Gophers women's hockey seeks Frozen Four trip but first must vanquish Minnesota Duluth

The Gophers women's hockey team faces Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at Ridder Arena in the NCAA Minneapolis Regional final, and a sense of déjà vu hangs heavy over the matchup. Last March 12 in a nearly identical situation, the Bulldogs upset the Gophers 2-1 at Ridder to advance to the Frozen Four.

One team can't help but remember the result, while the other team wants to put the memory in the past.

"It's crazy that it's 365 days almost to the date,'' Gophers senior defenseman Madeline Wethington said. "We prepared all season for it, and expectations are high.''

"It's kind of irrelevant at this point, what we did last year,'' Bulldogs goalie Emma Soderberg countered. "… We have to go in with that mind-set that it's not going to be like last year.''

At stake in the 2 p.m. game is a trip to the Frozen Four in Duluth on March 17 and 19 at Amsoil Arena. The Gophers (29-5-3) are eager to make it to the national semifinals in their home state, while the Bulldogs (26-9-3) want a crowning moment on their home rink.

The game can be seen for free on the web at BIG+, which is normally a subscription service. The link to watch is here.

"I remember when it got announced, and we were like, 'We're gonna come home. We're gonna do it all and have it be our last game,' '' Bulldogs sixth-year senior forward Naomi Rogge said. "It's definitely been a motivating factor.''

UMD moved within a win of its second consecutive Frozen Four berth with a 2-0 victory over Clarkson on Thursday night at Ridder. Soderberg posted a nation's-best 12th shutout of the season, while Taylor Stewart scored two goals. The Bulldogs, who fell 2-1 in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals to top-ranked Ohio State, rely on solid defense and standout goaltending from Soderberg, the 2022 Swedish Olympian. UMD is allowing only 1.3 goals per game, second fewest in the nation. In last year's regional final, Soderberg's 37 saves sparked the Bulldogs' triumph over Minnesota.

The Gophers, though, are 4-0 against the Bulldogs this season, scoring 14 goals against Soderberg and chasing her from the net in the second period of a 5-3 win on Nov. 5.

"You've got to shoot hard and you've got to make her move laterally,'' Gophers senior defenseman Gracie Ostertag said.

Minnesota, which finished second to Ohio State in the WCHA regular-season race, enters the national tournament with the momentum of beating the Buckeyes and Wisconsin in the conference tourney. The Gophers last won the national title in 2016 and last reached the Frozen Four in 2019, and they aim to remedy that.

"There's definitely a hunger that will be a factor,'' said senior forward Grace Zumwinkle, who spent the 2021-22 season with the U.S. Olympic team.

Wethington plans to pull a lesson from last year's Gophers disappointment, which came only a week after Minnesota dispatched UMD 5-1 in the WCHA semifinals.

"Sometimes, it's hard in situations where you're playing an opponent that you're so familiar with,'' she said. "It almost feels like a regular WCHA game rather than an NCAA tournament situation, and I think we could have treated that a little bit differently going into the game. Just realize, 'Hey, this is all or nothing, right?' Everything has to go into this game.''

While the Gophers try to learn from the past, the Bulldogs see things from a different point of view.

"We're not going to talk about the past,'' UMD coach Maura Crowell said. "We're going to talk about tomorrow and being the best team on the ice when the puck drops.''