ST. PAUL – The University of Minnesota women's hockey team defeated the St. Thomas Tommies behind an explosion of offense and stifling goaltending on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota (3-0-0) saw redshirt junior
Abbey Murphy record her first collegiate hat trick in a night in which she recorded five points.
Murphy's hat trick comes in addition to five other Gopher goals, with junior
Ella Huber scoring twice. Huber now has three goals and three assists on the young season. Murphy assisted both of Huber's goals, while fifth-year senior
Taylor Stewart recorded her first point of the season with an assist on Huber's second goal.
The Maroon and Gold scored three goals in each of the final two periods, with Murphy, Huber and junior
Peyton Hemp scoring in the second and Huber, senior
Audrey Wethington and redshirt sophomore
Emma Conner scoring in the third.
A. Wethington found the back of the net halfway through the third period, her first goal of the season. With just 14 seconds remaining in the game, Conner scored off assists from
Madeline Wethington and
Ava Lindsay.
Junior goaltender
Skylar Vetter recorded her second shutout of the season, recording 27 saves.
Quotable
"This was a great event tonight, and I'm really happy we could be a part of it playing here at Xcel Energy Center," head coach
Brad Frost said. "We're getting better each and every week, and I'm really proud of our group. These two [
Abbey Murphy and
Skylar Vetter] played exceptional again tonight, as they have all year."
"It was nice to get those first two [goals], but I was focused on doing the right things first and I just figured that the third one would come eventually," Murphy said about her hat trick.
Notable
-
Abbey Murphy is the first Gopher to record a natural hat trick since Amy Potomak vs. Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 31, 2020
- Murphy records first collegiate hat trick, has scored two goals in a game nine times in her career
-
Ella Huber recorded her third-career two-goal game
- Murphy scored a single-game career-high five points
Up Next
Minnesota will travel to Saint Thomas Ice Arena for the second game of their series with the Tommies on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 4:00 p.m. CT.