Minnesota completed its sweep of St. Lawrence with a 5-0 win Wednesday night at Mariucci Arena. It did come with a price, though.
Nadine Muzerall was struck in the head at the 12:18 mark of the third period. She was put on a stretcher and then was taken to Fairview-University hospital for more examination. She laid on the ice for about 30 minutes, surrounded by her teammates.
Craig Roberts, the hockey contact in the women’s sports information department, gave the following statement:
“Nadine does have neck pain because of the collision with her head. (Team trainer Laura Walluk) said she does have good motor reflexes and good feeling in her extremities. Because of the neck pain, they did want to take precaution, take her to the hospital and lay her down on the board.”
Muzerall leads the team in every offensive category. Her line (which also includes Ambria Thomas and Kris Scholz) was instrumental in Wednesday’s victory, tallying ten points. The line had a total of 19 points for the two game series.
Thomas opened the scoring by taking a faceoff, streaking down the right side, faking out St. Lawrence center Nicole Kirnan so bad she fell down, then beating goaltender Caryn Ungewitter five-hole for her 15th goal of the season.
Then with nine seconds remaining in the first period, Angela Borek scored her first goal of the season as she used a St. Lawrence defender as a screen and fired a wrister that beat Ungewitter stickside.
“I’ve never seen her do that before. I called her Bobby Orr in between periods,” head coach Laura Halldorson said of Borek’s performance.
Thomas scored the third goal of the game with 0.1 seconds remaining in the first period. The puck slid past the line as the horn sounded to signify the end of the period. At first, it looked as if the goal would not count, but after the officials deliberated for five minutes, the two changed to a three on the scoreboard.
St. Lawrence replaced Ungewitter with Emily Stein, but it didn’t help. After an uneventful second period, Muzerall was the difference in the third period, scoring twice.
Muzerall’s first goal was a perfectly placed wrist shot that beat Stein above her shoulder on the short side. The puck nicked the bottom of the crossbar and went in.
The second goal was a beautiful give and go with Scholz. Scholz gave Muzerall a pass right on the tape, and Muzerall was able to tap it in past Stein.
Muzerall took over the third period almost all by herself. It is that leadership and scoring ability that could potentially be missed on the ice. But Muzerall’s health is most important.
“What happened to Muzzy really puts things in perspective,” Halldorson said. “It makes you think about what is most important in life.”