The Gophers faced fresh competition over the weekend after a streak of 10 conference games.
The team picked up a non-conference sweep of Yale with a 6-3 victory on Friday and a 4-1 victory on Saturday.
“Yale’s a new team for us that we don’t play a whole lot,” head coach Brad Frost said Friday. “We came out of the gates quickly, which was pretty important to get them on their heels right away.”
Sophomore forward Kelly Pannek put the No. 3 Gophers (13-1-0, 9-1-0 WCHA) on the board first on Friday when she scored 7:25 into the first period.
Junior forward Dani Cameranesi had back-to-back goals just a few minutes later, one at even strength and one on the power play.
Courtney Pensavalle scored for the Bulldogs (1-6-1, 1-2-1 ECAC Hockey) on the power play with less than three minutes left in the first period to make it 3-1.
Freshman forward Sarah Potomak scored for the Gophers 7:07 into the second period to make it 4-1, with assists from senior co-captains Hannah Brandt and Cameranesi.
It was Brandt’s second assist of the night, making 145 in her career, breaking the program record for assists set by Natalie Darwitz.
Cameranesi scored again in the second period to pick up a hat trick, but Yale capitalized on the power play in the last few minutes to make the score 5-2.
Both teams added one more goal in the third period to make the final score 6-3.
“They’re a very hardworking team, and they’re never going to go away,” Cameranesi said Friday. “They came back and put a few in the net, so we have to stay disciplined and try to outwork them, and hopefully it works out in our favor.”
Saturday’s game started slowly for both teams until Brandt scored a power-play goal for Minnesota 16:18 into the first period.
Yale evened the score less than two minutes later, but sophomore defenseman Sydney Baldwin gave the lead back to Minnesota with 24 seconds left in the period on her first goal of the season.
The second period went by quietly until junior co-captain Lee Stecklein scored at 12:51 to give the Gophers a two-goal advantage.
Senior defenseman Milica McMillen closed out the scoring in the game with a late power-play goal in the second period, assisted by Brandt and Stecklein.
Senior goaltender Amanda Leveille got the victory Friday night, while redshirt sophomore Sidney Peters had 14 saves in Saturday’s game.
The Gophers were 4-5 on the power play over the weekend, while the Bulldogs went 2-5, and Minnesota outshot Yale 76-32.
Three of Minnesota’s four goals on Saturday were by defensemen.
“It’s not every day that three defensemen score goals in a game,” Baldwin said. “So that’s awesome to see us jumping in the play and being a little more
offensive.”