UMD women's hockey: 'Poor performance' by Bulldogs leads to OT tie, shootout loss at St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD — Minnesota Duluth’s final week of the regular season got off to a slow start as the Bulldogs tied St. Cloud State 1-1 in overtime Tuesday in WCHA play at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

The Huskies, who sit seventh in the WCHA, won the shootout 2-1 in four rounds for the extra point in WCHA play. The shootout loss locks the Bulldogs into fourth place in the WCHA for 2021-22 .

“I thought it was a poor, poor performance, a poor effort from us across the board,” Bulldogs coach Maura Crowell said. “That’s what happens in this league when you’re not ready to go. Any team can win or tie or win a shootout, however you want to put it.”

Tuesday was the final makeup game of the series from early January that was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. UMD won the first half two weeks ago 5-1 in St. Cloud. They’ll now wrap up their season series at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.

Both of the goals scored in regulation Tuesday came 49 seconds apart in the second period. Senior wing Anneke Linser gave UMD a 1-0 lead at the 8:49 mark with her third goal in three games, but the Huskies responded at 9:49 with a strike by junior forward Addi Scribner.

UMD thought it took a 2-1 lead with 11:47 to play in the third period when, off the faceoff, fifth-year senior wing Anna Klein buried a feed from senior center Gabbie Hughes. The officials didn’t signal a goal, but the Bulldogs celebrated as if Klein scored. The play was reviewed and replay showed Huskies senior goaltender Emma Polusny was able to glove Klein’s shot from atop the crease.

Polusny finished with 30 saves on 31 shots after making 15 saves in the third period. She also she also made two saves in the shootout after giving up an initial goal to fifth-year senior Elizabeth Giguere.

Sophomore Jojo Chobak made 20 saves on 21 shots for the Bulldogs in goal, and also made two saves in the shootout.

“Credit St. Cloud, they were ready to go today,” Crowell said. “They were way better defensively than they were the first time we saw them. They didn’t give us much at all in the (offensive) zone. Everyone seemed tied up. They were winning the puck battles, the physical battles and hustling back on the back check so we didn’t have those entry plays that we did a couple weeks ago.”

In an experiment that began last Saturday in the 8-1 win over St. Thomas, the Bulldogs moved Giguere down to the second line alongside seniors Taylor Anderson and Naomi Rogge, while senior wing Anneke Linser played with Klein and Hughes. Crowell said she liked the scoring chances the change created against the Tommies, so they wanted to try it again Tuesday.

By the third period, Linser and Giguere had returned to their usual lines. The Bulldogs outshot the Huskies 16-6 in the third period following the change after being knotted at 15-15 in shots on goal after two periods. UMD was outshot in the opening 20 minutes 8-5.

“It makes you harder to score against when you have people like Giguere on your second line,” Crowell said of trying to spread out the offense. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t producing the offense that we were hoping for.”

UMD was without senior defenseman Maggie Flaherty for the fifth-straight game after she was injured on Feb. 1 at SCSU. Crowell said Flaherty will not be available for this weekend’s games against the Huskies. Flaherty remains week-to-week, Crowell said.

• UMD didn’t get a single power play Tuesday, which is the the second time in three games and third time in five games that’s happened. Both power plays went to SCSU, with UMD having to kill one off early in the third period and another with under four minutes to play.

• Senior goaltender Emma Soderberg returned to Duluth on Tuesday morning from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China, and she was able to join the team in St. Cloud on Tuesday afternoon for the game, though she did not dress. Soderberg backstopped Sweden into the Olympic quarterfinals before falling to Canada. She is scheduled to meet with local reporters Wednesday over Zoom during the team’s weekly media availability.

BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS