After battling through four OTs and 5 ½ hours — the second longest game in NCAA history — the Gophers skated off the rink of their NCAA tournament quarterfinal game. Their loss to Clarkson in New York that day was a deflating punctuation to their season and a painful dash of any title hopes. Coach Brad Frost called it heartbreaking.

Enter this season. The No. 3 Gophers (15-5-1) are determined not to let that happen again, especially since Minnesota will host the Women’s Frozen Four at Ridder Arena on March 21 and 23. Luckily, the Gophers have had the type of reliably strong season so far that fans can expect, with the welcome addition of a few new weapons in their arsenal.

“Last year, we weren’t as deep,” Frost said. “We were a team that didn’t have the firepower that we have right now.”

That firepower helped the Gophers sweep No. 4 Minnesota Duluth and No. 15 Connecticut and split with No. 10 St. Cloud State during the first half of the season.

In tough losses against Wisconsin and Ohio State, the only teams slotted higher in the national rankings, the Gophers have still played it close. A struggle to hang on in the final period, however, has left Minnesota 0-3-1 in those games.

A slew of fresh faces on the Gophers squad are a large part of the fight to change that, rolling into Minneapolis as both freshmen and All-American transfers.

The rookies have come in hot. Chloe Primerano, the WCHA preseason Rookie of the Year, has been playing up to the expectations that trailed her to Minneapolis, ranking second on the team in scoring in December and picking up January’s WCHA Defender of the Month honor.

At goalie, fellow freshman Hannah Clark has been busy “carrying the mail,” in Frost’s words, touting only three losses while in goal.

College hockey vet and new transfer Sydney Morrow has also been an indispensable part of Minnesota’s attack, leading the team with five power-play goals en route to Minnesota’s sixth-ranked 21 power-play goals on the season.

Inching deeper into the second half of this season, things are getting serious — and the Gophers still have “got a ways to go,” in Frost’s mind. In Saturday’s matchup against No. 11 Penn State, the Gophers lost 6-2 after giving up four goals in the first period.

“We didn’t do what we needed to do all the time, we did it some of the time,” Frost said of the loss. “And we gotta do things all the time.”

Their schedule is exclusively conference games for the rest of the regular season, making every game important as they run the conference’s gamut. Rematches against Wisconsin (Feb 8 and 9) and Ohio State (Jan. 31 and Feb. 1) headline that schedule and could be an indicator of how strong of an NCAA tournament showing fans can expect.

From here, first up is a face-off with in-state foe St. Thomas this weekend. The Gophers swept the Tommies (5-0 and 6-2) last month and will be looking to replicate that result.

Looking forward, Frost says he expects more players will be heating up and tallying goals as the team digs deeper into the new year: “I believe it’s just a matter of when, not if,” he said.