Five teams earned points in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) league standings as No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Ohio State, and No. 4 Minnesota Duluth earned series sweeps, while No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 10 St. Cloud State battled to a 4-4 draw with the Badgers winning the shootout.
No. 2 Minnesota 9, Bemidji State 2 | BOX SCORE | Minnesota Recap
-The second-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers tallied nine goals to earn the series sweep of Bemidji State at home on Saturday afternoon and record their 12th win of the season.
- Minnesota scored three goals in the first period courtesy of Emma Kreisz, Chloe Primerano, and Tereza Plosova; the Gophers' Bella Fanale extended the lead to four just under nine minutes into the second before the Beavers responded with back-to-back goals from Maddie Kaiser and Morgan Smith; the Gophers then went on to score five unanswered for the win.
- A total of 15 Gophers registered at least one point in the victory, including seven who had multi-point performances; Josefin Bouveng was one of seven with a multi-point performance as she extended her point streak to 13 games.
- Bemidji State's Ava Hills registered 49 saves despite the loss, while sophomore netminder Kaitlin Groess came on to record five in the third.
No. 3 Ohio State 7, RV Minnesota State 3 | BOX SCORE | Ohio State Recap | Minnesota State Recap
- Third-ranked Ohio State defeated Minnesota State 7-3 to earn a series sweep at home and improve to 11-1-0 on the season.
- After being tied at one 10 minutes through the first period, Ohio State exploded for four-straight goals to gain a 5-1 lead through the first two frames; the Mavericks responded by scoring the first two goals of the third, but it was not enough as the Buckeyes netted two of their own to close out the game and secure the victory.
- Seven different Buckeyes recorded a goal in the win, while Sara Swiderski (1g, 2a), Hilda Svensson (3a), and Sanni Vanhanen (3a) each tallied three points to lead the offensive efforts; Hailey MacLeod finished the day with 20 saves to earn her seventh win of the season.
- Kamryn Van Batavia and Lauren Zawoyski each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota State in the loss.
No. 1 Wisconsin 4 SOW, No. 10 St. Cloud State 4 | BOX SCORE | Wisconsin Recap
- In a top-10 matchup between No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 10 St. Cloud State, the two teams battled to a 4-4 draw while the Badgers earned the extra point in the WCHA standings with the shootout win.
- Tied at one after the first period, Wisconsin recorded back-to-back goals in the second for a two-goal lead, but Maria Mikaelyan brought the Huskies within one with less than three minutes to go in the second; the third period saw the Huskies' Sydney Lamb tie the game at three before the Badgers regained the lead yet again with a Kelly Gorbatenko goal; Mikaelyan then netted her second of the day to send the game to overtime.
- Kirsten Simms became one of seven Badgers in program history to reach 200 career points with her goal in the game.
- Sophomore netminder Emilia Kyrkkö collected 52 saves in the game for St. Cloud State.
No. 5 Minnesota Duluth 4, No. 15 St. Thomas 2 | BOX SCORE | St. Thomas Recap | Minnesota Duluth Recap
- The fifth-ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs picked up a top-15 series sweep after a 4-2 defeat of No. 15 St. Thomas on the road Saturday afternoon.
- UMD jumped out to a 2-0 lead 13 minutes into the first as Ida Karlsson & Grace Sadura recorded back-to-back goals within 35 seconds; Ella Boerger brought the Tommies within one late in the first; the second period saw UMD’s Madison Burr score just over a minute in while both teams treaded goals in the third as the Bulldogs came out on top 4-2.
- Goaltender Ève Gascon backstopped the Bulldogs in the victory, recording 35 saves and earning her eighth win of the season.
- Ella Boerger and Ellah Hause each tallied two points to lead the Tommies' offensive efforts with one goal and one assist each.
*Rankings based on USCHO Division I Women's Poll
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