Article Written by Thomas Hoffmann.
The women’s hockey team looked to extend their five game winning streak when they played host to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs on Friday, Nov. 11. This was the first of a two-game series versus UMD.
UMD got off to a fast start when junior forward Clara Van Wieran scored her third goal of the season to make the score 1-0 early in the first period.
The Bulldogs would continue to play well in the first period, tallying one more goal from 5th year senior Anneke Linser to make the score 2-0 before heading into the locker room for the first intermission.
Although St. Cloud State was down on the scoreboard, Huskies’ goaltender and former UMD Bulldog, JoJo Chobak stopped 11 of the 13 shots she faced. UMD outshot St. Cloud State 13-1 in the first period.
When asked about Chobak’s performance, Coach Idalski, “I wish we could have given her more run support right off the hop so she could feel more comfortable. … That’s a super emotional game going back and playing against your old club, so we wanted to get it out of the way on Friday, so she could put it behind her. … I thought she did great with what’s probably a little more nerves than a normal game for her.”
When asked about UMD’s constant pressure in the first period, St. Cloud State head coach, Brian Idalski said, “It’s the first time facing them (UMD). They’re fast. They move the puck super well. They knew this was a big game, and they came ready to play.”
UMD continued to control the pace of play in the second period, but the Huskies’ defense was up to the task, killing off two penalties against the nation’s top power play unit and not surrendering any goals.
Coach Idalski was much more pleased with the Huskies’ effort in the second period, saying, “I thought we got better as the game went on. … I felt pretty good about the fact that after the shock and awe of giving up a couple (goals) that we righted the ship and played pretty solid.”
Going into the third period, the Huskies were still down on the scoreboard 2-0 and were looking to make a comeback. St. Cloud State would get an opportunity cut into the Bulldogs’ lead when Mary Kate O’Brien got called for a holding penalty halfway through the third period.
The Huskies created multiple scoring opportunities on the power play but were unable to score, leaving the score at 2-0.
UMD would regain control of the game after killing off the O’Brien penalty, and despite the Huskies’ best efforts, UMD would go on to win the game by a final score of 2-0.
This loss for St. Cloud would put an end to their five-game winning streak, which had been their longest since the 2015-16 season.
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