The Penalty Box Post - Wednesday, January 7, 2026

All-member PPC Chalk Talk – Saturday, Jan. 10 at 6:00 p.m.

The second of our three member-exclusive Chalk Talks for the 2025-2026 season is scheduled for January 10 at 6:00 p.m.  We will be joined by one of the Gopher coaches to discuss on-ice strategy and the team's performance in the previous game.  The event will be held in the Ridder Arena Weight Room, on the upstairs level across the hall from the suites and press box.

 

Enrollment continues for basic PPC membership!

Membership in the Power Play Club provides financial support as our best fundraising vehicle for the team, and encourages the players and coaching staff in their quest for academic and athletic excellence.  Enrollment in our Basic Membership level is still open and requires a minimum donation of $125, which includes up to two adults and any children at same address.  Online registration is preferred at z.umn.edu/PPC25; click the "Make A Gift" button on that page and follow the instructions.  Offline registration is also available by downloading the form here and sending it in to the listed address, with a check payable to the "University of Minnesota".

 

Brunch with the Coaches – Saturday, January 31

 The Power Play Club's annual Brunch with the Coaches with be taking place on Saturday, January 31 at 9:45 a.m. as we welcome University of Wisconsin women's hockey head coach Mark Johnson and Minnesota head coach Brad Frost.  Coach Johnson has led the Badgers since 2002 and also served as the head coach of Team USA for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

This is a separate-fee event, with tickets running $30 per person for PPC members and $40 per person for non-members.  At this time, we are not able to accept credit card payments.  Instead, please download the registration form here or pick one up at the PPC table at an upcoming GWH home game; fill out the form; and submit it with a check made out to the Power Play Club to the address indicated or in-person again at Ridder Arena.  Note that registrations must be received by Sunday, January 25.

 

Goals for a Goal – Gophers pass century mark for season

Another method for providing financial support for the Gopher Women's Hockey program is by enrolling in the Goals for a Goal program, a pledge-per-goal campaign to convert the team's scoring into donations back to the them.

After another high-scoring weekend (details below), the Gophers passed the century mark for scoing in 2025-2026, lighting the lamp 102 times with fifteen (15) of those coming on the power play!  Register a pledge for every goal tallied through the playoffs, with the option to double your pledge for power play conversions.  Pledges can be submitted electronically through the online form at z.umn.edu/GoalsForAGoal.  Following the conclusion of the season, you will receive an email with your pledge total and giving instructions.  Thanks as always for your support of this effort!!

#3 Minnesota Golden Gophers (16-4-0, 10-4-0-0 WCHA) vs. #12 Minnesota State Univ. Mavericks (11-8-1, 5-8-1-1 WCHA)

Friday, January 9 at 6:00 p.m. (CT) : Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center – Mankato
Saturday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m. – Ridder Arena

Following the completion of their regular-season non-conference schedule, Gopher Women's Hockey team returns to Minnesota for the second half of WCHA play.  They take on the Minnesota State University Mavericks in a home-and-home matchup, hoping to even the season series after being upset twice by MSU in November.  This weekend's action begins in Mankato at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center this Friday, January 9 at 6:00 p.m.  The teams relocate to Ridder Arena for the rematch on Saturday, January 10, at 7:30 p.m. (with a reminder that this is a time change from the original schedule).

Game coverage –

 
Last time against Minnesota State – The Gophers' first series against the Mavericks this season resulted in Minnesota State's first regular-season weekend sweep in the rivalry since January 2007, taking down the Maroon & Gold 3-1 in the opener at Ridder Arena and 4-1 in the rematch in Mankato.  MSU freshman forward Mercury Bischoff earned WCHA Rookie of the Week honors for her 4-goal, 2-assist performance, and Hailey Hansen was named WCHA Goalie of the Week for stopping 66 of 68 shots.

Abbey Murphy opened the scoring for the weekend, but Bischoff pulled MSU even less than 4 minutes later.  The game remained tied 1-1 with four minutes left in regulation, but Ava Guillemette lit the lamp for the Mavericks on a sharp-angle shot just under the crossbar with 3:20 to go and Kianna Roeske added an empty-netter.  Hannah Clark made 24 saves for the Gophers, while Hansen stopped 39 shots.

Bischoff converted a power play 13:20 into the rematch in Mankato, but the Josefin Bouveng responded on a Gopher power play just 79 seconds later.  However, Bischoff tallied her second goal of the game in the second period and Whitney Tuttle doubled that lead soon afterward.  Bischoff then completed a hat trick with an empty-net goal with 1:48 to play.  Layla Hemp stopped 21 shots for the Gophers, while Hansen made another 27 saves.

