The Penalty Box Post - Wednesday, February 18, 2026

View the February 18th Penalty Box Post newsletter

All-member PPC Chalk Talk – Saturday, Feb. 21 at 12:30 p.m.

As we've shared the past couple of weeks, the final of our three member-exclusive Chalk Talks for the 2025-2026 season is scheduled for this Saturday, 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 Friday night's 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 score three more, one on PP

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 added three more goals this past weekend, pushing their season-to-date goal total to 158.  Their total now includes twenty-six (26) power play conversions.  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!!

 

WCHA Quarterfinal / First Round tickets on sale!

With home ice clinched for the first / quarterfinal round of the WCHA Playoff Tournament, the Gopher Women's Hockey team has announced game times for the best-of-three series and tickets for those contests are now on sale!!

  • Game 1 – Friday, February 27 at 6:00 p.m.

  • Game 2 – Saturday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m.

  • Game 3 (if necessary) – Sunday, March 1 at 3:00 p.m.

For season ticket holders, these games are included in your package and additional purchases are not necessary.

Otherwise, tickets can be purchased online through the U. of M. ticket office here or by calling 1-800-U-GOPHER.

#3 Minnesota Golden Gophers (24-7-1, 18-7-1-1 WCHA)
vs. #10 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (17-12-3, 13-10-3-2 WCHA)

Friday, February 20 at 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Saturday, February 21 at 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Ridder Arena

The Gopher Women's Hockey team returns home to wrap up the 2025-2026 regular season, facing a familiar rival in the form of the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in a national top-ten matchup.  Action at Ridder Arena begins Friday evening, February 20 at 6:00 p.m. and continues on Saturday, February 21 at 2:00 p.m.

We add a reminder that, due to Gophers participating at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Senior Weekend activities will not be held during the UMD series but rather during the WCHA first-round playoff series.  The team will be holding Fan Appreciation Night this Friday.

Game coverage –

 
Last time against Minnesota Duluth – The Gopher Women's Hockey team put together a complete effort in their series opener at AMSOIL Arena in October to shut out the Bulldogs, 4-0.  They followed it with a 3-2 victory in the rematch to earn the weekend sweep.

Both games started with scoreless first periods, but Ava Lindsay lit the lamp just 46 seconds into the 2nd period in the opener.  Madison Kaiser extended the Gopher lead to 2-0 less than three minutes later, and Lindsay netted her second goal of the contest later in the period.  Jamie Nelson added a power-play goal with less than 5 minutes remaining in regulation, and Hannah Clark posted a 24-save clean sheet.  Sydney Morrow dished out three assists.  Bulldogs netminder Ève Gascon made 16 saves but left with an apparent injury after Kaiser's goal; Sophia Villanueva entered in relief and made another 16 saves.

Gascon was back between the pipes for UMD for the rematch, and Caitlin Kraemer scored to give them the lead nearly 8 minutes into the second period.  However, Josefin Bouveng lit the lamp roughly 3½ minutes later to knot the score and Abbey Murphy put the Gophers ahead with a backhanded goal less than four minutes after that.  Murphy then pushed the lead to 3-1 with an unassisted tally midway through the third period.  UMD went on a power play with 5:19 to play, pulling Gascon for a 6-on-4 attack, and Josie St. Martin converted to bring the Bulldogs within one, but Clark shut the door the rest of the way, finishing with 37 saves and the victory.  Morrow picked up her fourth assist of the weekend on Bouveng's goal, and Nelson recorded two assists in the series to accompany her goal.

Analyzing the Bulldogs – Despite mathematically having the third-strongest strength of schedule nationally, Minnesota Duluth's 12 losses so far have them on the NCAA Tournament bubble and needing wins to solidify their chances of making the field.  They have locked in fourth place in the WCHA standings and home ice for next weekend's first round.

