Junior Nicole Schammel scored two goals and added an assist as No. 3 Minnesota bounced back from an opening night loss to defeat visiting Merrimack, 4-1.
“I redshirted the year before and kind of had a slow start last year, so it feels good to get a quicker start this year, and hopefully, things keep rolling,” Schammel said.
The Red Wing, Minnesota, native skated on a line centered by freshman Taylor Wente, who capped the scoring with her first goal as a Gopher. The unit, with Kippin Keller, who had two helpers on the other wing, was listed third on the line chart, but it was the most productive for Minnesota (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WCHA), scoring all three even-strength goals.
Schammel opened the scoring midway through the contest when she buried a rebound, and after Paige Sorensen had pulled the Warriors (2-1-0, 1-0-0 Hockey East) to within 2-1 early in the final frame, her deflection of a Patti Marshall shot restored the two-goal margin 99 seconds later.
“Getting off to a good start is so critical for these guys, and that’s why it’s big for our freshmen to score,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said.
Rookie Grace Zumwinkle scored on a five-on-three power play, her second goal in as many games.
Although outshot 39-15, Merrimack had as much offensive zone time as it did in Friday’s win, but wasn’t able to generate much against Alex Gulstene, who earned the first win of her college career.
“I thought their coverage was better,” Warriors coach Erin Hamlen said. “I think they played a smarter game. They weren’t nearly as aggressive with their defensemen jumping into the play, and that created a lot of odd-man rushes in our first game.”
Samantha Ridgewell got the start for the Warriors and made 35 stops.
“We’re a three-year-old program that’s still learning,” Hamlen said. “I think we still have a ways to go in building some of those habits, but playing against an established program like this who has got some highly skilled players and coaches, we can walk away from the weekend with our heads held high and know that we have the opportunity to do good things in Hockey East.”
Merrimack returns to league play next weekend at New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, the Gophers, who kick off their WCHA campaign by hosting Ohio State, avoided carrying a losing streak into that series.
“We just talked about what our identity is going to be and that we need to come out every game ready to play, and we did that today,” Schammel said.
