Gophers women’s hockey came so close to Frozen Four last year. Now Colgate stands in their way.

The Gophers women’s hockey team has been here before, just last season when they were in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal 4-5 matchup of seeded teams.

It took fourth-seeded Clarkson four overtimes and 5 ½ hours to beat them 3-2 on a power-play goal at home in upstate New York. It was the longest game in Gophers history and second-longest in NCAA tournament history.

“We all know hockey is a finicky sport, to say the least,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “... Four overtimes later, your season ends.”

This time, the Gophers are the fourth seed, at home in Ridder Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m., against ECAC Hockey’s fifth-seeded Colgate. The winner advances to next weekend’s Frozen Four, also at Ridder Arena for the fifth time. The Gophers have won the Frozen Four twice at home, in 2013 and 2015.

This time, they return home with momentum from last weekend’s WCHA Final Faceoff when they scored the final six goals in a 6-2 semifinal win over Ohio State and a last-second, 4-3 loss to once-beaten Wisconsin in the final.

The Gophers lost a two-game series at Wisconsin by a combined 14-3 score a month ago but played without four of their top European players.

“We took a lot of positives out of the Ohio State game,” Gophers senior star Abbey Murphy said. “Our team took that one to heart. It wasn’t fun being down two, but we just never gave up. There was belief every bit of the way.”

Those were her 100th and 101st goals in program history.

“It’s pretty cool,” Murphy said. “I can’t do it without my teammates, so a lot of thanks to them. It’s a lot of fun to be a part of this crew.”

Murphy’s 101 goals are seventh most as a Gopher, one away from tying Natalie Darwitz’s career 102. Murphy has scored 31 goals this season, the most in the nation.

“It might have been her best weekend she has had as a Gopher,” Frost said. “The way she skated and brought our team back singlehandedly against Ohio State. She’s somebody who’s just must-see TV, right?

“There’s no other player like her, and to see the way she competes every single day and battles and is able to score at an incredible level, she’s electric.”

“They have their views. I have mine,” Frost said. “I think she’s the best player in the country. I really do. Other people have their opinions, but I don’t really care about theirs. There’s nobody like Murph in women’s hockey. That rubs some people the wrong way. She plays with a chip. She’s passionate about the game and about winning and scoring. I’ll certainly take that on my team anytime.”

Murphy called herself “grateful” to be on the list, even if it’s not first team.

“It’s not my focus,” Murphy said. “I’m happy to be on it, But we all know what we have in mind at the end.”

Now the Gophers are coming home, possibly for Murphy and senior teammates to play three more games at Ridder.

“I think it’s an incredible opportunity for us,” Murphy said. “You don’t get this opportunity much. We’re playing our best hockey right now. I think we set ourselves up really well to play home games the rest of the way. We’ve got to use that to our advantage. We’re really looking forward to it. If we play the way we did last week, I think we’ll be all right.”

2 p.m., Saturday at Ridder Arena

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