Women's hockey team loses in NCHA tournament final
3/10/2010
By Brendan Willis
Staff Writer
The University of Wisconsin - Superior women’s hockey team made a valiant run in the NCHA tournament as they defeated the number one seed Lake Forest on March 5, before losing 2-1 in the championship to second ranked UW-River Falls on March 6.
On Friday afternoon, the game was a chess match as both teams’ moves were matched by the other. Just like most of the ‘Jackets’ games this year, the scoring was minimal as defense and goaltending led the way.
The game was also riddled with penalties as both teams combined for 11 opportunities within the first two periods with the ‘Jackets taking 8 of them.
Although scoring opportunities were great for the Foresters, senior Melissa Kunzelman shut them down and made save after to save to keep the score knotted at zeros.
When the third period came around, the penalties settled down and the teams started playing a more fluent game. Again both goalies were flawless until ‘Jackets freshman forward Chelsey Wierschem put a dent in the Foresters goalie Alyssa Wintermute’s armor.
With only 28 seconds left in the game, Wierschem came down the left wing and threw a shot on Wintermute, which fooled her, giving the ‘Jackets the eventual 1-0 win.
‘Junior Allie Pullar recorded the lone assist on the goal. Kunzelman ended the game with an incredible 31 saves while Wintermute turned away 19. The shutout was Kunzelman’s eighth of the season putting her first in the nation in that category.
Saturday afternoon’s game was much like Friday’s game as goaltending played an important role. Both goalies seemed to stand on their head throughout the first until UW-River Falls forward Jamie Briski threw a shot on Kunzelman and beat her glove side. The goal was the first Kunzelman had allowed in over 160:00 minutes of play.
The second period kept going the same way as the goalies continued their hot play until 10:51 when Briski capitalized on a power play opportunity and shot a point shot which seemed to take a weird bounce and beat Kunzelman glove side.
Down 2-0 the ‘Jackets did not deflate as 5:36 later sophomore Ashley Martin took a shot from beyond the blue line and beat River Falls goalie Melissa Deardorff to narrow the gap to a 2-1 score.
Going into the third period the ‘Jackets knew they needed to put the pressure on the Falcons and their goalie Deardorff, and that is exactly what they did. They were throwing puck after puck on net (14 to be exact) but Deardorff responded to each shot leading the Falcons to the 2-1 victory and the O’Brien Cup Championship trophy.
Kunzelman ended the game with 32 saves while Deardorff saved 34.UW-River Falls now plays Gustavus Adolphus March 13 to see who advances to the NCAA tournament.
The loss was the last game of the season for the ‘Jackets as they ended the season 18-9-2 with a 9-5-2 record.
Senior Jodi Holland ended the season as the leading scorer for the ‘Jackets as she recorded 21 points. Kunzelman is in strong contention for an All-American nomination as she ended the year second in the nation in Save Percentage, first in shutouts, and sixth in Goals against Average.
The game marked the last game for nine Jackets players as Kunzelman, Holland, Amie Meyer, Amy Hasbargen, Heidi Chandler, Kim Schmeichel, Brittany Bembeneck, Brittany Dunkel, and captain Jasmine Pollock will all be graduating the ‘Jackets program. The Jackets will return 12 players next season.
On Friday afternoon, the game was a chess match as both teams’ moves were matched by the other. Just like most of the ‘Jackets’ games this year, the scoring was minimal as defense and goaltending led the way.
The game was also riddled with penalties as both teams combined for 11 opportunities within the first two periods with the ‘Jackets taking 8 of them.
Although scoring opportunities were great for the Foresters, senior Melissa Kunzelman shut them down and made save after to save to keep the score knotted at zeros.
When the third period came around, the penalties settled down and the teams started playing a more fluent game. Again both goalies were flawless until ‘Jackets freshman forward Chelsey Wierschem put a dent in the Foresters goalie Alyssa Wintermute’s armor.
With only 28 seconds left in the game, Wierschem came down the left wing and threw a shot on Wintermute, which fooled her, giving the ‘Jackets the eventual 1-0 win.
‘Junior Allie Pullar recorded the lone assist on the goal. Kunzelman ended the game with an incredible 31 saves while Wintermute turned away 19. The shutout was Kunzelman’s eighth of the season putting her first in the nation in that category.
Saturday afternoon’s game was much like Friday’s game as goaltending played an important role. Both goalies seemed to stand on their head throughout the first until UW-River Falls forward Jamie Briski threw a shot on Kunzelman and beat her glove side. The goal was the first Kunzelman had allowed in over 160:00 minutes of play.
The second period kept going the same way as the goalies continued their hot play until 10:51 when Briski capitalized on a power play opportunity and shot a point shot which seemed to take a weird bounce and beat Kunzelman glove side.
Down 2-0 the ‘Jackets did not deflate as 5:36 later sophomore Ashley Martin took a shot from beyond the blue line and beat River Falls goalie Melissa Deardorff to narrow the gap to a 2-1 score.
Going into the third period the ‘Jackets knew they needed to put the pressure on the Falcons and their goalie Deardorff, and that is exactly what they did. They were throwing puck after puck on net (14 to be exact) but Deardorff responded to each shot leading the Falcons to the 2-1 victory and the O’Brien Cup Championship trophy.
Kunzelman ended the game with 32 saves while Deardorff saved 34.UW-River Falls now plays Gustavus Adolphus March 13 to see who advances to the NCAA tournament.
The loss was the last game of the season for the ‘Jackets as they ended the season 18-9-2 with a 9-5-2 record.
Senior Jodi Holland ended the season as the leading scorer for the ‘Jackets as she recorded 21 points. Kunzelman is in strong contention for an All-American nomination as she ended the year second in the nation in Save Percentage, first in shutouts, and sixth in Goals against Average.
The game marked the last game for nine Jackets players as Kunzelman, Holland, Amie Meyer, Amy Hasbargen, Heidi Chandler, Kim Schmeichel, Brittany Bembeneck, Brittany Dunkel, and captain Jasmine Pollock will all be graduating the ‘Jackets program. The Jackets will return 12 players next season.