The Gustavus women’s hockey team locked up in a classic duel with Concordia on Saturday afternoon in a game that included a rare penalty shot, three disallowed goals, and 17 penalties. The result was a hard-fought 3-3 tie and a three-point weekend for the Gusties who posted a 4-2 win on Friday night.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period, 2-2 after two periods and 3-3 after regulation play. Gustavus held a 34-18 advantage in shots on goal, but both goaltenders, put on a show with multiple highlight reel stops including Danielle Justice stopping a penalty shot by Concordia’s Kelsey Athmann in the second period.
“I thought Concordia played well today and challenged us to step up,” stated Gustavus Head Coach Mike Carroll. “At times we did a good job, however we still need to get our power play figured out. They left the door open for us, but we did not take advantage of our opportunities.”
The Gusties took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Lindsey Hjelm at the 5:15 mark of the first period. It looked like Gustavus would take their 1-0 lead into the locker room, but a Gustie mistake in their own zone led to a goal by the Cobbers Katelyn Dold who beat Justice to the blocker side with a pretty move on a breakaway.
Early in the second period with the score tied 1-1, it appeared that Gustavus had taken a 2-1 lead on a goal by Allie Schwab at the 7:00 minute mark, however the referee disallowed the goal saying the net came off its mooring before the puck crossed the line. Just two minutes later, Emily Sell flipped a puck up in the air from the Concordia defensive zone that landed near the Gustavus blue line and onto the stick of Cobber forward Kelsey Athmann who had gotten behind the Gustie defense. Athmann skated in and put a shot on goal that was saved by Justice, but she was pulled down by a Gustavus player and after the officials conferred, the Cobbers were awarded a penalty shot. Athmann skated in on Justice and pulled the puck across to her backhand side and tried to slip the puck inside the far post but Justice went down and made a pad save preserving the 1-1 tie for Gustavus.
Three minutes later, Concordia took a 2-1 lead on a power play goal by Abby Taffe at the 11:56 mark. Just a minute later, however Gustavus tied the score on a blast by Allie Schwab that sailed into the upper right corner of the net tying the score at 2-2. The Gusties would pepper Cobber goaltender Desiree Goret with six shots in the final three minutes of the period, but Goret stood her ground and the two teams headed into the locker room after 40 minutes of play with the score tied 2-2.
The two teams battled back on forth for the first ten minutes of the third period with both teams creating several good scoring opportunities. The Gusties, however took a 3-2 lead on Allie Schwab’s goal at the 13:16 mark, It was Schwab’s fourth goal of the weekend. Coach Carroll thought Schwab’s play sparked the Gusties all weekend saying, “Allie’s second goal was a really good hockey play. She was at the end of her shift and showed great determination in finishing with a great effort when she was tired. She did a great job of playing steady all weekend long.”
The Cobbers however would bounce right back and tie the score just over a minute later on a power play goal by Emily Sell at the 14:23 mark. With 30 seconds left in the regulation play, the Gusties Gracie Olson found teammate Lindsey Hjelm all alone at the blue line and Hjelm skated in on the Cobbers Goret and fired a shot for the upper right corner, but Goret was up for the challenge making the save and forcing overtime with the score tied 3-3.
The overtime would get interesting right away when Concordia was whistled for a penalty just 20 seconds into the extra session. The Gusties would get several quality shots on net, but Goret as she was all day was up to the challenge and maintained the tie. Just after Concordia killed off the penalty it was Gustavus that was sent to the box at the 2:54 mark. In the final seconds of the overtime the Cobbers Katelyn Dold got behind the Gustie defense and skated in on Justice. Dold’s backhand shot ended up in the net as time expired, however the officials ruled that the net had come off its mooring and the goal was disallowed. One point six seconds was put back on the clock for a face-off to the left of Justice, but the Gusties won the face-off and time expired with the score tied at 3-3.
The tie was the first in the all-time series (26 games) between Gustavus and Concordia.
Gustavus will continue MIAC play with a league series against Hamline next weekend.