The Minnesota Gophers completed a two-game sweep against the St. Thomas Tommies on Saturday, winning 7-1 in their last regular-season game of the season.
Two minutes into the contest, Peyton Hemp scored the first goal of the game, giving Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Luci Bianchi of the Tommies midway through the period answered with a breakaway goal on Lauren Bench to tie the game at one apiece. Taylor Heise broke the tie with her 26th goal of the season (tied for first in the NCAA), making the game 2-1 for the Gophers. After an unassisted Ella Huber goal, the Gophers ended the period with a 3-1 advantage over St. Thomas. Minnesota dominated in shots on goal 24-5.
A defensive second period followed the offensive output in the first period. Neither team managed to score in the first 14 minutes of action until Huber scored her second goal of the game, extending the Golden Gopher lead to 4-1. At the climax of the second period, Minnesota still hammered the Tommies in shots on goal 41-6. St. Thomas fired only one shot on goal during the second period.
Minnesota continued to cook offensively in the third period. Savannah Norcross served two goals into the net and Emily Oden managed to join in on the party to push the Gophers to a 7-1 final score. The Gophers beat the Tommies in shots on goal 66-12 en route to their 11th WCHA regular-season title in program history.
The first-place Gophers will face off against last place St. Thomas again next weekend in the WCHA first round to try and advance to the WCHA final faceoff.
“An incredible win to honor our seniors, 12 of them,” said head coach Brad Frost. “They’ve given their heart and soul to our team and our program so we are just so thankful for all of them. To win the Julianne Bye Cup and the WCHA regular-season championship is really special. It’s a very hard trophy to win especially in our league with how many top teams there are.”
