The Gophers women’s hockey team apparently had a score to settle after suffering a sweep against Wisconsin a weekend ago.

Their victim: the winless Saint Cloud State.

The Gophers scored five goals in the second period and Noora Raty and Jenny Lura combined to stop 25 shots, as Minnesota (18-7-2, 14-7-2 WCHA) defeated SCSU (0-26-1, 0-21-1 WCHA) 8-0.

Junior Sarah Erickson gave the Gophers the lead for good early in the first period with her team-high fourteenth goal of the season.  Minnesota took a 6-0 lead by midway through the second period, after scoring three goals in a 2:14 stretch.

Every skater on the Gophers’ top two lines scored a goal on the evening, as a total of ten Gophers recorded a point.

The Gophers came into the night one point ahead of North Dakota in the WCHA standings. UND maintained their position in the conference with a last-second win, defeating Ohio State 4-3 with just nine seconds remaining in overtime.

Wisconsin defeated Bemidji State 7-1 tonight, clinching the WCHA regular-season title outright.  The Gophers had collected a share of the past two WCHA regular-season titles.