Analyzing the Mavericks – MSU is the fifth of six ranked WCHA teams in Division I women's college hockey, sitting 12th with an 11-8-1 overall record.  Much of that is due to their perfect 6-0-0 mark against non-conference opponents, but they are sub-.500 in conference play at 5-8-1-1, getting the two wins over the Gophers but losing once to St. Thomas, once to St. Cloud State, and playing Bemidji State to a tie.

Freshman Mercury Bischoff (#14) is MSU's leader in both goals and overall scoring, lighting the lamp 12 times and adding 5 assists for 17 points.  Juniors Kamryn Van Batavia (#9) and Lauren Zawoyski (#17) are tied for second with 15 points apiece; Van Batavia has 6 goals & 9 assists, while Zawoyski has a team-high 14 helpers while finding the back of the net once herself.  Senior Taylor Otremba (#24) is fourth with 12 points on 2 goals and 10 assists, and former Gopher and sophomore Ayla Puppe (#16) has also cracked double-digit points with 11 (6g, 5a).

Junior Hailey Hansen (#33) has been Minnesota State's primary goaltender so far this season, starting 17 of their 20 games; she is 8-8-1 with three shutouts, a 2.74 goals-against average, and a .915 save percentage.  Freshman Kaydence Roeske (#31) is a perfect 3-0-0 in her three starts, winning two of them by shutout and recording a 0.67 GAA and .970 SV%.  Senior Avery Stilwell (#1) saw her first action in roughly four years earlier this season, but it came in a two-period relief appearance against Wisconsin in which she allowed 4 goals on 14 shots.

Last action for Minnesota State – The Mavericks were one of two WCHA teams to not return to action this past weekend.  Hosting St. Cloud State in the first weekend of December, MSU was shut out by the visiting Huskies 4-0 in the series opener as Emilia Kyrkkö posted a 28-save clean sheet, Svenja Voigt tallied a goal & an assist, and Maria Mikaelyan dished out 3 helpers.  But the Mavericks held on for a 3-2 overtime victory in the rematch; Zoe Lopez & Mercury Bischoff scored in regulation and Kamryn Van Batavia found the back of the net 1:50 into the extra period.  Hailey Hansen made 55 combined saves for MSU in the series.

Gophers shut out Pioneers Friday, set scoring record Saturday

An East Coast trip proved to be the perfect way to resume action for the Gopher Women's Hockey team while also completing non-conference play.  Visiting the Sacred Heart University Pioneers, Minnesota outshot the hosts 115-28 in the series and earned a 4-0 shutout in the opener before setting a new program record for goals in a single game in the rematch, a 14-2 victory.

Abbey Murphy & Chloe Primerano each recorded a goal and an assist on Friday, Kendra Distad and Nelli Laitinen also scored, and Hannah Clark posted a 15-save clean sheet.  Jillian Petruno made 48 saves for the Pioneers.

But already leading 2-0 after the first 20 minutes Saturday, Minnesota lit the lamp five times in the middle stanza, then tallied another seven goals in the third period.  The 14 goals broke the old GWH single-game record of 12, which occurred on two occasions.  Fifteen different Gophers found the scoresheet with nine of them each recording multiple points.  Murphy tied the program's individual single-game record for points with 7, recording a hat trick plus four assists, matching the mark set by prior Gopher greats Sarah Potomak, Hannah Brandt, and Nadine Muzerall.  Laitinen also tallied a hat trick, the first of her career, and added two assists.  Josefin Bouveng added a goal & three helpers; after also getting an assist on Friday, her point streak now sits at 19-straight games.  Jamie Nelson dished out 4 assists, Bella Fanale recorded two goals & an assist, Distad and Primerano each tallied a goal & two assists, and Tereza Plosová, Emma Kreisz, and Ava Lindsay also lit the lamp.  Clark stopped the only two shots she faced over the first 33½ minutes of the game before giving way to Sophia Johnson, who made 9 saves.  Ella Holm converted two power plays for the Pioneers.

  

Laitinen, Murphy earn weekly conference honors

Gopher Women's Hockey co-captains Nelli Laitinen and Abbey Murphy were honored Monday as WCHA Defender and Forward of the Week, respectively, for their performances against Sacred Heart.

Laitinen's award was her second career WCHA weekly honor, coming after she netted the game-winning goal on Friday and followed it with her first career hat trick plus two assists on Saturday for a six-point series.  She also posted a +7 plus-minus rating in the series.

