MINNEAPOLIS – Junior Nicole Schammel scored a pair of insurance goals in the third period, and Minnesota needed both to triumph over St. Cloud State, 4-3.
“A big sweep for us — we needed those six points,” coach Brad Frost said. “Things got a little bit hairy at the end there.”
The game was still scoreless at the midway point, before senior captain Sydney Baldwin scored on a solo rush to give the Gophers (11-4-1, 8-3-1-0 WCHA) a lead. The third period was far different, with each team hitting the net three times, including the first career goal from defenseman Emily Brown on a snipe under the bar.
“It was nice to get that out of the way,” Brown said. “The first goal is always the hardest. It was just a beautiful setup by [Grace] Zumwinkle and feed from Kippin [Keller]. I couldn’t have pictured it much better than that.”
The two from Schammel brought her total to nine.
“When you get a couple goals to go in early in the season, that can really carry a long way,” she said. “I think that in general this year, we’ve had a lot of depth in our scoring, so a lot of people have a lot of confidence right now.”
The Huskies (2-12-0, 1-9-0-0 WCHA) had been shut out in three straight games, and down 3-0 through 50 minutes, they appeared destined for a fourth straight blanking, but freshman Emma Bigham converted a nifty setup from Julia Tylke for her first goal.
“The exciting thing is it wasn’t just one and we were done,” coach Eric Rud said. “You get a couple, bang, bang, bang, and it’s that momentum, that feeling of how it goes in again.”
After Schammel scored on a power play to restore a three-goal margin, Alyssa Erickson made it 4-2 with 1:17 remaining, and Laura Kluge netted an extra-attacker goal a minute later.
“I thought overall, it was a very well-played game,” Rud said. “Very entertaining — back and forth. Both teams had chances, and they made a couple more plays than us.”