Sophomore Caitlin Kraemer (#11) leads the Bulldogs with 27 total points on 14 goals & 13 assists, but they are without their top goal scorer, senior Thea Johansson, who is still at the Olympics with Team Sweden (she has 15 goals & 6 assists with UMD).  Freshman Rae Meyer (#2) is third on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 8 assists, and seniors Danielle Burgen (#8; 5g, 12a) and Mary Kate O'Brien (#3; 3g, 13a) round out their top five.

The biggest story for UMD, however, has been the recent play of junior Ève Gascon (#1) between the pipes.  Gascon has been on a tear, currently working an active 194-minute shutout streak; for the season, she has a 15-11-3 record with nine shutouts (including the last 3 games), a 1.90 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.  Freshman Sophia Villanueva (#30) has made five appearances with three starts, going 2-1-0 with a 2.60 GAA and a .917 SV%.  Redshirt sophomore Anna Byczek (#31) has yet to see any official collegiate action.

Last action: UMD shuts out St. Thomas – Ève Gascon earned WCHA Goaltender of the Week honors for stopping all 57 shots she faced against the Tommies in Duluth.  Meanwhile, Caitlin Kraemer tallied a short-handed goal after an earlier assist on Friday and Zoey Krock scored into an empty net after assisting on Molly Cole's opening goal on Saturday in a pair of 3-0 Bulldog victories for the series sweep.


Gophers come up empty in road trip to Columbus

A road series against #2-ranked Ohio State wound up with the Gopher Women's Hockey team being swept, falling 4-2 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday.  The results mean Minnesota will finish the regular season as the third-place team in the WCHA standings.

The penalty kill was not working for the Gophers in the opener as the Buckeyes converted their first three power-play opportunities, and they added another goal at equal strength to take a 4-0 lead into the second intermission; Maxine Cimoroni, Jocelyn Amos, and Emma Peschel each recorded a goal & an assist.  Bella Fanale got Minnesota on the scoreboard 2:30 into the third period and Ava Lindsay lit the lamp with 2:40 to play after assisting on Fanale's goal, but they could not get any closer.  Hannah Clark made 35 saves, while OSU's Hailey MacLeod stopped 26 shots.

Chloe Primarano gave Minnesota its lone lead of the weekend 12:09 into the rematch, scoring on a 5-on-3 power play, but Grace McCoshen evened the score for the Buckeyes 2½ minutes later.  Cimoroni followed with her second goal of the series in the second stanza to put Ohio State in the lead.  The teams appeared to play out the remainder of the second period, but OSU challenged for a major penalty against the Gopher after the horn and got the call, forcing the teams to return to the ice to replay the final 64 seconds; Sloane Matthews then scored with 11.2 seconds to go in the frame.  Neither team scored in the third, with Clark finishing with 23 saves and MacLeod stopping another 21 shots.


Fourteen Gophers named to WCHA All-Academic Team

We send congratulations to the fourteen (14) members of the Gopher Women's Hockey team named as WCHA All-Academic Team members: Josefin Bouveng, Hannah Clark, Kendra Distad, Allie Franco, Gracie Graham, Carly Humphrey, Sophia Johnson, Madison Kaiser, Emma Kreisz, Nelli Laitinen, Ava Lindsay, Sydney Morrow, Abbey Murphy & Chloe Primerano.

The fourteen were among 118 student-athletes recognized by the league yesterday, each of whom have a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in their previous two semesters or three quarters and who have achieved at least sophomore status in their academic careers.

Great job, ladies!  Keep up the excellent work!

Olympics: USA vs. Canada for gold Thursday at 12:10pm CT; Sweden to face Switzerland for bronze at 7:40am CT

For the 7th time in eight Olympic Women's Ice Hockey tournaments, Teams USA and Canada will square off for the gold medal.  Meanwhile, Sweden has returned to medal contention and will play against Switzerland for the bronze medal.

The American squad has remained dominant in the competition, pushing their record to 6-0, defeating Italy, 5-0, in the quarterfinals and the Swedes, also 5-0, in the semis.  The three U.S. goaltenders – Aerin Frankel, Gwyneth Philips, and Ava McNaughton – have a combined active shutout streak of 331 minutes of game play, a new Olympic record, going into the championship contest.  Current Gopher Abbey Murphy and alumna Taylor Heise scored in the semifinal contest.

