Gophers get revenge, deny Bulldogs a home berth at NCAA Frozen Four in Duluth

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Duluth is heading home, but the Bulldogs won’t be playing on their home ice next week at the NCAA Frozen Four in Duluth.

Instead, it will be Bulldogs’ biggest rival coming to Amsoil Arena after No. 2 Minnesota ousted No. 7 UMD from the NCAA tournament via a 3-0 victory in a regional final played Saturday at Ridder Arena.

Minnesota will take on Wisconsin in the national semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at Amsoil Arena after Northeastern battles defending national champion Ohio State in the first semifinal at 2:30p.m. The national championship is next Sunday at 3 p.m.

“We tried, we threw the kitchen sink at them. We emptied the tanks. Our kids played their hearts out and gave us everything they could,” Bulldogs coach Maura Crowell said. “I think Minnesota — I’m going to go out on the record and say — is the best team in the country right now. I’ll be curious to see how everything goes next weekend.”

The Bulldogs, who finish the year 26-10-3, were seeking their third consecutive Frozen Four appearance and hoping to be the first team since Minnesota in 2015 to play at home in the national semifinals and final. Only six teams have ever played at home in the Frozen Four. UMD has done it twice, in 2003 and 2008, while Minnesota has done it four times (2015, 2013, 2010, 2006).

But for UMD, the 2022-23 season wasn’t just about playing at home in the Frozen Four. It was about finishing the job following last year’s loss in the national championship game to Ohio State on the Penn State campus, and a national semifinal overtime loss to Northeastern two years ago in Erie, Pennsylvania.

“Everything hurts,” said UMD junior defenseman Nina Jobst-Smith of the Bulldogs last three postseason defeats. “We’re looking at the game that’s right in front of us. That’s all we can do and it’s really hard to compare, but this one definitely stings.”

For Minnesota, Saturday’s win was payback for the Bulldogs upsetting the Gophers a year ago 2-1 in a regional final at Ridder Arena. It gets Minnesota back to the Frozen Four for the first time since losing to Wisconsin in the 2019 NCAA title game in Hamden, Connecticut.

Minnesota coach Brad Frost said Saturday was not a revenge game for his team. It was a game to get to the Frozen Four, however, senior defenseman Madeline Wethington knew how many days had passed since UMD beat Minnesota in the regional final last year.

“It felt almost like a deja vu moment, I was saying yesterday,” Wethington said. “We were in a similar situation 366 days ago and to come out with the win was fantastic. It felt really good.”

Wethington, redshirt sophomore Abbey Murphy and fifth-year senior wing Catie Skaja scored for Minnesota.

The Gophers took a 1-0 lead into the third period via an unassisted tally by Wethington midway through the second period. Wethington scored on the rush, beating UMD fifth-year senior Emma Soderberg with a shot that floated over Soderberg, off the crossbar and in.

Minnesota extended its advantage to 2-0 less than three and a half minutes into the third period when Murphy raced into the zone, muscled past UMD senior defenseman Taylor Stewart and beat Soderberg high, again.

Bulldogs coach Maura Crowell challenged both goals — Wethington’s for offside and Murphy because the net was dislodged — but neither was overturned. UMD killed off the delay of game bench minor that resulted from the failed second challenge. It was the only penalty called all afternoon.

“We had to go for it,” Crowell said of the second challenge. “Once you’re down by two, you haven’t scored in 40-plus minutes, and we were confident in our PK. It’s been phenomenal this semester. We felt good about it. We thought we could get some momentum off it either way with how that challenge went.”

The Bulldogs nearly took the initial lead Saturday, twice.

Fifth-year senior Kylie Hanley was denied by Gophers sophomore goaltender Skylar Vetter with a pad save in the first period. Fifth-year senior defenseman and co-captain Ashton Bell nearly gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the second, but the iron wasn’t as kind to her shot as it was to Wethington’s. Bell’s shot clanked off the far post and away from danger.

“It’s always a good game when we play Minnesota, and coach said it, too. It was a back-and-forth battle,” UMD senior center Mannon McMahon said. “We had some good looks. They had some good looks, and at the end of the day, it just didn’t go our way. Nothing we can do now.”

Bell’s chance was one of four shots UMD put on Vetter in the opening five minutes of the second period. The Bulldogs then went 13 minutes and 19 seconds without a shot on goal until getting three pucks on Vetter in the final two minutes of the period.

UMD and Minnesota traded blows in the opening period, but Vetter and Soderberg put on a show. Soderberg stopped 11 en route to finishing the game with 27. Vetter made nine saves in the first — including the stop of Hanley — before finishing with 30 for the shutout.

“Kylie Hanley’s in the first would have really been something because it was so back and forth,” Crowell said. “Everybody was trying to grab a little momentum, and had we had it there, I wonder what would have happened.”

Frost called Vetter’s save on Hanley the play of the game. It also had him wondering how the game would have turned out.

“If that goes in, in a low-scoring game, who knows what happens,” Frost said. “Duluth is very good, but they’re even better with a lead as we saw on Thursday night against Clarkson. That save was unbelievable and then allowed us to then in the second period take a little more control, I thought.”

Minnesota Duluth 0-0-0—0
Minnesota 0-1-2—3
First period
No scoring.
Second period
1. MN, Madeline Wethington, 10:39
Third period
2. MN, Abbey Murphy (Emily Oden, Grace Zumwinkle), 3:22
3. MN, Catie Skaja (Wethington), 10:18
Saves — Emma Soderberg, UMD, 27; Skylar Vetter, MN, 30.
Power play — UMD 0-0; MN 0-1. Penalties — UMD 1-2; MN 0-0.