View the February 11th Penalty Box Post newsletter
All-member PPC Chalk Talk – Saturday, Feb. 21 at 12:30 p.m.
The final of our three member-exclusive Chalk Talks for the 2025-2026 season is scheduled for February 21 at 12:30 p.m., prior to the Gophers' regular-season finale against Minnesota Duluth. 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.
Goals for a Goal – Gophers' season total continues to climb
As the official booster club for the University of Minnesota Women's Hockey program, the primary objective of the Power Play Club is to provide financial support. One method of doing so is by contributing to the Goals for a Goal pledge-per-goal program, part of our partnership with the Golden Gopher Fund!
The Gophers netted five goals this past weekend to bring their season-to-date goal total to 155, surpassing their final amount from the 2024-2025 season. Twenty-five (25) of this year's goals have come 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, 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!!
In memoriam – Donald Frost (1945 - 2026)
It is with sadness that we share news of the passing of Don Frost, father of Gopher Women's Hockey head coach Brad Frost, last Thursday, February 5. In the years since retiring to Minnesota, Don and his wife Joanne made numerous appearances at the team's games at Ridder Arena.
A full obituary including visitation and funeral details can be found here.
We send our condolences to Joanne, Brad and his brothers Paul, Rob & Mike, and the rest of the Frost family.
#3 Minnesota Golden Gophers (24-5-1, 18-5-1-1 WCHA)
at #2 Ohio State University Buckeyes (26-4-0, 20-4-0-0 WCHA)
Friday, February 13 at 6:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. CT
Saturday, February 14 at 3:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. CT
OSU Ice Rink – Columbus
The Gopher Women's Hockey team hits the road for the final time in the 2025-2026 regular season, making the trip to Columbus, OH, to face the Ohio State University Buckeyes at the OSU Ice Rink. The top-three national battle begins Friday evening, February 13 at 6:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. CT and continues on Saturday, February 14 at 3:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. CT.
Game coverage –
Both games televised on Fox 9+
Both also streamed through the B1G+ subscription service – Friday / Saturday
Free audio play-by-play on GopherSports.com – Friday / Saturday
Last time against Ohio State – Meeting in mid-October at Ridder Arena, the Gophers suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Buckeyes 4-1 in the series opener, but rebounded with a 6-3 victory in the rematch to salvage a weekend split.
Kassidy Carmichael gave OSU an early lead in the opener with a power-play goal 2:42 into the contest, and Joy Dunne & Hilda Svensson extended the Buckeyes' lead to 3-0 in the second period. Madison Kaiser got Minnesota on the board with 5:52 to play, but Jocelyn Amos tacked on an empty-netter for Ohio State. Hannah Clark stopped 43 shots between the pipes for the Gophers, while Hailey MacLeod made 28 saves for the Buckeyes.
The second contest saw Minnesota light the lamp on 3 of their first 6 shots on goal as Bella Fanale, Josefin Bouveng, and Ava Lindsay (PP) each found the back of the net, though Dunne scored her second goal of the series for OSU to make it 3-1 at the first intermission. Jamie Nelson tallied her first goal as a Golden Gopher on the team's first shot of the second period, prompting a goalie change by the Buckeyes. In the third period, Ohio State cut Minnesota's lead to two twice on goals by Sanni Vanhanen and Jenna Raunio, but Nelli Laitinen & Emma Kreisz (PP) responded for the Gophers. Clark made another 27 saves for the victory.
In addition to her goal, Bouveng also dished out three assists in the series for a 4-point weekend. Laitinen also recorded two assists in Sunday's contest for a 3-point performance.
Analyzing the Buckeyes – Ohio State has been ranked #2 in the national polls for much of the season, along with being second in the WCHA standings. Their only losses have come against the Gophers and Wisconsin (three times). But they are also missing five players to the Olympic Winter Games: forwards Joy Dunne (USA), Hilda Svensson (SWE) & Sanni Vanhanen (FIN) and defenders Mira Jungåker (SWE) & Jenna Raunio (SWE).
