It's the fifth national title for the Badgers. The Gopher women's hockey team fell short in Sunday's NCAA national championship game, losing to border rival Wisconsin by a score of 2-0. Anna Pankowski and Sophia Shaver scored goals for Wisconsin and goalie Kristen Campbell made 27 saves for the shutout. Campbell was named the tournament's most outstanding player. Minnesota finishes with a final record of 32-6-1, with four of the losses coming at the hands of Wisconsin. The Gophers and Badgers split four regular season games and Wisconsin beat the Gophers 3-1 in the WCHA Final Faceoff to win the conference tournament title March 10.<doc-sep>It’s the game that Minnesota fans have been expecting all season long. The #1 and the #2 teams for the absolute majority of the season playing hockey for sixty minutes to determine who gets to call themselves the 2019 NCAA Champion. The Minnesota Golden Gophers against the Wisconsin Badgers for all the marbles, all the Tostito’s, all of the cheese. It all comes down to one last game for bragging rights, and for a title. Let’s go! The Gophers reached the title game by defeating Cornell 2-0 on Friday. Nicole Schammel got the Gophers on the board in the second period on a rebound goal on the power play and Sarah Potomak added an empty netter to clinch the win late in the third. Alex Gulstene made 15 saves to get the shutout win. But the MVPs were the Gopher defense in front of Gulstene. Minnesota blocked thirty Big Red shots with Patti Marshall blocking six and Sophie Skarzynski five each. They kept the puck away from Gulstene who did her job—getting Minnesota to Sunday. The obvious question then becomes who will Minnesota start in goal on Sunday. Brad Frost has been platooning his goaltenders for most of the season. He gave the usual second game starter junior Sydney Scobee the start in the NCAA Quarterfinal win over Princeton a week ago, and then Gulstene got the start on Friday. If the pattern would hold one would think it would be Scobee’s net on Sunday. But will it? Told #us this morning @kfan1003 he’s going with Gulstene. Thanks for listening — Kevin Falness (@RadioFalness) March 23, 2019 I’m guessing Brad Frost isn’t telling one way or another. We will need to wait until warmups to find out exactly who will start in net for the Gophers. Both Minnesota goaltenders have had split success against Wisconsin. Gulstene is 1-1 and gave up just one goal per game against Wisconsin in the regular season recording a 1-0 shutout in Madison and a 2-1 loss in Minneapolis. Scobee is 1-2 and is giving up 2 goals per game to the Badgers. She gave up three in a 4-1 loss in Madison, just 1 in a 3-1 win in Minneapolis, and then two goals in a 3-1 loss in the WCHA Championship Game. We know who will be in the net for Wisconsin. Kristin Campbell has started all 40 games for the Badgers this season. She is one of the best goalies in the country giving up just 1.06 goals per game and has a save percentage of .937. The WCHA Goalie of the Year and a Second Team All-American is 3-2 against the Gophers this season and has given up just seven goals in five games against Minnesota. Campbell has been perfect so far in the NCAA Tournament in 2019. She led the Badgers to a 4-0 shut out win over Syracuse in the quarterfinals and then backstopped Wisconsin to a 5-0 semifinal win over two-time defending NCAA Champion Clarkson. That game on Friday was a 1-0 game with nine minutes left in the third before the Badgers erupted for four goals in the final nine minutes. As that game shown Wisconsin can score and quickly. The Badgers will roll four lines and have definite scoring threats on three of them just like Minnesota. Senior Annie Pankowski is a deadly sniper on the first line, but the second line of Britta Curl, Abby Roque and Sophie Shirley is the one that has given Minnesota fits this season. Curl and Shirley each have a pair of goals against the Gophers, as does Pankowski. The Badgers third line features a pair of Minnesotans who would love to stick it to their home state program on the biggest stage. Senior Sophia Shaver of Wayzata and junior Presley Norby of Minnetonka both have broken the twenty point mark this season for the Badgers. The Badgers defense also features a pair of Minnesotans who crossed the border in Mekenzie Steffen from Centerville and Grace Bowlsby from Edina. As a whole, these teams are pretty identical. The Gophers have the #1 scoring offense in the nation, the Badgers are #2. Wisconsin has the #1 scoring defense in the country, the Gophers are #3. Minnesota has the #2 power play in the nation, Wisconsin is #3. Wisconsin has the #10 penalty kill, Minnesota is #12. It really doesn’t get much more even then that in a winner take all game. If Minnesota