Gophers women's hockey routs New Hampshire in East/West Showcase

The Gophers women's hockey team carried is hot third period from Friday right into Saturday's game.

Grace Zumwinkle had two goals and four assists and reached 100 career goals, Abbey Murphy had two goals and two assists and the fifth-ranked Gophers rolled past New Hampshire 8-1 in the East/West Showcase at Ridder Arena.

"A great weekend in the East/West Showcase," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "More milestones today which were fun. Grace Zumwinkle becoming the sixth Gopher to score 100 goals was incredible. It was cool to see her score her 100th on a one-timer in the same fashion that she scored her first as a Gopher."

Catie Skaja, Zumwinkle and Madeline Wethington scored first-period goals for the Gophers (16-3-2), who beat Merrimack 9-2 on Friday behind six third-period goals. They extended their winning streak to six by winning their first two games in nearly a month.

Taylor Heise added her seventh goal over the past three games by scoring on the power play in the third period. She has 19 points over her past six games.

Skaja opened the scoring when she took a drop pass from Abigail Boreen and skated right in to the Wildcats net, beating goalie Ava Boutilier 4 minutes, 9 seconds into the game. Zumwinkle doubled that lead by skating in from behind her blue line all the way into the New Hampshire net to score at 10:18, and Wethington scored her first goal of the season on a one-timer from the right circle on the power play at 14:47.

Ella Huber scored with 4:42 left in the second period off assists from Murphy and Zimwinkle to make it 4-0, though New Hampshire (7-16) responded on a goal by Emily Pinto 27 seconds later. Murphy then scored with 38 seconds left in the period, and the Gophers tacked on three goals in the third period, capped by Zimwinkle's 100th goal.

Gophers goalie Makayla Pahl made 15 saves for her third victory of the season. Boutlier stopped 32 shots.