Even without their Olympians, the Buckeyes still have two 30+ point scorers in their lineup. Junior Jocelyn Amos (#17) has lit the lamp 16 times and dished out 15 assists, while senior Sloane Matthews (#22) has found the back of the net 12 times and added 18 assists. Freshman Maxine Cimoroni (#18) is the third-highest scorer among their available players, adding 23 points on 9 goals & 14 assists.
Senior Hailey MacLeod (#35) has been OSU's primary goaltender this season, posting a 16-3-0 record with 4 shutouts, a 1.61 goals-against average, and a .927 save percentage. Freshman Taylor Kressin (#30) and sophomore Genny Klein (#1) have split the remaining starts; Kressin is a perfect 6-0-0 with one shutout, a 1.33 GAA, and a .920 SV%, while Klein in 4-1-0 with one shutout, a 2.52 GAA, and an .896 SV%.
Last action: OSU splits with UW – Facing top-ranked Wisconsin in Madison, the Buckeyes split their series with the Badgers, winning the opener 4-1 before losing the rematch by the same score. Jordyn Petrie netted the weekend's opening goal for OSU and added two assists, Maxine Cimoroni tallied a goal & an assist, and Hailey MacLeod stopped 30 of 31 shots. But Wisconsin's Lacey Eden replicated Petrie's effort in the second game, lighting the lamp and then dishing out two assists, while Rhyah Stewart stopped 20 of 21 shots for the win; Kaia Malachino scored and MacLeod made another 26 saves for OSU.
Gophers earn 5 points on win, tie with SOW vs. St. Thomas
The Gopher Women's Hockey team earned five points in the WCHA standings in their matchup against St. Thomas, winning 4-1 in St. Paul on Friday before playing the Tommies to a 1-1 tie with a 1-0 shootout win at Ridder Arena on Saturday.
Chloe Primerano, Avery Hovland & Ava Lindsay put the Gophers up 3-0 in the second period of the opener before Cara Sajevic tallied for UST. But Bella Fanale lit the lamp in the third stanza and Hannah Clark finished with 30 saves for the win. Sydney Morrow dished out two assists in the contest.
Jamie Nelson tallied on a first-period power play to put Minnesota up 1-0 in the rematch but Jenessa Gadzik evened the score for St. Thomas with 7:50 left in regulation. Neither team scored over the remainder of the third period nor in overtime as Clark finished with 26 saves and UST's Julia Minotti posted 22 saves. In the shootout, Clark shut down the three Tommies shooters she faced, while Minotti stopped the first two Gophers but was beaten by Morrow in the third round for the extra WCHA standings point.
Finale, Primerano & Nelson each had an assist to go with their respective goals, joining Morrow with (officially) a two-point series.
Clark named WCHA Goaltender of the Week for third time
With a combined 56 saves on 58 shots faced against St. Thomas, resulting in a .967 save percentage and 0.96 goals-against average, Gopher sophomore Hannah Clark was named WCHA Goaltender of the Week on Monday.
The award is Clark's third of the season and of her collegiate career after she was honored twice in October. For the season, she has a 1.85 GAA & .928 SV%.
Congratulations, Hannah!!
2026 Olympic Games: U.S. finishes preliminaries atop Group A, Sweden takes top spot in Group B, host Italy advances
The U.S. Women's Hockey Team will be the #1 seed in the playoff bracket of the 2026 Olympic tournament after winning all four of their preliminary round contests in Group A by a combined score of 20-1, including a 5-0 shutout victory over Canada yesterday.
However, the standings order of three of the other four teams in Group A remains TBD due to the postponement of the Canada-Finland game, which will be played tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 12). Only Switzerland knows they finished last in the group and will be the #5 seed in the playoff round.
In Group B, Sweden took the top spot with their own perfect 4-0-0-0 record (W-OTW-OTL-L). After an opening day loss to the Swedes, Germany bounced back to take second position in the group with a 2-1-0-1 mark. However, a big surprise was the performance of host nation Italy; with a 3-2 victory over Japan on Monday, they finished preliminary round play with a 2-0-0-2 record, good enough to advance to the playoff quarterfinals where they'll face the Americans. The Japanese squad will head home after going 1-0-0-3, only beating a winless French team (0-0-1-3) which was also eliminated.
