Gustavus junior Melissa Doyle (White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored the opening goal of the game on Tuesday night at UW-Superior. Photo courtesy of Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com.
Superior, Wis. – In a meeting between two of the top teams in the west, the ensuing battle between No. 2 Gustavus Adolphus and No. 10 UW-Superior lived up to the hype a top 10 clash. Playing on the big ice sheet of Siinto S. Wessman Arena, Gustavus and UW-Superior skated to a 1-1 overtime tie. After the Gusties scored to take a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Yellowjackets answered with the equalizer in the second.
With the tie, Gustavus’ unbeaten streak extends to 19 games, yet its winning-streak ends at a program-record 18 contests. The previous school record for consecutive wins in a season was 17 – achieved in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. The Gusties move to 18-0-1 overall, finishing their regular season non-conference schedule with a record of 6-0-1. UW-Superior goes to 12-7-2 overall with the tie.
For the 18th time this season, the Gusties kicked off the game’s scoring. At the 13:27 mark of the first period, Melissa Doyle (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored the go-ahead goal off a feed from linemate Meagan Wanecke (Sr., Delafield, Wis.). The goal was Doyle’s sixth of the year and fourth from the stick of Wanecke.
Lindsey Hibbard covers up the puck as UW-Superior’s Kerry Mayhew crashes the net. Photo courtesy of Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com.
At the 9:42 mark of the second period, UW-Superior’s Ashley Martin was sent to the penalty box for cross checking and instead of Gustavus taking the advantage on the power play, it was the Yellowjackets finding a way to score short-handed. Early in the 12th minute with time running down on the Gustie power play, Kelsey Firkus scored the equalizer off assists from Allison Schrift and Kaiti Graham. The short-handed goal was Gustavus’ second allowed this season.
Following the Firkus game-tying goal, the two teams went back-and-forth for the remaining minutes, yet couldn’t score the eventual game-winner. Although Gustavus had the shots advantage in the first two periods, the final count ended slightly in the favor of the Black and Gold at 26-25.
Gustavus goaltender Lindsey Hibbard (Fy., Princeton, Minn.) was tested more tonight than in her previous two outings combined. Hibbard finished with 24 saves, her third highest total of the year, moving to 9-0-1 overall with the tie. She now has a save percentage of .931 and a goals against average of 1.19.
Hibbard’s counterpart Megan Leikkari goes to 4-2-1 on the season after recording 25 saves in a complete-game performance.
Neither team could convert on the power play this evening as Gustavus went 0-for-4 with five shots, and UW-Superior went 0-for-3 with four shots. The Gusties gave UW-Superior a golden opportunity in the final minute of overtime when Carolyn Draayer (So., Deephaven, Minn.) was tagged for hooking at the 4:16 mark. The Gustie penalty kill was up to the challenge, not allowing a single shot over the final :44 seconds.
The Gustavus women’s hockey team will head back in to MIAC play this weekend when it takes on Saint Mary’s in a home/away series. The series will begin on Friday with a 7:00 p.m. game at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
we missed the play by play game, but enjoyed sitting here watching the live stats anyway. And of course, calls from my son who was at the game…We will see you next week-end, I hope. Dr. and Mrs. Tom Doyle, Eagle River, Wisconsin. (Mellie’s Grandfather fan)