The Gophers women’s hockey team has a 16-game winning streak, best in the nation, going into its series with Minnesota Duluth this weekend.

The team with the next longest streak is Holy Cross (14-0-1) which is unbeaten in 15 games.

Here is how the Gophers’ season has ended in previous seasons:

2007-08: Lost 3-2 in OT to Wisconin in first game of NCAA regional

2006-07: Lost 3-1 to Wisconsin in WCHA championship game

2005-06: Lost 3-0 to Wisconsin in Frozen Four championship game

2004-05: Beat Harvard 4-3 in Frozen Four for NCAA championship

2003-04: Beat Harvard 6-2 in Frozen Four for NCAA championship

2002-03: Lost 4-2 to Dartmouth in third-place game of Frozen Four

2001-02: Tied 2-2 with Niagara in third-place game of Frozen Four

2000-01: Lost 4-3 to Wisconsin in third-place game of WCHA tournament

1999-2000: Beat Brown 4-2 in AWCHA championship game

1998-99: Beat Brown 3-2 in AWCHA third-place game

1997-98: Lost to Northeastern 4-0 in AWCHA third-place game 

In the four trophy cases on one side of Ridder Area are 13 different objects: seven plaques, three glass vases, two bowls and one trophy.

One case has as many as five of those objects, one has two: the back-to-back NCAA championships plaques in 2004 and ‘05.

Those read like this:

National

Collegiate

Women’s

Ice Hockey

Championships

(below that is an engraving of the bottom of a hockey stick and a puck, followed by two more words)

National

Champion  

There are four plaques from NCAA Frozen Fours … and two plaques from AWCHA tournament trips in 1998 and ‘99

The bowls are from Final Fives in ‘04 and ‘05

The glass vases are from WCHA championships in ‘02, ‘04 and ‘05 … so, too, is the trophy, dating back to ‘01

The biggest eye-catcher, though, is the mural of the five Olympians who played for the Gophers. It’s huge, at least life-size. Skating at you from left to right are Kelly Stephens, Lyndsay Wall, Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz and Courtney Kennedy.

One has to wonder how many future Olympians are on the present team. Four or five are in the pool of players which will be considered for the 2010 Olympics.

A look at the probable Gophers lines for Friday’s game vs. UMD, the defending NCAA champion:

Top lines (there are really two)

Jen Schoullis centering Gigi Marvin and Emily West

Jocelyne Lamoureux centering sister Monique and Terra Rasmussen or Alexandra Zebro … if Marvin can’t play because of her should injury, Zebro would take her spot

Third line

Kelli Blankenship, Brittany Francis, Sarah Erickson  

Fourth line

Jaimie Horton, Chelsey Jones, Laura May

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm and is filed under All. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.