has any edge, it is in the series history. This will be the third time Minnesota and Wisconsin have meet for the NCAA Championship with each team winning one. The Badgers won 3-0 in 2006 while the Gophers won 4-2 in 2012. Wisconsin won the team’s most recent meeting in the NCAA Tournament in the quarterfinals last season in Madison 4-0. However, before that Minnesota was a constant thorn in the Badgers side. Minnesota knocked the Badgers out in the championship game in 2012, and in the Frozen Four semifinals in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Did last year’s win snap the mental block Minnesota had on Wisconsin—or does it still linger in the background. Do visions of Sarah Potomak’s overtime winner in 2016 still run through Wisconsin’s head? These two teams know each other back and forth. This will be the second year in a row the teams have played in the maximum six games a season against one another. Sunday’s game will be the 27th between the two teams in the last five seasons. As Brad Frost told Todd Milewski of the Wisconsin State Journal: “Aside what from pregame meal they’re eating, I could tell you anything else you want to know in regards to their players, their staff, what they’re trying to do, what we’re trying to do,” It’s not about surprises. It’s not about getting caught by something you haven’t seen before. It comes down to execution, working your game plan the best that you can and trying to disrupt your opponents. These two teams are masters at that.<doc-sep>Minnesota has won four of the last seven Frozen Four championships. HAMDEN, Conn. — It's a border battle for the NCAA women's hockey title today as No. 2 Minnesota (32-5-1) faces top-ranked Wisconsin (34-4-2) at the People's United Center in Hamden, Conn. This will be the sixth time the Gophers and Badgers square off against each other this season. The teams split four regular-season meetings, while Wisconsin defeated Minnesota in the WCHA Final Faceoff. The Gophers and Badgers have previously met in seven NCAA tournament games with Minnesota holding a slight edge at 4-3. The seven games include two NCAA Championship games with Wisconsin winning in 2006 and the Gophers prevailing in 2012. The Golden Gophers women's hockey team defeated Cornell 2-0 in the NCAA Semifinals on Friday to advance to the NCAA title game. Senior forward Nicole Schammel opened the scoring with a goal in the second period giving the Gophers the early one-goal lead. They would add an empty-netter by junior forward Sarah Potomak for the final tally.<doc-sep>The Minnesota Golden Gophers played a tight defensive game against Cornell in the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four Semifinal Friday afternoon and were rewarded with a 2-0 victory. Minnesota will now play Sunday afternoon for their 8th National Championship against their arch rival and #1 seed Wisconsin. The Gophers and the Big Red played a tight first period. Minnesota came out with some jump and got a few nice looks in close to the Cornell net but Big Red goalie Marlene Boissonnault was up to the challenge and turned them all away. The Gophers appeared like they might take the lead midway through the period when Sarah Potomak got a breakaway in on Boissonnault, but after beating the goalie her shot hit the left pipe and bounced perfectly under Boissonnault to be frozen. Not more than 45 seconds later the Gophers hit another post as Gracie Ostertag’s rocket from the point hit the left post and bounced away harmlessly. Cornell’s top line of Kristin O’Neil, Maddie Mills and Amy Curlew turned it on late in the first period and put a flurry of shots on Gopher goaltender Alex Gulstene. Cornell got the first power play of the game late in the first period and peppered the Gopher defense with shots but several were blocked. Gulstene was also up to the charge as she stopped all she faced and the teams headed to the locker room knotted at zero. Both teams had eight shots on goal in the first period. The early part of the second period was a bit of feeling out as neither team really jumped out early. Minnesota went on the power play approximately two and a half minutes into the period and only recorded one shot on goal as the Cornell defense blocked several Minnesota shot attempts. The Gophers would go on the power play once again with 9:18 left in the second and this time they would strike. Olivia Knowles ripped a shot from the point on the power play that hit bodies in front of the Cornell net. The puck came right to Nicole Schammel who had a wide open half of a net and wasted no time putting it past Boissonnault to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead. Emily Oden picked up the second assist on the goal. Both teams would have chances in