Getting ready to drop the puck here at Ridder Arena where the No. 2 Gophers are set to take on the St. Cloud State.  Opening face-off is scheduled for 7:07.  Minnesota is 42-2-1 all time against the Huskies.  The last time these two teams met, the Gophers earned a home-and-home sweep, earning victories of 4-0 and 7-0.

Starting for Minnesota: #22 Annie Schelper #20 Alexandra Zebro #25 Terra Rasmussen #10 Brittany Francis #4 Sarah Erickson In Goal: #35 Alysssa Grogan 18:29 SC penalty two minutes for hooking. Minnesota on the power play. 16:29 Minnesota failed to capitalize on the first power play of the night. 10:30 face-off in the Gophers zone almost led to a Saint Cloud goal as there was traffic in front of the net. 10:22 breaking out the other, Minnesota got a sweet one-timer from the right corner to Brittany Francis in front of the net. Assists to Erickson and Rasmussen. 8:05 Gophers had a 3 on 2 break and nearly buried the puck after a rebound and deflection but St. Cloud’s net minder froze the puck after a several second scramble. 7:40 Minnesota penalty on Schleper, 2 minutes for holding. 6:20 St. Cloud scores a power play goal and then promptly sent a member to the box- 2 minutes for bodychecking. Grogan made the initial save on the play but as the puck trickled through her pads, she reached back to chorale the loose puck, inadvertently knocking it into the net. 4:20 St. Cloud killed the penalty and as soon as their fifth women was back on the ice, they had a rush the other way; save Grogan. 2:51 Schleper back to the box for the Gophers, St. Cloud back on the power play. 2:05 St. Cloud takes the lead on their second power play goal of the night. St. Cloud-2 Minnesota-1. 0:19 Minnesota penalty, Bozek 2 minutes for slashing. Time has since expired with St. Cloud unable to get a shot on net. SC will start the second period with 1:41 of power play time. Couple of quick thoughts heading into the first intermission. The Gophers don’t look incredibly sharp and many of their passes aren’t going tape to tape. Too many penalties as well. A St. Cloud State team that seems over matched at times (MN slightly outshot them 9-7) is leading after a period thanks in large part to their power play chances and two power play goals. Second period begins: at 17:50 Schleper hit a bomb from the blue line on net followed closely by a Bozek slapper from the point. St. Cloud cleared but Minnesota came back quickly on the rush. A two-on-one breakaway resulted in a save and subsequent skirmish in front of the net. The Gophers appear to have cleaned up some of the mistakes that plagued them in the first period and have controlled it in their offensive zone for much of this second period. 13:30 Laura May took it into the St. Cloud zone facing a 4-on-1 and after a shot, rebound and a deke, she almost slipped a wrister by Grogan. Grogan made the glove save and the Gophers appear to be back in control. 10:37 There was a scrum in front of the St. Cloud net. The Gophers will emerge from in on the power play. The penalties assessed were Minnesota- Chelsea Jones, 2 minutes slashing. SC’s Jaclyn Zabrick, 2 minutes slashing and 2 minutes roughing. 7:29 Minnesota’s Bozek gets 2 minutes for tripping. Things are getting a little chippy down on the ice with the Gopher bench and fans upset over several non-calls against St. Cloud State. Minnesota will attempt to kill yet another penalty after seemingly cleaning things up coming out of the first intermission. 4:30 The Gophers killed the penalty but shortly thereafter, a shoving match broke out in the Gopher’s end. Penalties assessed: 2 minutes roughing for St. Cloud State’s Felicia Nelson and Minnesota’s May and Schleper. Second intermission: Gophers still trail 2-1 after a strong second period. Emotions started to boil over a little bit on the ice and the Gopher’s need to clean things up in the third period if they hope to score the equalizer. They outshot St. Cloud State 13-3 in the second period. As is the tradition in hockey, simply outplaying your opponent wont lead to a victory, Minnesota needs to actually outscore St. Cloud State if they hope to win this game. A strong third period will be crucial for the Gophers who look to recover from a sweep at the hands of UMD last weekend. 18:18: minor penalty assessed to SCSU, Gophers will go on the power play in search of that elusive second goal of the night. After scoring only one goal last weekend against UMD, Minnesota’s offense appears somewhat ineffective without lead scorer Emily West. 14:58 Minnesota finally gets their second goal of the game on a beautiful give-and-go deflection from Frischmann and Seeler to Nicky Ludwickson. It was an even strength goal. 10:00 The Gophers won a faceoff in St. Cloud State’s zone but couldn’t muster another scoring chance. The majority of the play in the third period has been in Minnesota’s offensive zone it seems like. However, the Gophers do not appear as in control of the game as they were last period. 5:05 Plenty of back and forth action with almost no stops in the last five minutes. The score is still knotted at 2. 3:20 Minnesota got a drive and shot that resulted in a rebound that Sarah Erickson was also able to put on net. Moments later, they failed to capitalize on a quick breakout opportunity. 1:32: two minor penalties have been assessed, one to each team for high sticking. Regulation will be played out 4 on 4. End of regulation. Score remains tied. We’re headed to a 5 minute overtime period and if the score remains knotted, they’ll enter a shootout. OVERTIME: 2 minutes in the Huskies came close to ending the game with a slapper from the point missing high to the glove side followed by a one-timer on net that Grogan was able to make the save on. 2:03 SCSU calls a timeout on the ice. Emerging from the timeout, Saint Cloud State’s Felicia Nelson had a chance for a breakaway but the outlet pass was never made. Instead, SCSU opted to clear the puck. Nelson was visibly upset with her teammate as she presumably would have preferred to have the chance to end the game. END OF OVERTIME- SHOOTOUT Minnesota: Sarah Erickson- 0, Annie Schleper- 0 SCSU: Holly Roberts- x, Felicia Nelson- x Roberts went 5-hole and Nelson’s shot deflected up off the stick and into the net. Gophers fall 3-2 at the hands of Saint Cloud State University.