Gophers and Minnesota Duluth gear up for WCHA Final Faceoff

The first times the teams played this season, the Gophers women’s hockey team beat defending national champion Ohio State 3-1, lost 4-3 and 7-3 and tied 1-1, most recently as five weeks ago.

Now Minnesota gets another chance in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinal Friday afternoon at Duluth’s Amsoil Arena.

The 27-10-1 Gophers arrive ranked third nationally, with 27-6-3 Ohio State second, and both teams behind overwhelming No. 1 seed Wisconsin (33-1-2).

Minnesota and Ohio State will play at 4:30 p.m. (broadcast on FOX9+ and streamed on BTN+).The winner will meet Wisconsin or Minnesota Duluth on Saturday for an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

The Gophers have gotten there by beating Minnesota State Mankato in the first round last Sunday in the third game of a best-of-three series for the second consecutive season. This time, the Gophers lost Game 2 in double overtime, then beat the Mavericks 6-2 in the deciding third game.

“Obviously, we wish we could have closed it out in two,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “But the opportunity to play another game and have to perform with your back against the wall a little bit, that’s something we can look back to as we get to these one-and-done scenarios the rest of the way.”

The Gophers had a Final Faceoff second seed in sight until they lost to St. Cloud State 4-3 at home in Ridder Arena four games from regular season’s end.

“We let that one slip away, but this is an opportunity again to play against the top teams in the country, us being one of them,” Frost said. “You get to this point of the year and it really is about executing at a high level when the puck is dropped. As a coach, that’s always exciting to see if your team is ready for that.”

The Gophers won the 2023 Final Faceoff by beating Ohio State 3-1 in the final at Ridder Arena. They go there this time with senior star Abbey Murphy seeking her 100th career goal. On Thursday, she was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award for the second consecutive season. The award honors the best Division I women’s hockey player.

“When you have an opportunity to hang a banner, it’s something our players come back 10, 20 years later and know they were a part of it,” Frost said.

The NCAA tournament field will be announced Sunday morning. All four Final Faceoff teams, including sixth-ranked UMD, are expected to be invited.

The NCAA tournament selection show is at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, streamed live on ESPN+.

The NCAA tournament is an 11-team field with three regional semifinal games played on the campuses of the top three seeds. Four regional final games will follow on those campuses. The four regional champions advance to the Frozen Four at Ridder Arena on March 21 and 23.

The Final Faceoff is one last chance for its four teams to measure their NCAA tournament readiness.

Gophers senior Peyton Hemp called the three-game series victory over Minnesota State last weekend “super fun.”

“It was a good test for the team, knowing we kept our form under pressure and kept the other team away,” she said. “Wisconsin obviously is a very talented team, same with Ohio State. I don’t know where everybody is at this time of year, but I think it will be really fun this weekend to feel out the waters and see where everybody is at.”

The Buckeyes are coached by former Gophers star and assistant coach Nadine Muzerall, a member of the first Gophers team in 1997. She has coached Ohio State to two NCAA titles since she was hired in 2016.

“I’m not surprised she’s done a good job,” said Frost, who hired her as a Gophers assistant in 2011. “She’s very passionate. Her team honestly plays to her identity and personality at times. She’s kind of in-your-face appropriately. A hard worker, she loved to score goals and so it’s just been fun to see her lead that group at Ohio State and bring them from middle of the pack in the WCHA toward the top.”