Ella Huber scored the go-ahead goal 13 seconds into the third period and the Gophers women’s hockey team scored four times in the period to pull away for a 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State on Saturday at Ridder Arena.
Gophers women’s hockey completes sweep of St. Cloud State with big third period
Ella Huber scored the tiebreaking goal in the opening seconds of the third period and the Gophers added a pair of empty-netters late.
February 11, 2024 at 12:00AM
Lucy Morgan made 21 saves for the fifth-ranked Gophers (24-5-1, 18-5-1 WCHA) completed their fourth consecutive series sweep. It was the first game (in four meetings) between the Gophers and Huskies this season decided by more than one goal — the Gophers won Friday’s game 1-0 in St. Cloud.
“Another great win here at home against a tough opponent,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “Six big points on the weekend for us. Lucy [Morgan] was great, our top line produced, and we defended well. We know it’s going to continue to be tough as we go, but we’re looking forward to getting out to Madison next weekend.”
After Huber’s goal, Madison Kaiser’s goal with 6 minutes, 43 seconds remaining made it 3-1 before Huber and Ava Lindsay added empty-netters in the final 90 seconds vs. the 10th-ranked Huskies (15-14-1, 10-13-1).
Abbey Murphy’s goal with five minutes remaining in the first period staked the Gophers to a 1-0 lead. It was Murphy’s 29th goal of the season. The Huskies tied the score in the second period on an unassisted goal from Avery Farrell.
The Gophers outshot the Huskies 29-22. St. Cloud State has lost seven games in a row.
The Gophers play at Wisconsin next weekend before playing host to Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 23-24 to close out the regular season.
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Junior Mara Braun rebroke the same bone in her foot as last season, so the 6-0 Gophers will be without their leading scorer and top overall player.