Murphy collected her third weekly honor of 2025-2026 and the tenth of her career after recording nine points (4g, 5a) and a +6 plus-minus rating over the two-game sweep, including (as mentioned above) tying a Minnesota program record for points in a single game with 7 (3g, 4a) on Saturday.  For her career, Murphy moved into fourth place on the Gopher all-time scoring list with 238 career points, surpassing Nadine Muzerall (235) and Krissy Wendell (237); she currently trails Natalie Darwitz for third (246).

Plosová, Mlýnková named to Czechia Olympic Hockey Team

We send congratulations and good luck wishes to Gopher Women's Hockey freshman Tereza Plosová and alumna Natálie Mlýnková upon being named to the 2026 Czechia Olympic Women's Hockey Team yesterday.  The are the 7th and 8th U. of M. representatives named to participating teams.

Plosová is set to make her Olympic debut, while Mlýnková returns to the Winter Games for the second time in her career.  Both have represented Czechia at the IIHF Women's World Championships, three times for Plosová and six for Mlýnková.

Czechia opens the tournament in Milan & Cortina, Italy, against the United States on Thursday, February 5, at 9:40 a.m. Central Time.

Excelling in the classroom – Fall 2025 GPA posted

We give a shout-out to the entire Gopher Women's Hockey team on posting a 3.55 cumulative GPA for the Fall 2025 semester.  Additional kudos go to freshman Sienna D'Alessandro and sophomore Gracie Graham on each recording a 4.0 GPA for the term!!  Great job, ladies!!

 
Around the WCHA...

Buckeyes sweep Nittany Lions in top-five clash – Sloane Matthews tallied two goals & two assists, Joy Dunne and Hilda Svensson each added a goal & 2 assists, Maxine Cimoroni lit the lamp twice, and Hailey MacLeod stopped a combined 43 of 45 shots as Ohio State swept the visitors from Penn State, 5-1 and 4-1.  Katie DeSa and Madison Campbell combined for 76 saves for PSU, and Maddy Christian & Tessa Janecke scored.

Bulldogs fall twice in Friendship Series – A trip "across the pond" to Belfast, Northern Ireland, did not provide the desired results for Minnesota Duluth in the Friendship Series tournament.  Trailing 2-0 in the third period of the semifinal against Harvard, Thea Johansson & Grace Sadura scored for UMD to force overtime, but Carla McSweeney lit the lamp for the Crimson with 20.8 seconds left in the extra period to defeat the Bulldogs, 3-2.  Facing Quinnipiac in Saturday's third-place game, Caitlin Kraemer scored unassisted in the first period to put UMD up 1-0, but Taylor Brueske knotted things up for the Bobcats later in the stanza, Emerson Jarvis gave Quinnipiac the lead 6 minutes into the third stanza, and Kahlen Lamarche added an empty-netter for a 3-1 upset.

Beavers get win, tie at Merrimack – In the other matchup of a WCHA traveling east for non-conference action, Autumn Cooper, Morgan Smith, and Hailey Armstrong scored for Bemidji State, and Kaitlin Groess stopped 29 of 30 shots for a 3-1 weekend-opening victory at Merrimack.  Smith and Raeley Carney gave the Beavers a pair of one-goal leads in Sunday's rematch, but Avery Anderson and McKenzie Cerrato lit the lamp for the Warriors to knot the score early in the second period; neither team was able to find the back of the net the rest of the way and the contest finished tied 2-2.

Exhibition – St. Thomas at St. Cloud State – No game report was published.

Looking ahead – In addition to Minnesota & Minnesota State, the other six WCHA teams are also in conference action with Friday and Saturday games.  Play begins with a Friday matinee contest in Duluth as the Bulldogs host Wisconsin.  Elsewhere, Ohio State visits St. Cloud State and St. Thomas hosts Bemidji State.

Standings:
1. Wisconsin – 37 points (.881 pts%), 12-1-1-1, 1-0 in OT (18-1-1 overall)
2. Ohio State – 32 points (.762 pts%), 11-3-0-0, 1-0 in OT (17-3-0 overall)
3. Minnesota – 30 points (.714 pts%), 10-4-0-0, 0-0 in OT (16-4-0 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth – 24 points (.571 pts%), 8-6-0-0, 0-0 in OT (12-8-0 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 17 points (.405 pts%), 5-8-1-1, 1-1 in OT (11-8-1 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 12 points (.286 pts%), 3-10-1-0, 1-3 in OT (7-12-1 overall)
7. St. Thomas – 10 points (.238 pts%), 3-11-0-0, 2-3 in OT (8-12-0 overall)
8. Bemidji State – 6 points (.143 pts%), 2-11-1-0, 1-0 in OT (5-12-3 overall)

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