MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota raised its 2015 national championship banner Friday night and then went out and upended St. Cloud State 7-0 in the first of five scheduled meetings between the two teams this season.
“As I look up at the board and see giving up five shots, you’re going to win a lot of hockey games doing that,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said. “I thought we got better each and every period, in particular the second.”
The Gophers (3-0-0, 1-0-0-0 WCHA) raised their banner from last year’s NCAA championship in front of 1,851 fans.
“Any time you see those clips from that game, it’s pretty surreal,” sophomore center Kelly Pannek said. “Our [assistant coach Nadine Muzerall], she has a banner up there, and she always says, ‘Once your banner is up there, it’s up there forever.’ So it’s pretty cool just to get it up there and be able to focus now on this next year.”
Minnesota got three-point games from Pannek, Milica McMillen, and Kate Schipper. Pannek and Dani Cameranesi netted a pair of goals, while McMillen, Lee Stecklein, and Cara Piazza had single tallies.
The Huskies (2-1-0, 0-1-0-0 WCHA) were able to keep it close early, holding Minnesota to five shots and a single goal in the opening period.
That came when Pannek won a puck battle high along the wall, snapped a shot off and slipped in her own rebound.
“To see Kelly take that next step this year and to start off quick is a huge benefit, but she just makes everybody around her better,” Frost said.
The hosts dominated the second period, outshooting the Huskies 16-1 and scoring twice.
On the power play, Megan Wolfe got the puck to Cameranesi near the crease for a 2-0 lead midway through the game.
Stecklein made it 3-0 on a long wrist shot in the final minute of the second period.
It was more of the same in the final 20 minutes, with the Gophers outscoring the Huskies 4-0 and outshooting them 17-1.
SCSU came into the game having been successful on only four of nine penalty kills on the season, and that percentage got worse after it went 0-3 in its latest effort.
