Gophers women’s hockey ousted by Clarkson in four overtimes in NCAA quarterfinals

Playing against a stingy Clarkson defense, the Gophers hoped they could win a low-scoring battle in Saturday’s NCAA women’s hockey quarterfinal. For much of the game, it looked like two goals might be enough to send them to the Frozen Four.

But after leading 2-0 early, the Gophers gave up the tying goal with 1 minute, 51 seconds left in the third period. That began an epic standoff that took an extra 1 hour, 5 minutes and 44 seconds to resolve, ending when Clarkson scored on a power play in the fourth overtime for a 3-2 victory.

The game at Cheel Arena on the Clarkson campus in Potsdam, N.Y., was the longest in Gophers program history and the second-longest in NCAA tournament history, with a total time of 125:44. The No. 4 Golden Knights (33-4-2) will play top-ranked Ohio State in the NCAA semifinals Friday in Durham, N.H. No. 2 Wisconsin and No. 3 Colgate also won Saturday and will play in the other Frozen Four semifinal.

The No. 5 Gophers fell short of their 16th Frozen Four berth and ended the season with a 27-10-2 record.

In a game that spanned 5½ hours from start to finish, Clarkson forward Dominique Petrie scored the goal that kept it going and the one that ended it. Petrie’s shot from a sharp angle hit a Gophers skate and deflected past goaltender Lucy Morgan at 18:09 of the third period to tie the score 2-2 and push the game into the first overtime. Petrie buried a rebound on a power play for the winner at 5:44 of the fourth OT.

The game ended at about 7:25 p.m. Eastern time, late enough that the Gophers had to skip the postgame news conference in order to catch their flight back to the Twin Cities. Reached by phone, coach Brad Frost said he was heartbroken by the loss but proud of the effort.

“Our players showed how tough they are,” Frost said. “They left it all out on the ice. There wasn’t a lot more they could have done.

“[Clarkson] was able to catch a break, and we weren’t. Sports can be pretty cruel sometimes.”

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Josefin Bouveng and Ella Huber gave the Gophers a 2-0 lead when they scored 81 seconds apart early in the first period. Huber’s goal at 8:47 was the last the Gophers would get against the nation’s top-ranked defense, anchored by goaltender Michelle Pasiechnyk.

Pasiechnyk made 61 saves as the Gophers outshot Clarkson 63-56. The teams combined for 273 shot attempts and 75 blocked shots, with Clarkson recording 45 blocks.

Petrie scored the tying goal 20 seconds after Clarkson coach Matt Desrosiers pulled Pasiechnyk for an extra skater with 2:11 left in the game. The winner came after the Gophers’ Audrey Wethington was penalized for interference. The Golden Knights scored twice on four power plays, while the Gophers were blanked on four tries.

Late in the third overtime, the game surpassed the program record of 118:51, set when the Gophers beat North Dakota in the 2013 NCAA quarterfinals.

“To be honest, I kind of blacked out,’’ Petrie said of the moments before her winning goal. “All I can remember is the puck kind of popped to me in front, and I turned and saw an empty net and batted it home. I was so lucky the rebound was there.’’

The Gophers dominated the first 10 minutes, outshooting Clarkson 7-0 and outscoring the Knights 2-0. After Madeline Wethington fired a shot from the center point, Bouveng snared the bouncing puck down low and put a backhander past Pasiechnyk at 7:26.

Bouveng set up the second goal, carrying the puck down the left side and sending it across the slot for Huber at the bottom of the right circle. Clarkson did not get its first shot on goal until 14:21 of the first period, but it put pressure on the Gophers late. Winn’s power-play shot hit a skate and slid past Morgan, cutting the Gophers’ lead to 2-1 at 16:27.

Late in the second period, Huber put the puck into the Knights’ net on a power play at 17:56. Desrosiers challenged the goal. After a video review, officials determined Huber had interfered with Pasiechnyk, waving off the goal and leaving the score at 2-1.

After Petrie tied it, the Gophers kept pushing, outshooting Clarkson 36-35 in the four overtimes. But the bounce they hoped for never came.

“We had several chances in those overtimes,’’ Frost said. “We just couldn’t find a way. But I’m so proud of this group and how they battled.”

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.