Both dailies in the Twin Cities did major stories on the Gophers women’s hockey team this week. The team was on a roll, winning 16 in a row, overwhelming foes and ranked No. 1.

No. 3 Minnesota Duluth was coming to town this weekend, but the ‘Dogs top goalie Kim Martin was out with a knee injury and a handful of other players had bumps and bruises and worst that should have limited them.

So what happens? UMD wins 4-2. Johanna Ellison, a senior from Cloquet, stops 34 of 36 shots and the U goes 0-for-5 on the power play.

It can happen. Remember Robert Morris beat the Gophers in their season opener when that team’s goalie was spectacular.

This game drew a nice crowd, 1,754.

The Gophers outshot UMD 36-18, which is exactly 2-1. But goals matter more.

I remember Ellison from high school. She was a star goalie in high school for at least three seasons. She was considered the best goalie as a senior. She could play then, and obviously still can.

Freshman Alyssa Grogan who has had a great year so far took the loss. She came into the game with a goals-against average under 1.00 but UMD was 2-for-5 on the power play.

This loss doesn’t hurt too much if the Gophers can come back Saturday and win. More than likely, the U and UMD will see each other again in the WCHA playoffs and maybe the NCAA playoffs.

The ‘Dogs are the defending national champions and obviously don’t want to give up that title.

One positive note. Jaimie Horton of the Gophers scored her third goal in two games.  She has only three this season.

Also positive was the return of Gigi Marvin to action for the U. She sat out last weekend with a shoulder injury. She scored the first goal of the game on Friday.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 10:54 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.