The Canadians eliminated Germany, 5-1, in the quarterfinals but only edged Switzerland 2-1 in the semifinals; Swiss netminder Andrea Brändli made 44 saves but could not stop Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored twice to set a new record with her 19th & 20th career Olympic goals.

In the other quarterfinals, Sweden upset Czechia by a 2-0 score and Finland fell 1-0 to Switzerland.  We give a shout-out to current Gophers Nelli Laitinen (FIN) & Tereza Plosová (CZE) and alumna Natálie Mlýnková (CZE) on their tournament performances.

Both medal games will be played tomorrow – Thursday, February 19 – with the Bronze Medal Game at 7:40 a.m. Central Time and the Gold Medal Game at 12:10 p.m. CST.  We wish good luck to Josefin Bouveng with Team Sweden and Heise, Murphy, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein & Grace Zumwinkle with Team USA.

Both contests will be streamed live on the Peacock TV subscription service in the United States and on the CBC Gem subscription service in Canada.  USA Network will show condensed highlights from the Bronze Medal Game at 11:00 a.m. CST before televising the Gold Medal Game in its entirety.  (Sorry... Canadian TV listings were not clear about game coverage.)

We'll have a final update on the performances of all nine of our Gopher Olympians next week.

 
Around the WCHA...

Badgers earn road sweep in Mankato – Finlay McCarthy tallied 2 goals & 3 assists, Lacey Eden & Marianne Picard each added 2 goals & 2 assists, and Rhyah Stewart stopped 42 of 44 shots as Wisconsin earned a road sweep of Minnesota State, 4‑1 and 5‑1.  Lauren Zawoyski & Ava Guillemette scored for the Mavericks and Hailey Hansen & Kaydence Roeske combined for 73 saves.

Huskies sweep Beavers in St. Cloud – Kasey Sendin & Hailey Armstrong scored for Bemidji State to put them up 2-0 after the first period of their weekend opener against St. Cloud State.  However, the Huskies battled back with six unanswered goals to win that game, 6-2, and followed it with a 5-0 shutout victory in the rematch for the sweep.  Alice Sauriol tallied 2 goals & 3 assists in the opener, then added another three helpers in the rematch for an 8-point weekend.  Jojo Chobak stopped a combined 49 of 51 shots for SCSU.  The two wins moved the Huskies into fifth in the league standings.

Upcoming games – Five positions in the WCHA standings – and all the playoff pairings – are still to be determined entering the final weekend of the regular season.  In addition to the Gophers taking on the Bulldogs, Minnesota State will visit St. Thomas and Bemidji State will host Ohio State on Friday & Saturday.  St. Cloud State will head to Madison to take on Wisconsin on Saturday & Sunday to conclude the league schedule.

Standings (* clinched home ice to open conference playoffs):
1. Wisconsin* – 66 points (.846 pts%), 21-3-2-1, 1-1 in OT (27-3-2 overall)
2. Ohio State* – 64 points (.821 pts%), 22-4-0-0, 2-0 in OT (28-4-0 overall)
3. Minnesota* – 55 points (.705 pts%), 18-7-1-1, 1-0 in OT (24-7-1 overall)
4. Minn. Duluth* – 44 points (.564 pts%), 13-10-3-2, 0-0 in OT (17-12-3 overall)
5. St. Cloud State – 27 points (.346 pts%), 7-17-2-1, 1-4 in OT (11-19-2 overall)
6. Minnesota State – 24 points (.308 pts%), 7-17-2-1, 1-1 in OT (13-17-2 overall)
7. St. Thomas – 23 points (.295 pts%), 7-18-1-0, 3-4 in OT (12-18-1 overall)
8. Bemidji State – 9 points (.115 pts%), 3-22-1-0, 1-0 in OT (6-23-3 overall)

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