the rest of the second but once again both goaltenders were up to the task and the second period ended with a 1-0 Gophers lead. Minnesota outshot the Big Red 12-3 in the second period. The third period started with a bit more effort from Cornell. The first line had several good looks at the Minnesota net, especially by O’Neil, but Gulstene made all the saves she needed too and MInnesota was right in front of the net to wish any potential rebounds to safety. Cornell would get one last power play opportunity with 4:24 left in the game but the Gophers expertly killed it off. The Big Red would finally get Boissonnault off the ice for the extra attacker with just under a minute but it would be all for naut as Sarah Potomak took the puck away from a Cornell player just inside the Gopher blue line and whipped a shot 150 feet down the ice into the empty net to make it 2-0 Gophers with 33 seconds left in the game. Thirty-three seconds later and the Gophers would jump off their bench and go mob Gulstene who would record a 15-save shutout in her NCAA Tournament debut. While Gulstene was good, it was the Gopher defense that made the biggest difference in the game. The Gophers blocked thirty....30! Big Red shots in the victory. Minnesota never really let the Big Red have any clear looks at the net and swept away any garbage in front quickly to not allow any rebound potential. The Gophers will face a very familiar foe in the championship game. It will be Gophers vs Badgers round six this season as Wisconsin got off to a slow start before exploding in the third to defeat two-time defending NCAA Champion Clarkson 5-0. Wisconsin holds a 3-2 season edge so far this year and will be the home team on Sunday which will get the the key final line change. But it should not matter too much as each team has at least one win as the road team this season. The obvious two best teams in the country will face off Sunday for the National Championship and it will be a dogfight. There is losing the title game...and then there is losing the title game to your arch rival. Both teams have done it in the past. Minnesota defeated Wisconsin in the 2012 title game 4-2 and Wisconsin did the same to Minnesota 3-0 in 2006. Who will take the rubber match and win the 2019 title? We shall see Sunday.<doc-sep>
HAMDEN, Conn. – Wisconsin defeated Minnesota 2-0 in the Women’s Frozen Four title game Sunday, capturing its fifth NCAA women’s hockey championship. The Badgers ended the Gophers’ season for the second consecutive year after winning 4-0 in the NCAA quarterfinals last season. Minnesota has played in nine NCAA championship games; this was its third loss. With five NCAA titles, Wisconsin climbed into a tie with Minnesota Duluth for second-most all time. The Gophers have six. Wisconsin last won it all in 2011. The Gophers struggled to get anything generated in front of the Badgers net. Wisconsin recorded 20 blocks, and goalie Kristen Campbell had 27 saves for her third straight shutout of the postseason. “They were really strong defensively. We were trying to get a lot of shots and we were having a hard time finding those second chances. It’s hard getting really good lucks against that team and they take care in front of the net,” said Minnesota senior Kelly Pannek. Wisconsin’s first goal came in the first period off a great play by Minnetonka native and 2016 Minnesota Ms. Hockey Presley Norby, who scrapped in the corner and won the puck before feeding Wayzata native Sophia Shaver, who beat Gophers goalie Alex Gulstene. The Badgers were particularly dangerous this season when scoring first, going 30-1-1 in those situations. In every Minnesota-Wisconsin game this season, the team that scored first was victorious. In the second period, Minnesota looked to be picking up momentum thanks to two Wisconsin penalties, but that was effectively killed when Badgers senior captain Annie Pankowski extended the lead with a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 Wisconsin. “That was a high-level play by Pankowski,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap to a great player. That one hurt. That was a huge turning point. We were generating some things on the power play, and then a big-time play there.” Wisconsin senior Maddie Rolfes said the theme of the day for the Badgers was “whatever it takes.” They blocked shots, lifted sticks, deflected passes, broke up plays and kept Minnesota from finding a rhythm in the offensive zone. The Badgers were also successful in limiting pucks to the net and kept the Gophers from having second- and third-chance opportunities. “It really helped to know their game and to know what kind of style they play and to adjust to that, and we went out with the utmost confidence,” said Rolfes.