The Huskies Advance

The Minnesota Golden Gophers welcomed in the Northeastern Huskies to Ridder Arena this afternoon in a 4/5 matchup in the NCAA tournament. Despite being the underdog, playing in a hostile environment and being (basically) homeless, the Huskies prevailed 4-2 to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2023. See you at State College next weekend.

In net for the Gophers was Hannah Clark (19-8-1) with a 2.08GAA and a .920%SV to go along with her 3 shutouts. At the other end of the sheet stood Lisa Jōnsson (20-6-1) with a 1.61GAA and a .942%SV with 10 shutouts. Despite what the broadcast team would have you think, The Big Cat is more than just a lucky goalie. More on that later, but let’s get to the game.

The game started with MIN feeling the home crowd energy and they were on the attack from the opening puck drop. The Gophers were hunting the puck and had some good looks in the opening minutes. But just past the 5min mark, it was NU that got on the board.

Éloïse Caron broke the puck out of the NU zone and streaked down the LW into the MIN zone. As Elo got to the top of the LW circle she drew the puck in and went far side under the glove to put NU ahead. You can see her hit another gear at the red line in the video below. That’ll quiet the crowd.

Just after the Huskies killed off a MIN power play, Stryker Zablocki entered the chat. Caron moved the puck ahead to Zablocki in the neutral zone and the freshman carried to the top of the LW circle before driving wide and beat Clark far side over the glove.

That’ll really quiet the crowd.

Wonder Twins activate: Form of – filthy snipes. I mean the 2 of them had eerily similar goals.

With about 6min to play, NU got on the power play. While the first unit moved the puck very well, they couldn’t get inside to extend the lead. And that’s when Million Dollas Worth of Game set up at the top of the blue paint. A point shot from the top of the umbrella by Alessia Baechler found its way through and Clark made the initial save, but Mia Langlois found the rebound and tucked it home. You can’t stop Langlois from there, you can only hope to contain her, and the Gophers did not. That tally was the first GWG of Langlois career, what a time to cash that in.

Shoutout to Mr. Brazis on the video cheering the Huskies on!

The score held until the end of the period and MIN had to be saying what just happened to themselves. They were putting pressure on the Huskies, but when they could get a puck through, Jönsson shut the door. I don’t think this is what they had thought was going to happen. Based on what I read and saw on social media, it seemed as if the Gopher fans were planning their trips to PA already. After the Langlois goal, the MIN bench called their timeout and we saw Layla Hemp come on in relief for Clark.

In the middle frame, MIN was again the aggressor, but couldn’t solve the Huskies D or Jönsson. By the 5min mark the zone time and possession had evened out as the Huskies took the “bend don’t break” approach and kept waiting to counterpunch. Can you blame them? It worked pretty good in the first.

With about 8min to play, Morgan Jackson got her cookie on an unbelievable feed from Allie Lalonde in the corner. Peyton Compton got the puck down low to Lalonde in the RW corner and as she curled back up ice, Lalonde put a pass to the far side of the net for Jackson to bury on a one-timer. Hemp had no chance because that pass was so nasty. I mean to gather in the puck and put it on a rope across the zone after about a stride?

Good grief Ms. Lalonde.

MIN wasn’t going to roll over however and they put the pressure on the Huskies. But the Big Cat was up to the task (with an assist from Ella Lloyd). Jönsson made a number of big saves in tight as time wound down, and Lloyd swept the puck off the goal line to keep MIN off the board heading into the final frame.

What I do like about Jönsson is that with every scrum or pileup in the crease she comes up with a big smile afterwards. Must drive the other team nuts.

Just about midway through the final frame, MIN was gifted a couple of power plays. The first came when Lalonde was called for a “slash” – although I don’t know how a one-handed flick of your stick on the backhand is a slash, but I’ll leave that alone for now.

On the advantage, you knew Abbey Murphy would eventually show up. A puck in the RW corner got punted up in the air and bounced to Murphy at the left post. She ‘aint missing that one and the Gophers are on the board.

After the goal, the Huskies picked the pace back up. I’m not saying they were coasting with the 4-goal lead, but let’s just say there was a noticeable difference in their pace once MIN scored.

With time wounding down, the MIN bench got Hemp to the bench with about 3min to play and then Stripes got involved. It’s nice to see that there’s shitty reffing in all the women’s leagues I guess? Caron was dumped at center ice (just about the same play that Lloyd was whistled for in the first), and then Zablocki leaned on a player that went down a bit too easy if you ask me. Power play MIN. They pulled the goalie again and skated the advantage 6:4.

Murphy dropped the puck to Chloe Primerano on the high RW and she fed Sidney Morrow at the top of the zone. A nice little weave got Murphy to the top of the LW circle and Morrow laid it right into her wheelhouse. Murphy buried her one-timer far-side over the blocker to put MIN within a pair.

The Gophers got Hemp out of the net again with just about a minute to play, but it was too little too late and the Huskies held the advantage to the final horn.

Some observations and complaints from the couch:

Observations:

• Jules Constantinople had a big eat on the MIN possession just after Caron’s goal. It was a great play to show MIN that NU was in it to win it and I’m sure it fired up the bench. Constantinople and Rylie Jones were matched up against the Murphy line for most of the day and did a great job shutting them down.
• Tristan Thompson was showing off her mean streak a bit today and I have to say, I really like it.
• Jaden Bogden is a hockey version of a slightly angry Border Collie that you’ve convinced that the puck is their ball and that the other team stole it and she needs to get it back (stay with me, the analogy is spot on if you think about it). She was hunting the puck all day with truculence.
• Allie Lalonde not only contributed with the nastiest assist of the day, but she was all over the ice battling in every zone. Great job.

Complaints:

• What the hell ESPN? Could you please, keep the puck in the camera frame, not cut to shots of players exiting the box during game play and for the love of The Hockey Gods: Don’t go to a commercial during game play.
• To the announcing team. I hope you have other avenues of employment. Let’s begin:
  • When Jönsson steers the puck to the other wing (that had no one there) it’s not a “big rebound” it’s her setting up her team for a quick outlet and directing the puck.
  • And it’s Jönsson, not Johanssen – read your roster sheet
  • There was way too much talk about how lucky Jönsson was. I get it that you’re the MIN announcers, but have some integrity. You can’t say it’s lucky that the “puck hits her pads” or she has a “horseshoe in her breezers” (seriously?) when she has 43 saves on 45 shots, that’s a .956%SV in case you were wondering.

I was going to save all these complaints for the “Do Better” section of our podcast, but I had to get it out now. The plus side is I can use all these complaints to convince my wife that I should go to PA next weekend. “How can you expect me to watch this?” is what I’m going to lead with. Hopefully I’ll see you in PA.

If you’ve read this far you’re clearly a fan of the women’s game. Please like, share, subscribe and follow us on all socials @BTGHockeyPod and give the podcast a try. Thanks!

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