Starting for the Gophers:

#41 Noora Raty

#22 Anne Schleper

#20 Alexandra Zebro

#17 Emily West

#10 Brittany Francis

#4 Sarah Erickson 2nd Overtime 16:29 GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. May puts it in off a deflection in the crease. Gophers win 5-4 to move on to face Minnesota-Duluth for all the marbles. See you tomorrow. Overtime We are headed for another overtime folks. The Gophers virtually dominated the first overtime period, outshooting Ohio State 13-7 and had multiple opportunities to move on to tomorrow’s game. We’ll see how they fare in the second OT. Last weekend, the Mavericks looked pretty fatigued after this much hockey, while the Gophers took advantage and came away with the win in the marathon game. 1:09-Zebro made a great pass to Kortum in front of the net, but her shot took a bad deflection and not in the net. 10:42-Jones gets on a breakaway and her shot from the slot bounces off the crossbar. I think they just escorted everyone with a heart condition out of the building. Just kidding folks, but this is getting intense. 11:40-An OSU shot just was deflected off the post. Another inch to the right, and the game would be over. 13:36-Puck goes off Jones’ hand and into the net as she fell down. Play is under review, and does not count. 14:46-Gophers getting some chances from Kortum and West, but still no goal. Spooner makes a great move but Raty keeps the game alive. 3rd period We are headed for another overtime, the second time in as many games the Gophers have gone into another period. The Buckeyes were less than 20 seconds away from the end of their season, but were able to get some late-game heroics. I’m assuming that OT rules are the same as last week, with no shootout and we play until somebody scores. We should start out with a 20-minute period. 0.00-OVERTIME 17.3-Buckeyes get a goal after pulling Knapp. 42.7-Ohio State is now on the power play. Raty makes another amazing glove save in a crowd to keep the Gophers in the lead. Gophers still up 4-3 with less than a minute left. 1:29-Gophers now up 4-3 after a goal from Schleper. Her shot from the top of the near circle bounced off the bottom of the crossbar, and landed just beyond the goal line. 2:04-Jones goes to the box and we will have 4-on-4 hockey for a minute, and OSU will have a power play after that. 2:35-Another goal from Francis from in between the circles. The Gophers did a good job rotating the puck and finding Francis on the power play. 3:03-OSU will be down two skaters as LaRocque heads to the box. 3:15-Gophers give up the short-handed goal to Spooner, and the Buckeyes are up 3-2. 3:52-Carlson shoves Erickson to the ice in front of the net, and will head to the box for roughing. 5:40-West makes a couple great weaves in the OSU zone, but her shot deflects off the top of the crossbar. 7:53-Ohio State ties it right back up with a goal in the middle of a crowd in front of the net. Tied 2-2. 8:05-Maunu’s shot from the point is deflected off a skater and goes right to Blankenship, who puts the puck past Knapp. Gophers up 2-1. 13:09-May gets breakaway and dumps it off to Bozek, but her shot is deflected out of play. 15:17-Gophers’ penalty kill is effective as usual, giving Ohio State only a few legitimate chances. 17:17-West goes to the sin bin for hooking. 2nd period We are all tied up after 40 minutes of play at 1-1. The one goal from the Gophers does not really reflect the period as a whole, with the Gophers coming out very strong to get themselves in position to get some great chances. Along with the normal amazing goaltending from Raty, the Gophers have a lot of momentum heading into the final period. Gophers are currently outshooting OSU 24-21. Minnesota head coach Brad Frost talked earlier in the week about how he thinks his team has the goaltending to make a deep run this year, but its hard to win games when you don’t score much. But maybe that late goal rattled the Buckeyes defense enough for Minnesota to breakaway in the final period. Another thing to consider is Ohio State’s desire to win this game. The Buckeyes are playing for their NCAA tournament lives, and would most likely need to win at least this game to get an at-large bid, or win tomorrow’s game to get the automatic bid for winning the WCHA. 1:37-Textbook goal for the Gophers. Megan Bozek sent the puck from the far circle to the opposite side of the OSU goal to a wide open Francis for the power-play goal. We are tied 1-1. 2:17-Two seconds away from killing the power play, West draws a penalty from Carlson for holding. 4:15-Blankenship goes to the box for too many players on the ice. Minnesota had a chance to get a dirty goal with the puck sitting in the goal crease in a crowd, but the Buckeyes clear the puck. 5:27-Paige Semenza will head to the box for tripping, giving the Gophers another power play. 6:01-Downey just made a bad pass in her own zone, giving McIntosh a breakaway, but as usual, Raty=brick wall. 7:15-OSU cannot get the puck out of their zone, and the Gophers are running their offense pretty smoothly here. You get the feeling that something’s gotta give and one of these shots will find its way in. 12:17-Gophers getting some really great looks here in the last couple of minutes, with West and Zebro making some great moves near the net to almost tie this game up. 14:07- A little back and forth action here, neither team making much progress. Gophers have had a couple chances, and it seems they are getting to Knapp. She seems a bit rattled and has had trouble handling the puck. Still 1-0. 1st period After one, the Buckeyes are up by one. The Gophers came out strong, getting some good looks close to the net and outshot Ohio State 5-0 to start off the game. They seemed to fall into a lull after giving up that first goal, and the Buckeyes had some good opportunities to make it a two-goal game, but the rested Raty made some fantastic saves to keep the Gophers in it, something she has done all year. Currently, the Gophers are outshooting Ohio State 12-10. The Gophers have had success getting the puck into the back of the Buckeyes’ net this year, scoring 23 goals in four games. But they may have more to do with Ohio State’s defense than the Gophers’ offense. The Buckeyes are seventh in the WCHA in goals allowed, giving up 3.11 goals a game, while their potent offense is second only to Minnesota-Duluth with 3.28 goals a game. Interesting fact: Gophers are 3-3-3 this season when trailing after one period. 2:34-Ohio State kills power play, but not due to a lack of opportunities for the Gophers. OSU goaltender Chelsea Knapp made some great saves in traffic, not giving Minnesota many rebound attempts. 4:34-West gets knocked down and the Gophers will have a 5-on-3 advantage for 19 seconds. 6:15-Minnesota goes on the power play after Shannon Reilly heads to the box for body checking. 6:59-The Gophers started the game by outshooting Ohio State 5-0, but the Buckeyes have gained some momentum from that goal and are now outshooting the Gophers 8-6. 13:21-Brittany Carlson gets the Buckeyes on the board first just as the power play ends. Carlson shot the puck from just inside the blue line and past Raty’s stick side. 15:25-OSU’s Natalie Spooner draws a penalty from Schleper for tripping. Spooner made a couple nice moves on her drive to the net and crashed into Raty, stopping play.