Top 10 Questions For Gopher Women's Hockey Entering 2019-20

The defending WCHA regular-season champions find themselves nearing a changing of the guard. After a dynasty run of four national championships in five seasons, Minnesota has come up short each of the last three NCAA Tournaments.

Among the active players, only redshirt senior Sarah Potomak, who as a rookie scored the opening goal against BC in the 2016 national championship game, knows how it feels to win one.

While winning a national championship is far from the only goal Minnesota strives for each season, the Gophers expect - both internally and by fans externally - to annually contend for the title. Minnesota came close in March, finishing second after rival Wisconsin shut out the Gophers 2-0 in the 2019 national championship game.

There remains much to like about this season’s team, however, for the first time in a while, Minnesota does not have bragging rights over the team on the other side of the St. Croix. the clear second team in both the WCHA and nationally.

Can the Gophers change that? Before the start of the season, here are 10 more questions that will be answered in Minnesota’s quest for an eighth natty title.

Game Story: Minnesota Women Shut Out, Sweep Mercyhurst (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- Towards the end of the first period, when the shot counter was a lopsided 20-1 for the home team it became apparent that the Gophers had found a better start against No. 10 Mercyhurst.

That continued throughout Saturday’s game.

No. 3 Minnesota (2-0-0, 0-0-0-0 WCHA) won 5-0 to sweep the Lakers at Ridder Arena thanks to a three-goal second period and two goals by sophomore forward Grace Zumwinkle.

Outshooting Mercyhurst (0-2-0, 0-0-0 CHA) 20-4 in the first period and 43-17 overall, the home team scored in all three periods.

“We just challenged them a little more. When our teams have been at their best, they’ve just not been a second-period team. They’ve been a three-period team,” said Gopher head coach Brad Frost. “Last night as we watched video back the first four shifts were pretty good, then it came to a screeching halt. We needed to build on that momentum.”

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Feature: When they needed it most, Gopher women found a way to beat the best (The Athletic)

With her team’s center of attention turning towards needing two wins, internally Sidney Peters spent much of the weekend focusing on a single droplet of water.

It’s a trick Peters, a kinesiology major, picked up to help concentrate. During stoppages of play Minnesota’s redshirt senior goaltender will spray her water bottle in the air and try to watch the droplets falling down.

“It’s a way to keep my eyes awake. You have all these little muscles in your eyes. When you’re zoning out and not getting a lot of shots, you can lose control,” she said. “It’s also a focal point for me. It helps me to stay focused and deal with the anxiety that’s inevitable as an athlete.”

Inevitably there was anxiety.

Two hours before Saturday’s WCHA Final Faceoff semifinal, any plans of the Gophers making the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid disappeared 1,100 miles away. Minnesota players and coaches found out through scoreboard watching that UConn upset Hockey East regular-season champion Boston College. Hockey East’s automatic bid would go to a team outside the top eight in the Pairwise Rankings, taking away an at-large spot in the eight-team field.

That spot would have been Minnesota’s.

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Game Story: Gophers advance to WCHA Final Faceoff (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- Needing a win, Minnesota got its biggest victory of the season. The Gophers will continue theirs.

Freshman Grace Zumwinkle scored both goals Saturday in a 2-0 win over Ohio State. Minnesota (23-10-3) will face Wisconsin for the WCHA Final Faceoff championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

“It was a great game here tonight. I thought we played extremely hard and battled and competed,” said head coach Brad Frost. “(Gophers redshirt senior goaltender) Sid(ney) Peters was fantastic obviously and Zummy and her line, in particular, played a really big role.”

Entering Saturday on the outside of the NCAA Tournament and having gone 0-3-1 against the opponent, Peters stopped all 33 shots she faced.

Ohio State (23-10-4) appeared to have scored in the opening 90 seconds, but Charly Dahlquist’s shot was waved off when the net came off first. Referees reviewed the play and confirmed the call.

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Game Story: Minnesota ends first half by blowing out UMD (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- After failing to hold onto a two-goal third-period lead Friday, Minnesota wanted to be more mentally tough Saturday to close out the first half at Ridder Arena.

Mission accomplished, as the Gophers blew out Minnesota-Duluth 5-0 on Saturday.

“It definitely pissed us off a little bit. We wanted to come out with energy and finish 2017 with a win,” said freshman Taylor Wente. “We definitely wanted to win this game a lot.”

Minnesota scored five times in the first 40 minutes and closed out the game with redshirt senior goaltender Sidney Peters rebounding from Friday, stopping all 18 shots faced for her second shutout of the year.

“I thought (Peters) was solid, she was very square to the puck, making the saves she’s supposed to make,” Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said.

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Game Story: Gopher blow 3-1 lead, settle for tie (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- There are ties where a team feels good about themselves.

Then there are ties where the team treats it closer to a loss.

Minnesota, as a team, can be put in the latter category Friday night.

“Tonight we don’t feel real good about that tie being up two goals twice in the third. You have to find a way to win that hockey game and we didn’t,” said Gophers head coach Brad Frost as audible cheers from Minnesota-Duluth players could be heard down the hall.

