The Pipers of Hamline University won the third-place game at the NCAA Division III women’s ice hockey national championship Saturday, defeating the defending champion, Plattsburgh State, 5-4 in overtime.
The win, which was earned by a goal from senior Darby Dodds, ends the Pipers’ season with a record of 22-5-3 and a third-place finish in the team’s first NCAA tournament.
“I’m just really proud of the girls and the season we had,” Hamline head coach Natalie Darwitz said.
The game began well for the Pipers, as they put 19 shots on goal in the first period. A goal by sophomore Sadie Baker at 5:03 and another by junior Becca Zarembinski gave Hamline a 2-0 lead with 9:47 played.
“Obviously, Hamline came out with a lot of emotion and took the game to us pretty hard in the first period,” Plattsburgh State head coach Kevin Houle said. “We were back on our heels, and it was tough to fire back.”
Plattsburgh senior Kayla Meneghin cut the Cardinals’ deficit to one 20 seconds after Zambinski’s goal, marking the 188th point of her college career.
While the Pipers added a goal by sophomore Bre Simon in the period, a calm performance by junior goaltender Kassi Abbott kept Plattsburgh in the game, as the Cardinals afforded Hamline a number of breakaway scoring opportunities.
“I know the goalie that I am, and I know that I can keep my team in the game,” Abbott said. “”I knew that they would pick it up, so I had no worries.”
The Cardinals’ coaching staff took the first intermission to rally the team, who Houle said were struggling to find their legs after their double-overtime loss to Elmira Friday.
“I don’t care if we lose the game,” Houle said. “We just have to go out and compete, play hard and play for pride.”
A power-play goal by freshman Annie Katonka at 13:10 of the second brought Plattsburgh within one on the scoreboard before senior Melissa Sheeran’s 97th career goal tied the game 3-3 with 20 seconds remaining in the period.
“I blacked out, I threw it to the net, and it went in,” Sheeran said.
Darwitz was confident that her team would remain composed after losing that lead.
“It just came down to ‘you guys deserve this, and you know what we need to do to take it,’” Darwitz said of her message to the team.
While Katonka’s second goal of the game gave Plattsburgh a 4-3 lead at 9:32 of the third period, the Pipers continued to battle and tied the game 4-4 with 4:44 remaining with Zarembinksi’s second goal.
“They came out in that third period buzzing and didn’t get discouraged when Plattsburgh went up,” Darwitz said.
The score remained 4-4 at the end of regulation, and the teams played a 5-minute overtime period.
A shootout would have followed, but Dodds scored with 6.2 seconds remaining to send Plattsburgh to its first weekend of consecutive defeats since 2015 and to earn victory for the Pipers.
“We worked hard throughout the whole game, and we knew that our time was coming,” Dodds said. “We just kept pushing and pushing. Once we got that goal, it was the greatest feeling in the world.”
When the puck went in and the goal light turned on, the Hamline bench jubilantly cleared and piled in celebration in the offensive zone.
“It was not a third-place celebration, but I think it’s more meaningful than that,” Darwitz said. “I think it was a culmination of a lot of adversity we faced this year.”
