Andrea Peterson and an Ole fight for possession of the puck.
Kitty Hurley turns away a St. Olaf attempt.
Jessie Doig tries to get the puck past Ole goaltender Shannon Herrick.
Molly Doyle is hooked by an Ole while trying to control the puck.
The Gustavus women’s hockey team defeated St. Olaf College Thursday night at Don Roberts Ice Arena to advance the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game. Andrea Peterson (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.), Jaclyn Dufault (So., Crookston, Minn.), and Molly Doyle (So., Eagan, Minn.) scored the three Gustie goals in the victory. Gustavus is now 21-3-2 overall, while the Oles finish the season with a record of 12-14-0.
The Gusties had numerous opportunities in the first period to score, but managed to get the only goal at the 16:53 mark when Peterson scored. Kelly Crandall (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) passed the puck to Peterson who one timed it past Shannon Herrick for a 1-0 lead. Gustavus goaltender Kitty Hurley (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) saved St. Olaf’s best chance to score of the period when she turned away a breakaway near the end of the period.
Hurley stood strong in the net for all of the second period and denied two Ole breakaways. Gustavus was able to take a 2-0 lead at the 19:17 mark when Dufault shoved the puck past a diving Herrick.
St. Olaf cut the lead down to one at the 5:01 mark of the third period on a Lindsey Boeser goal. However, the Gusties quickly took back their two goal lead just 35 seconds later. Doyle made it 3-1 when she skated up to a sitting puck and punched it in from point blank range. The Oles pulled Herrick with nearly two minutes to play in the third period, but the Gustavus defense was able to fend off the extra attacker.
Hurley got the win in net for the Gusties stopping 19 of 20 shots. Hurley is now 10-3-2 on the season. Herrick was credited with the loss in net for the Oles, while stopping 29 of 32 Gustavus shots. She ends her season with a record of 13-13-0.
Peterson broke Sarah Moe’s all-time school points record when she scored her goal in the first period. Peterson now has 145 career points.
Gustavus advances to the MIAC championship game to play St. Thomas at 2:00pm on Saturday in St. Peter, Minn.