Gophers women all just short in WCHA final

Gopher goaltender Noora Raty tied the Minnesota record for saves in a game Saturday.

Too bad the Gophers needed her to break it.

Raty was pelted with 56 Wisconsin shots and foiled 51 of them. But Kelly Nash's slapshot from 15 feet in front of the net, almost 15 minutes into overtime, got past Raty and sent the Badgers to the NCAA tournament with a 5-4 victory over Minnesota in the WCHA championship game at Ritter Arena.

"It's heartbreaking. It's disappointing," Gophers coach Brad Frost said after his team built, and then blew, a 3-0 lead. "But the good news is, our season continues."

That it does, although the Gophers won't learn where, when and against whom until the NCAA tournament pairings are announced at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Wisconsin's victory came with a guaranteed berth in the eight-team tournament, but since the Badgers are ranked No. 1 in the nation and the Gophers third in one poll and fifth in another, that's a prize that both teams had already unofficially claimed.

Wisconsin (34-2-2), the WCHA regular-season champion as well, will host a quarterfinal game next weekend in Madison. The Gophers (26-9-2) must hope that forcing the nation's top team into overtime impresses the committee enough to earn a home game for the third year in a row.

The Gophers built a 3-0 lead, two goals coming from point-blank range by junior Sarah Erickson, and appeared ready to break Wisconsin's 23-game unbeaten streak. But the Badgers' relentless offense produced a pair of goals within a 38-second span late in the second period, and Minnesota's lead was 4-2 heading into the final period.

"Coach [Brad Johnson] came in the locker room between the second and third period and said, 'We're going to win this game,'" Badgers captain Meghan Duggan said. "And I knew we were going to win the game, too. ... All we needed was the third goal. I knew the fourth one would come."

They did, the tying score coming on Duggan's deflection of an Alev Kelter slapshot with less than five minutes to play.

Then Nash extended the top-ranked Badgers' streak to 24 games -- their last loss came Nov. 28 -- in an overtime dominated by Wisconsin's offensive pressure. With 14:11 gone in the overtime, Nash was standing in an open spot between the face-off circles when Geena Prough shoveled the puck to her from the right corner. Nash didn't hesitate, attacking the puck with a big wind-up, then posing with her stick in the air on the follow-through as the shot rifled over Raty's left shoulder.

"Unfortunately, our [defense] screened me. I didn't see the shot," Raty said with a disappointed shrug. "That happens."

It's a wonder it didn't happen so much more Saturday. Wisconsin fired off nearly twice as many shots as the Gophers -- it was a 56-30 advantage for the game, and 12-2 in an overtime period spent almost entirely in Wisconsin's offensive zone.

The Finnish sophomore dove, lunged and smothered pucks all night, and could have had more saves. She gave up one goal when three Badgers chopped at the puck as she pinned it against the post, another when Madison Packer swatted the puck into the net as it bounced high off the ice. Raty's 51 saves equaled Erica Killewald's 11-year-old school record, a performance that earned Raty all-tournament honors despite the loss.