Leading 3-1 with a little more than eight minutes remaining in regulation, Minnesota (14-5-2, 9-4-2-0 WCHA) was unable to hold on to the lead at Ridder Arena. The team gave up goals to Bulldogs forwards Ashton Bell and Katerina Mrazova, who finished with two Friday, as part of a five-goal third period to finish tied, 3-3.

UMD won the shootout 2-1 in five rounds to take home the extra WCHA conference point.

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Game Story: Bemidji State snaps Minnesota's 9 game winning streak (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- Having played the Gophers close three times this season in a losing effort, Bemidji State was not denied in the fourth and final attempt Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena.

A night after defeating the Beavers in the final minute of overtime, Minnesota could not find the energy to push past and get a sweep in the two-game series. Jacqueline Kaasa and Emily Bergland scored third period goals 46 seconds apart to put the visiting Beavers ahead 4-2 for a series split

The loss snapped Minnesota’s nine game winning streak.

“I was really proud of our group after suffering a really, really tough loss last night. To come back tonight, I’m really proud of them,” said Bemidji State head coach Jim Scanlan.

Kaasa finished with two goals and an assist, including the game-winner 5:16 into the third period. Her first was matched 23 seconds later in the first period by Alex Woken, whose effort led to Minnesota fans throwing stuffed animals over the boards during the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss.

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Game Story: Minnesota Women's Hockey Swept by Wisconsin in Overtime Loss (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- Sidney Peters said it happened both pretty quickly and frustratingly slow.

In an instant, the Gopher goaltender saw Wisconsin’s Baylee Wellhausen celebrate a goal and Sunday’s game all in one. The Badger senior forward scored 1:32 into overtime to hand Minnesota a 2-1 loss at Ridder Arena.

“She shot it and I kind of got a piece of [the puck] with my blocker,” Peters said of the overtime goal. “It bounced a few times, bouncing off my shoulder and into the net. It’s a frustrating way to get scored on because I watched it in slow motion.”

A moment earlier, the Gophers (5-4-1, 4-3-1-0 WCHA) nearly won the game when Nicole Schammel’s point-blank shot was saved by Wisconsin goaltender Kristen Campbell. It proved to be the difference in an intense and sometimes chippy Border Battle rivalry.

While Minnesota got off to a better start Sunday, holding the Badgers off the scoresheet in the first period, the end result was the same. The home team played with undefeated and top-ranked Wisconsin (12-0-0, 6-0-0-0 WCHA) for much of the game, but could not get a go-ahead goal.

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BLOG: 10 thoughts from Minnesota's weekend split against Merrimack

Sunday's faceoff between Minnesota and Merrimack (Photo: Nathan Wells)

I spent some time at Ridder Arena last weekend, covering both of Minnesota's season-opening games against Merrimack. Being there first-hand and talking with players and coaches after the games, I thought it would be appropriate to give my thoughts as a whole.

The Gophers lost Friday 4-3 before winning 4-1. If you missed Friday's game recap, click here.

Game Story: #3 Minnesota upset by Merrimack 4-3 to open year

MINNEAPOLIS- Two goals 16 seconds apart, coming in the final minute of a period, normally has been enough for Minnesota to pull away from its competition at home.

Normally. As Merrimack reminded the Gophers Friday night, it's a new year. The past doesn't mean anything.

Hosting Merrimack to open the 2017-18 season, Minnesota allowed the Warriors to score three times in a six minute stretch of play to erase a 3-1 lead. Lea-Kristine Demers made a career-high 54 saves as Merrimack (2-0-0) defeated the #3 Gophers 4-3 at Ridder Arena.

"They defended really well, blocked a lot of shots and kept things to the outside. Their goalie played really well, but didn't really give up any second chances," Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said. "I don't think we had one odd-man rush, a two-on-one, three-on-two breakaway. On the flip side, they had a couple two-on-ones and a couple breakaways. We didn't defend as well as they did and the puck ends up in the net."

WCHA coaches pick Minnesota to win conference; Grace Zumwinkle preseason rookie of the year

The preseason's opening poll gives a few nods to Minnesota.

By a single point, Minnesota was picked by the seven WCHA head coaches to win the conference. The Gophers ended up with 4 first-place votes and 34 points to two-time defending WCHA champion Wisconsin's 3 first-place votes and 33.

Coaches were unable to pick their own team.

Minnesota Duluth, which made the eight team NCAA Tournament last season along with Minnesota and Wisconsin, tied for third with Ohio State. Each had 23 points. Bemidji State, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State round out the preseason raknings.

BLOG: Gopher commit notes on Casey Mittelstadt, Mat Robson and Grace Zumwinkle

March is here and so are a number of awards for Minnesota commits.

Penticton (BCHL) goaltender and Minnesota commit Mat Robson was named the BCHL Player of the Week after stopping 79 of 81 shots over 3 games. Throughout February the 20 year-old Toronto native - he would the first Canadian to play for Minnesota since 2006 - went undefeated in 10 games, had a .962 save percentage and three shutouts (he has a league-best six on the season). His .930 save percentage and 1.94 GAA in 49 games this season is second in the league.

For more on Robson I wrote a feature for the St. Paul Pioneer Press on the goaltender back in December.