Gophers women’s hockey team sinks Colgate, wins spot in Frozen Four

The Gophers women’s hockey team proved in Saturday’s NCAA tournament quarterfinal that you can go home again.

And they will, for next weekend’s Frozen Four at home in Ridder Arena.

Seeded fourth against fifth-seeded Colgate, the Gophers’ tense 3-2 victory at Ridder Arena on Saturday sends them right back there next weekend for a Frozen Four semifinal against top-seeded Wisconsin, which beat Clarkson 4-1 Saturday in Madison to advance.

The Gophers have won the NCAA title twice at home in Ridder Arena, in 2015 and 2013.

“The opportunity to play for it on your home ice is pretty special,” Gophers senior Abbey Murphy said.

Saturday’s victory was another stop on what Murphy calls her team’s “vengeance tour” after it lost last year in this same 4-5-seed NCAA quarterfinal matchup to Clarkson in four overtimes. Now the Gophers face once-beaten rival Wisconsin in Friday’s Frozen Four showdown.

“One of the things these guys didn’t want to do is not make it and have somebody else in your locker room,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “So we get to keep our locker room and keep things somewhat normal. Obviously, it will be a little different. We’ll work on our itinerary as we go. You know we’ve very familiar with our opponent here on Friday.”

Offensive-minded defender Sydney Morrow gave the Gophers a 3-0 lead with her 11th goal this season midway through the second period.

And then the Gophers hung on, surviving Colgate’s two third-period goals and a pulled goaltender for the final 1:22. Their first goal came on the power play, the second with nine minutes left even strength.

Afterward, Murphy was asked what was said during a timeout with 1:22 left.

“Get your head out of your …“ she said, pausing, ”pretty much."

“Just wake up,” she continued. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Our team finished it out, found a way to seal the deal. We didn’t panic too much. We didn’t jeopardize anything. We knew we were OK. A lot of people just did their roles at the end of the game and just finished it off.”

“They’re a good team and this is another test for our team,” Frost said. “Hopefully, we’re in this position again with a three-goal lead going into the third and knowing how we’re going to handle it. We knew it wasn’t going to easy. We set out at the beginning of the year trying to be playing the last weekend at Ridder in the Frozen Four and we’ve accomplished that. Now we still have some work to do.”

Frost used part of his postgame interview session to praise Murphy, who leads the nation in goals scored with 33. The WCHA coaches voted her onto its all- second team, not first team.

“Before we go, have you seen a better player in the country the last two weeks other than Murph?” Frost said. “Absolutely not. This kid’s playing and she’s been doing it all year. I don’t even know why I’m saying it. She has been unbelievable here recently, and I just hope she starts getting some notoriety about it.”

“Thanks, Frosty,” Murphy said, her voice softening.