The top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, No. 3 Minnesota, No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, and No. 13 St. Cloud State earned series-opening victories in conference play to highlight Friday's Western Collegiate Hockey Association action.
No. 3 Minnesota 5, RV St. Thomas 3 | BOX SCORE | Minnesota Recap | St. Thomas Recap
- The third-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers took game one in a home-and-home against St. Thomas with a 5-3 win behind three third-period goals; Minnesota improved to 9-4-0 in WCHA play.
- It was a back-and-forth battle with the teams tied at three with less than seven minutes left to play; the Gophers scored back-to-back goals in the final three minutes of the game courtesy of Sydney Morrow and Josefin Bouveng, who netted the 50th goal of her career and extended her point streak to 16 games.
- Minnesota's Hannah Clark recorded 26 saves on the afternoon; eleven different Gophers had a point in the win, including Abbey Murphy, who recorded her 228th career point, passing Taylor Heise for sixth all-time in Minnesota program history.
- Whitney Horton had her first multi-goal game as a Tommie, picking up two goals and an assist, while teammate JuliAnna Gazdik also had a goal and an assist; Julia Minotti stopped 41 of 46 shots for St. Thomas.
No. 13 St. Cloud State 4, No. 12 Minnesota State 0 | BOX SCORE | Minnesota State Recap | St. Cloud State Recap
- In a top-15 matchup between No. 13 St. Cloud State and No. 12 Minnesota State, the Huskies earned their third conference win of the season with a shutout of the Mavericks.
- Payton Holloway started the scoring just over a minute into the first period, which was followed by goals from Sofianna Sundelin and Avery Farrell before the end of the period; the Huskies added one more from Svenja Voight in the second frame to secure the 4-0 victory.
- Emilia Kyrkkö picked up her third shutout of the season and sixth of her career, stopping all 28 shots faced; rookie forward Maria Mikaelyan led the Huskies in points with three assists.
- Minnesota State netminder Hailey Hansen stopped 32 of 36 shots on the afternoon, and captain Taylor Otremba won 16 of her 23 faceoffs in the loss.
No. 1 Wisconsin 2, No. 2 Ohio State 1 | BOX SCORE | Wisconsin Recap | Ohio State Recap
- In a rematch of the 2025 NCAA Championship game, No. 1 Wisconsin held on to defeat No. 2 Ohio State 2-1 in Columbus and improve to 17-1-1 on the season and 11-1-1 in conference play.
- After a scoreless first period, rookie Badger Adéla Šapovalivová scored on the power play at the 16:58 mark of the second; with less than five minutes to go in the third, Caroline Harvey put the Badgers up 2-0 before Jocelyn Amos gave the Buckeyes their lone goal with less than a minute left.
- Wisconsin's Laila Edwards led all skaters with two points in the game, off her two assists; Ava McNaughton stopped 24 of the 25 shots she faced to earn the win in net.
- Despite the loss, the Buckeyes were just the second team this season to hold Wisconsin to two or fewer goals in a game; Hailey MacLeod recorded a season-high 32 saves in the loss.
No. 5 Minnesota Duluth 4, Bemidji State 1 | BOX SCORE | Bemidji State Recap | Minnesota Duluth Recap
- The fifth-ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated Bemidji State 4-1 in their series opener against the Beavers, earning their 11th win of the season and seventh in conference play.
- Olivia Dronen gave Bemidji State its lone goal of the game in the first frame for the early Beaver lead, but it was not enough as Minnesota Duluth rallied for four straight goals, with two coming in the second period and two in the final frame.
- Four different Bulldogs scored a goal in the win as Thea Johansson led UMD with one goal and one assist; Rae Mayer, Grace Sadura, and Ida Karlsson scored one goal each; Ève Gascon made 30 saves and allowed just one goal.
- Bemidji State outshot the UMD 31-27 in the loss; three Beavers registered a point as Raeley Carney and Maddie Kaiser assisted on Dronen's goal in the opening frame.
*Rankings based on USCHO Division I Women's Poll
Saturday, Dec. 6
RV St. Thomas at No. 3 Minnesota - 2 PM CT
No. 13 St. Cloud State at No. 12 Minnesota State - 2 PM CT
No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 2 Ohio State - 3 PM ET
No. 5 Minnesota Duluth at Bemidji State - 3 PM CT
For more information on the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, follow the league on X and Instagram @WCHA_WHockey, and online at wcha.com.