UMD women's hockey: Giguere hits 275 career points to lead Bulldogs in 5-1 win at St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD — Minnesota Duluth fifth-year senior Elizabeth Giguere picked up a goal and two assists to lead the No. 5-ranked Bulldogs to a 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State in WCHA play Tuesday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

In the first of two makeup games against the Huskies scheduled for Tuesdays in February, Giguere set up senior linemate Gabbie Hughes late in the first period to give UMD a 1-0 lead, and then helped senior defenseman Kylie Hanley put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0 just 16 seconds into the second period.

Giguere tallied a goal of her own with 2:22 remaining in the second, taking a feed from junior center Mannon McMahon and backhanding it through for her 275th career point.

“She was fantastic,” Crowell said of Giguere, who has 41 points now as a Bulldog this season after playing four years at Clarkson. “I mean, that goal, we were talking about as a coaching staff. Not a lot of people would be able to put that one away. The pass was a little behind her, and she backhanded it right under the arm of a very good goaltender. So yeah, she was key today for us.”

Hanley and McMahon both finished with a goal and an assist as McManon took a pass from sophomore wing Clara Van Wieren and put it top-shelf four-plus minutes into the third period.

Senior wing Taylor Anderson also scored for the Bulldogs — her second goal in three games and fourth of the season — as part of a three-goal second period that broke the game open for UMD.

A slow starter initially, the Bulldogs didn’t get on the scoreboard until Hughes’ goal — her NCAA-leading 47th point of the season — with 3:55 left in the first period. Shots were only 4-1 in UMD’s favor at that moment, however, the Bulldogs finished the period with a 12-4 advantage and outshot the Huskies 44-18 overall on Tuesday.

“Once the first line got that one, I felt like we started playing the hockey that we wanted to play and then we never looked back,” Crowell said. “It's good to get the experience being on the road, down and back. We'll do it again in a couple of weeks. Once we settled in, we played some really really dominant hockey today.”

Sophomore goaltender Jojo Chobak — the WCHA Goaltender of the Month for January who tallied her first college point by assisting on Anderson’s goal in the second — finished with 17 saves on 18 shots. Her second shutout in five starts was spoiled after a missed slashing call with less than 90 seconds to play.

UMD lost two players to injury during Tuesday’s win. Sophomore wing Katie Davis had to be helped off the ice in the first period after crashing hard into the boards, but she returned to help create Anderson’s goal. Senior defenseman Maggie Flaherty was checked into the boards — resulting in a SCSU minor penalty — during the second period and did not return.

Tuesday’s game was originally scheduled as part of a Jan. 7-8 series in St. Cloud, but that was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols at UMD. The second half of that series will be made up at 6 p.m. on Feb. 15 in St. Cloud.

The Bulldogs are in the midst of playing five games in nine days. They’re 3-0 thus far, having swept Minnesota State last weekend at Amsoil Arena. Up next are a pair of games scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday against WCHA-leading Wisconsin at LaBahn Arena in Madison.