Gophers at the Olympics – Several Gopher Women's Hockey representatives participating at the 2026 Winter Games have found the scoresheet in the preliminary round. We give a special shout-out to Natálie Mlýnková; her 3 goals in this year's Games and 4 career goals in Olympic competition are both new Czechia national records. Here's the update through yesterday's contests...
Abbey Murphy (USA) – 1 goal, 4 assists
Natálie Mlýnková (Czechia) – 3 goals, 1 assist
Taylor Heise (USA) – 1 goal, 1 assist
Josefin Bouveng (Sweden) – 1 goal, 1 assist
Tereza Plosová (Czechia) – 1 goal
Kelly Pannek (USA) – 1 assist
Nelli Laitinen (FIN), Lee Stecklein (USA) & Grace Zumwinkle (USA) – No scoring
Tomorrow's Canada-Finland preliminary round game is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. US/Canada Central Time. We'll recap it and share the playoff bracket on Friday morning. Again, the full schedule of games can be found on the IIHF's tournament site. The quarterfinals begin on Friday (Feb. 13) at 9:40 a.m. CT, and the game between Team USA & Italy is tentatively scheduled for Friday at 2:10 p.m. CT.
In the United States, all playoff games will streamed on Peacock TV subscription service. The U.S.-Italy contest will also be televised live on USA Network, with re-airings in the evening, and Saturday's games will be televised on CNBC. The complete coverage schedule for both the women's and men's tournaments can be found on NBCOlympics.com.
For our Canadian families & friends, no change is expected. All games of the women's hockey tournament will be streamed on the CBC Gem subscription service, with Team Canada games televised live on CBC TV. Their full Olympic streaming and TV schedule is available here.
Around the WCHA...
Bulldogs sweep Beavers, clinch home ice – Kate Kosobud tallied a goal & 3 assists for Minnesota Duluth, including setting up Zoey Krock's game-winning goal late in Friday's contest, as UMD swept Bemidji State, 3-2 & 5-0. Caitlin Kraemer and Madi Burr each added two goals and an assist for the Bulldogs, and Ève Gascon stopped 55 of 57 shots – including all 26 she faced Saturday. Morgan Smith recorded a goal & an assist and Ava Hills made a combined 63 saves for BSU. With the sweep, Minnesota Duluth clinched the #4 seed for the WCHA Playoff Tournament and home ice for the First Round.
Huskies, Mavericks split – Marie Moran & Sofianna Sundelin each tallied a goal and an assist and Jojo Chobak stopped 31 of 32 shots as St. Cloud State won the opening game of their series against Minnesota State, 5-1; Mercury Bischoff scored and Hailey Hansen made 31 saves for MSU. Bischoff added a goal & an assist, Taylor Otremba recorded a goal and two helpers, and Hansen stopped 34 of 35 shots as the Mavericks salvaged a split with a 4-1 win over the Huskies in the rematch; Maélie Pion lit the lamp and Chobak made 31 saves for SCSU.
Upcoming games – The other three WCHA series will also be played Friday & Saturday. Two will start with Friday matinees as St. Cloud State hosts Bemidji State and Wisconsin visits Minnesota State. Meanwhile, St. Thomas will head north to take on Minnesota Duluth.
Standings (* clinched home ice to open conference playoffs):
1. Wisconsin* – 60 points (.833 pts%), 19-3-2-1, 1-1 in OT (25-3-2 overall)
2. Ohio State* – 58 points (.806 pts%), 20-4-0-0, 2-0 in OT (26-4-0 overall)
3. Minnesota* – 55 points (.764 pts%), 18-5-1-1, 1-0 in OT (24-5-1 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth* – 38 points (.528 pts%), 11-10-3-2, 0-0 in OT (15-12-3 overall)
5. Minnesota State – 24 points (.333 pts%), 7-15-2-1, 1-1 in OT (13-15-2 overall)
6. St. Thomas – 23 points (.319 pts%), 7-16-1-0, 3-4 in OT (12-17-1 overall)
7. St. Cloud State – 21 points (.292 pts%), 5-17-2-1, 1-4 in OT (9-19-2 overall)
8. Bemidji State – 9 points (.125 pts%), 3-20-1-0, 1-0 in OT (6-21-3 overall)
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