Western Collegiate Hockey Association
UMD's Emmanuelle Blais Nets the Winner vs Mercyhurst |
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UMD Beats Mercyhurst for No. 1, Now Faces Gophers
Oct. 25, 2007
It didn't seem as though the Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team missed sophomore Emmanuelle Blais and freshman Haley Irwin much, as the Bulldogs swept Bemidji State to reach 4-0 with four straight shutouts. But the return of Blais and Irwin proved decisive when UMD tied and beat No. 2 Mercyhurst to claim the nation's No. 1 ranking.
UMD coach Shannon Miller puts little stock in such ratings so early in the season, but she knew that Mercyhurst deserved No. 2 as the Lakers came to the DECC to face UMD in a battle of unbeaten women's hockey powers. The ratings showed 1. Wisconsin, 2. Mercyhurst, 3. St. Lawrence, 4. New Hampshire, with UMD fifth, even though St. Lawrence and UNH already had lost once.
The first and only previous meeting between UMD and Mercyhurst had been a classic. After swapping No. 1 spots with Wisconsin throughout the season, Mercyhurst was at home for the NCAA quarterfinals, only to be upset by seventh-seeded UMD, when Jessica Koizumi scored the tying goal in the closing seconds, then scored again in overtime to win it, sending UMD to the Frozen Four where the Bulldogs lost 4-1 in the title game to Wisconsin. Koizumi was a senior, and now is a grad assistant at UMD.
Saturday's first game lived up to its billilng, when UMD had to work for two periods to catch up to Mercyhurst's furious pace before gaining a 1-1 tie. By then, word had spread that Kendall Newell's goaltending sparked St. Cloud State to a 2-1 upset over Wisconsin, which put extra emphasis on the DECC for the Sunday second game. Obviously, if Mercyhurst could win or tie, the Lakers would displace Wisconsin as No. 1.
Instead, UMD again spotted Mercyhurst the first goal, and got the equalizer from Holmlov before the first period ended. A goal by Blais in the second period broke the 1-1 tie, and Irwin scored in the third to clinch a 3-1 UMD victory.
With their 5-0-1 overall record, and with Wisconsin and Mercyhurst both suffering their first losses, UMD vaulted from fifth to claim the No. 1 rating as the lone undefeated team among the top five.
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"We have the strongest schedule in the country, and I'm proud of that," said Miller. "Mercyhurst has an outstanding team, with some great recruits, and I knew they'd be tough. But that's the kind of teams we want to play, because they make your team improve.
"We were able to get by with players like Irwin and Blais, and Tawni Mattila, out of the lineup, but when you're playing one of the best teams in the country, you need your best players in the lineup."
Mattila is still out, but Miller hopes she might return this weekend, because the schedule doesn't let up. UMD goes from facing a top national power to facing arch-rival Minnesota in Minneapolis Friday and Saturday. Against Mercyhurst, the return of Blais and Irwin was pivotal. They were strong in the first game, although UMD had to depend on Holmlov, a sophomore from Sweden, for all its offense.
Holmlov scored on a third-period backhander from the slot in the first game, it gave UMD a crucial 1-1 deadlock that withstood overtime. It also helped erase a school record for futility - UMD was outshot 14-8 in a scoreless first period, then was outshot 14-0 in the second period. No UMD team had ever gotten fewer than one shot in a period in the program's history, and that big zero obviously will stand forever in the UMD record book.
Stephanie Jones scored a power-play goal in that second period - the only goal UMD had allowed in five games - and the 1-0 lead looked large, considering UMD's inability to even generate a shot. But UMD came back strong in the third period, with a 13-6 edge in shots, leaving UMD down 35-24 for the game. Still, Holmlov's deadly backhand was welcomed by Miller. "She has such a good backhand, that when I saw her get the puck, and she had it on her backhand, I knew she was going to put it in.
"I thought we played a really good first period, then we did nothing in the second, but we came back. Mercyhurst is fast, physical, and deep, and they've got good goaltending."
The two teams are also among the best in the country at devising creative and explosive offenses, but Miller said she anticipated a low-scoring game nonetheless. It was more of the same in the rematch. Meghan Agosta, Mercyhurst's star scorer from the Canadian Olympic team took an outlet pass from tiny but tenacious freshman Vicki Bendus and raced up the ice to score on a breakaway at 9:28 of the first period.
Holmlov countered for UMD six seconds before the opening period ended. She lost the puck on the right boards, but restole it, then stick-handled in to break free at the blue line. Closing in alone, she proved her forehand was pretty good, too, as she snapped a shot into the upper left corner past goaltender Laura Hosier.
UMD gained a power-play chance early in the second period. Blais had been out two weeks with a high ankle sprain. "It hurst less with my skate on," she said, and proved it with the immediate return to her dynamic hustle all weekend. She was deep on the left side, on the power-play, and when Irwin's center-point shot hit traffic in the slot, and the puck bounced right onto her stickblade, Blais made quick work of lifting it up and in before Hosier could cover the left side.
"We all helped each other," Blais said. "We made some real good passes out there. When we got ahead, we paid more attention to getting the third man back to play it safe, but we still can attack."
That attack gave UMD a 10-6 edge in shots in the second period, and a 12-6 edge in the third for a 33-23 game total. While the games were played at a heightened pace and with considerable physical action, the Lakers got two aggressive penalties in close order to start the third period. Saara Tuominen won the corner faceoff to Holmlov, who fed Irwin for a blast through the slot at 4:32 on the two-skater advantage.
Irwin, who is from Thunder Bay, Ontario, didn't take long to make her presence felt, despite missing nine days with a concussion.
"I missed two weeks," she said, "and I was nervous in the first game. But they've got a real good team. All their lines are solid, and there are no breaks no matter which one you go against. But coming to UMD has been great. I had great expectations for the program, and coach Miller, and they've already been fulfilled."
Irwin admits it's still early, and for a freshman from Thunder Bay, she has no experience about what the upcoming weekend will be like, at Minnesota's Ridder Arena. "But word is getting around," she smiled.
