Princeton showed Minnesota why it sat atop ECAC Hockey for most of the season, but ultimately, the hosts got just enough offense to advance with a 5-2 win over the Tigers in front of 2,079 fans.
Facing Minnesota (31-5-1) in Minneapolis was similar to three years ago, the last time Princeton made the NCAA field.
“Freshman year, we came in and got that kind of lucky goal, and after that, it was Minnesota’s game,” Princeton (20-8-5) senior Stephanie Sucharda said of that earlier 6-2 loss. “I think this year, we were right with them.”
The two teams were even on the scoreboard at 2-2 until Kelly Pannek drove the net, the puck hit her skate, and it went into the goal at 11:47 of the third period.
“I wasn’t trying to kick it,” she said. “It hit my foot, but I was nervous that they would call it back. I was trying to get my stick on it, but it just bounced off my foot.”
Some of the other close calls in the game went against the Gophers, as they put a couple of shots off the crossbar and had a potential second-period goal waved off due to goaltender interference.
“It’s really easy in a game like that, when it’s kind of back and forth, to get away from what you’re doing,” Pannek said. “For our line, we were having success tonight, so we were trying to stay with that: get pucks deep, pressure them, use our speed.”
The line that Pannek centers between sisters Amy and Sarah Potomak hasn’t always clicked this year, but they came up big against the Tigers, combining for five assists and four goals, with Sarah Potomak picking up two of each.
“Playing with those two is something really, really special,” Sarah Potomak said. “I’m just so proud of all of our growth that we’ve went through this year, and we’re getting hot at the right time.
Early on, it was the other team’s top line that was hot, as Sarah Fillier got behind the defense, went in alone, and finished upstairs to get Princeton on the board 5:26 into the game.
The Gophers answered a couple of minutes later when Stephanie Neatby didn’t get all of Sarah Potomak’s shot, and it trickled over the goal line to tie the score, and they took a lead into intermission when Amy Potomak buried a rebound.
The lead didn’t last even three minutes into the middle period; Princeton broke in three on two and Fillier fired a shot that beat Sydney Scobee high.
“We told our team many times, Fillier’s line in particular, they’ve all got over 20 goals,” coach Brad Frost said. “That’s a pretty crazy statistic when you think about it. They’re just dangerous in transition.”
The Gophers capped the game off with a couple of empty-net goals. Sarah Potomak hit from long range at 18:54, and Nicole Schammel finished her last game in Ridder Arena from the side boards with 14 seconds left.
Before either of those, it looked like Princeton was going to net an equalizer with an extra attacker on the ice.
“From our vantage point, the puck is up at the point and you can see that kid out of the corner of our eye on the back door,” Frost said. “[Defender Olivia Knowles] made a great diving play to disrupt it a little bit, [Scobee] made a great save, and [Pannek] came diving too, and somehow, it just trickled wide.”
The view was similar from the other bench, but the emotion was far different.
“On the bench, I thought it went in,” Sucharda said. “I was already celebrating. That definitely hurts, a play like that where it is inches away from going in, and that’s what determines the end of your college career; it’s very tough.”
Scobee made 24 saves in her first start in the national tourney.
“She looked maybe a little tentative early, and a little bit nervous early, but as the game went along, she continued to settle in and made some huge saves for us,” Frost said.
Fillier with Maggie Connors and Carly Bullock were the main reason for anxiety for Scobee and her teammates.
“I knew Sarah Fillier was a special player from the moment I saw her when I was recruiting her,” coach Cara Morey said. “You can’t describe how she plays. She has a special instinct. I knew she would be a massive factor right away. [Connors] was a surprise. She’s so offensively gifted, and creative, and can score, but I didn’t know she’d make such a big impact as a freshman, and I didn’t realize how quickly her and Sarah would gel.”
The Gophers will meet Cornell, an overtime winner over Northeastern, on Friday in a Frozen Four semifinal, while the Tigers look farther into the future.
“It’s pretty new to Princeton,” Morey said. “I think next year, we’re going to have a pretty good chance of winning this game. I think this is going to make all of our players stronger.”
