.458 pts%), 10-13-1-0, 0-2 in OT (15-14-1 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 13 points (.181 pts%), 4-20-0-0, 1-2 in OT (10-21-0 overall)
7. Bemidji State – 10 points (.139 pts%), 3-20-1-0, 1-1 in OT (4-24-2 overall)
8. St. Thomas – 8 points (.111 pts%), 2-21-1-1, 0-0 in OT (8-22-1 overall)

Follow the Power Play Club online at www.powerplayclub.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PowerPlayClubMN, or on Twitter at twitter.com/powerplayclub.

Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on Twitter/X at twitter.com/GopherWHockey.