Article by Sam Roering. Photo by Sam Roering.
The St. Cloud State women’s hockey team came up short in their last weekend of regular season play against Ohio State. They dropped game one, 5-3 on Friday before falling 3-2 on Saturday. Though they played hard and matched Ohio State’s compete at times, getting swept ultimately ended their regular season on a tough note.
Ohio took control early on in Friday’s game. By the second period, the Buckeyes already had a 3-0 lead with goals from Makenna Webster, Joy Dunne, and Jocelyn Amos. The Huskies were resilient though and didn’t let up. Alice Sauriol cut the lead to 3-1 late in the second period.
The third period brought the drama. The Huskies scored twice in the first seven minutes of the period to tie the game at 3-3. Laura Zimmermann quickly capitalized on a Huskies power play and Emma Gentry followed it up with a goal of her own minutes later. However, the Buckeyes responded with a power play goal shortly after Gentry’s. It was Amos’s second of the game to put the Buckeyes back ahead 4-3. Amos then secured a hat trick and a Buckeyes 5-3 win with an empty-net goal.
Saturday’s game was another close battle. Ohio jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on in the first. Joy Dunne and Riley Brengman were credited with the goals, with Brengman’s coming shorthanded.
Gentry sparked the Huskies offense in the second period, scoring right before a power play ended to lessen the deficit to 2-1. However, taking a hit in the third period would have Gentry exit the game and not return. Still, despite that loss, the Huskies fought on. Abby Promersberger tied the game up with less than five minutes left. Ohio State answered quickly with Makenna Webster’s game-winning goal two minutes later, making it a 3-2 final.
Both goaltenders were solid in net for the Huskies. Sanni Ahola made 27 saves on the 31 shots she faced on Friday. In Saturday’s loss Kyrkkö made 29 saves on 32 shots.
St. Cloud’s Three Stars of the Weekend
★ Emma Gentry
Gentry was a key player for the Huskies over the weekend with a goal in each game. She was the only multi-point player for the Huskies on Friday with an assist as well. She is on a six game point streak and leads the Huskies with 12 goals. Her departure from Saturday’s game could be worrying ahead of the WCHA tournament next weekend.
★★ Carmen Bray
Bray was the only other Huskies player to have a multi-point weekend with an assist in each game. Both of the assists came on the power play, showing how the sophomore has become an important part of Huskies special teams. She also blocked a tie for the team-high shots on Saturday with two.
★★★ Abby Promersberger
Promersberger scored Saturday’s game-tying goal, delivering in a big moment for the Huskies. It was her fifth goal of the season, moving her into double digits in points with ten.
Where Things Stand
With the regular season coming to an end, St. Cloud officially finishes No. 5 in the WCHA. The WCHA tournament will begin next weekend with the first round being a best-of-three and the Final Faceoff the following week.
In terms of national rankings, the Huskies entered the weekend at No. 11 on the USCHO polls and finished the weekend at No. 11 in Pairwise.
Up Next
The Huskies will head up to Amsoil Arena this weekend to face off against the University of Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the WCHA tournament. It’ll be a best-of-three series with Friday’s game at 2 p.m., Saturday’s game at 1 p.m., and Sunday’s game at 1 p.m. if necessary.
The Huskies have not fared well against the Bulldogs this season, going 0-3-1. Back in January, they didn’t score a single goal in the series, losing each game 0-3. Since then, the Huskies have found their scoring touch and confidence. In their games since then, the Huskies have scored three or more goals in six of 12 games, taking points from top teams like Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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