As we creep closer and closer to the NCAA Tournament, we begin to see some enticing matchups that seem to mean more during this time of year. This past weekend we didn’t experience any upsets out west as we typically have seen on a weekly basis, but we saw one individual make history. Here’s your week 14 west recap, showing the featured highlights of the weekend!
MIAC
Gustavus’ Katie McCoy makes history!
Before we begin the recap of these close games, Gustavus goaltender Katie McCoy made history once again on Saturday, this time it was bigger than just her program. McCoy earned the 32nd-shutout victory of her illustrious career, passing Plattsburgh’s Sydney Aveson (‘14) on the all-time shutouts list to become the all-time leader in Women’s Division III hockey.
During her career, she’s racked up 1,372 saves, a 0.939 save-percentage, 0.998 goals-against-average, & a career record of 74-12-3 (stats via Gustavus Athletics). Obviously, she has a great team in front of her with stellar defense, but she’s a lock for one of the best to ever tend the net in Women’s D-III hockey!
#2 Gustavus vs St. Kates (Gustavus 2-1 & 1-0)
Both games were extremely close, St. Kates gave the Gusties everything they had until the very end. In game one, Gustavus scored a quick goal a mere 37 seconds into the opening frame (Hailey Holland, 00:37). They then added the eventual game-winner in the middle of the 2nd period (Margot Bettman, 11:04). The lone Wildcats goal would come late in the 2nd period, in the final minute (19:26.3), it was Abby Pirki getting St. Kates on the board, but it wouldn’t be enough in the end.
Goaltending was good for both sides, Katie McCoy with 14 saves and Anna Friendshuh with 30.
Game two featured the same style of game, tight and anyone’s game right until the 60-minute buzzer. It was scoreless through two periods, something I’m sure not many thought would be the case, but here we were, entering the final period deadlocked at 0.
Eventually, nearing the midway mark of the final period (07:22), Brooke Power finished the game-winner, assisted by Lily Mortenson, sending the Gusties home with a weekend-sweep of St. Kates.
Despite the loss, Wildcats goaltender Abby Severson made 39 saves, Gusties McCoy had her record-setting shutout victory.
#13 Saint Mary’s vs Bethel (Saint Mary’s 2-0 & 4-3)
Saint Mary’s picked up the weekend-sweep of the Royals, but it didn’t come easy, especially in game two. We’ll focus on game two, but in game one, SMU got the 2-0 win.
In game two, the Cardinals got off to a quick start, Allie Urlaub scoring at 2:29 of the opening period, which held up until the 2nd period when we saw a flurry of goals.
In the 2nd, Bethel went to work, scoring a quick pair of goals, one being on the powerplay. Brynn Swenson netted the pair of Royals goals, with the first coming at 6:41, and the second on the powerplay at 8:49, giving Bethel the 2-1 lead.
SMU’s Celia Midtbo would add a pair of her own, hers spanning from the 2nd to the 3rd period, scoring at 15:21 of the middle frame, tying it up as we went into the 3rd. In the 3rd, she’d score her second a rapid 1:03 into the period, giving the Cardinals the 3-2 lead, which held up for a brief two minutes and eleven seconds when Bethel’s Megan Johnson tied it up.
We would head to overtime, Saint Mary’s looking to win their eighth-straight game, it was Sophia Paduano just before the halfway mark at 2:16, giving Saint Mary’s the huge overtime MIAC victory.
Bethel goaltender Anna Hanson, despite the loss, made 41 saves in the game.
NCHA
The top-two teams get sweeps, setting themselves up for a 1v2 matchup next weekend in Adrian, MI
This is a look ahead to next weekend as the results from the fun NCHA came as expected no surprises here. #5 Adrian swept the inaugural Dubuque team, winning 14-1 & 9-1, while St. Norbert swept Lawrence 7-1 & 5-0. Let’s look ahead to next weekend:
Seeing these two team’s matchup it’s always fun, despite Adrian holding an all-time record of 27-5-2, which includes a currently active 22-game win streak, it’s up in the air who takes these games.
Now, if you made me pick, I’d go with an Adrian sweep, just because I think Adrian’s currently the 2nd best team in the country behind the powerhouse UW-River Falls, despite what the polls and pairwise tells you. The only difference here is that this is arguably the best St. Norbert team Adrian will have faced in years, if not ever. A.J. Aitken has turned this program around and gotten them places we haven’t seen in many years.
The intriguing stats of this matchup are the top-5 offenses these two teams boast, Adrian being 2nd & Norbert 5th, both teams have impressive defensive numbers including the penalty kill, Norbert rolling at just over 95%, while the Bulldogs are just over 91%.
This will be a fun weekend, a rematch of the Slaats Cup finals last season when we witnessed the power outages in the Arrington Ice Arena, causing a day-delay, but eventually the two teams got to play, which resulted in an Adrian victory.
WIAC
The WIAC had a quiet weekend, #1 UW-River Falls moved to a perfect 21-0-0 with a predictable sweep of Northland, winning 8-1 in both contests.
#10 UW-Eau Claire shutout UW-Stevens Point 1-0, which would’ve been 2-0 if a Blugold didn’t miss a wide-open empty-net from the slot, but nevertheless, the Blugolds add a W to the column.
The main news for these two, since there’s no auto-bid in this conference, non-conference games mean the world. #1 UW-River Falls visits #2 Gustavus tonight (Tuesday – January 30th), the Falcons are currently 2-0 vs the Gusties this season, two of the best games we’ve seen all year and this one will be right up there with them.
For Eau Claire, they visit Augsburg, facing an Auggie team that’s currently playing their best hockey all season, including a 5-4 overtime-win vs #2 Gustavus. Eau Claire can’t afford to lose a game the rest of the way if they want an at-large bid via pairwise, maybe a single-loss to River Falls, but there’s essentially no room for error after their earlier losses this season.
