Sophomore forward Diana Draayer earned a hat trick in Friday's 6-4 win over No. 4 St. Thomas.
Gustavus 6, St. Thomas 4 (Box) | Photo Gallery
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team was able to find a way on Friday evening, as it earned a 6-4 victory over No. 4 University of St. Thomas at Don Roberts Ice Rink. Sophomore forward Diana Draayer (Deephaven, Minn.) notched a hat trick in the victory, and the Gusties led 5-1 heading into the third, but the Tommies made a furious comeback in the final period and brought the score to 5-4. However, Gustavus held on and with the win, earned its first conference victory of the season in its MIAC opener to move to 2-0-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the conference.
“I thought we played very well in the first two periods,” said Coach Mike Carroll. “We moved our feet and played within the systems. We had a few nice goals and you could see the kids were really fired up, which was fun to watch. I’m not exactly sure what happened between the second and third periods, but we have a young bunch … I think maybe they started thinking that because it was 5-1, their job was done for the night, but it certainly wasn’t. However, the great thing about it is, although it wasn’t scripted that way, they found a way and now that we’ve been through it, I think this can really help us moving forward.”
The star of the night, Draayer, did not wait long to put Gustavus in the lead, as the second-year scored her first goal of the evening just five minutes into the game, off assists from linemates Kaitlyn Klein (So., Plymouth, Minn.) and Erica Power (Lakeville, Minn.). The Gusties had numerous opportunities to add to that lead in the first, including two Tommie penalties, but, despite outshooting the Tommies 11-3, were not able to take advantage and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The story changed in the second period, and Klein gave the Gusties a 2-0 lead on a goal at the 4:14 mark off assists from none other than Draayer and Power. Six minutes later, the Gustie frosh got involved in the action, as first-year Georgia Eger (Stillwater, Minn.) took a pass from Katy Fuller (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) and sent a rocket past Tommie netminder Mackenzie Torpy for her second goal of the season and the Gustie’s third of the night. The Black and Gold didn’t stop there however, as Draayer took advantage of a turnover on a St. Thomas power play and flicked the puck into the upper lefthand corner of the net to send the score to 4-0 and notch her second goal of the evening.
The second period scoring brigade was not yet complete though, as the Tommies’ Heidi Hannula put the visitors on the board at the 16:58 mark to allow St. Thomas to climb back within three. But Draayer had yet more magic left and sealed her hat trick on an unassisted goal with just 32 seconds remaining in the period to give the Gusties a 5-1 lead with 20 minutes left in the game. The hat trick is the first for a Gustie women’s hockey player since January 26, 2013 when Lindsey Hjelm accomplished the feat in a game against Concordia College.
“Diana had a special evening,” said Carroll. “Her first two goals were nice snipes, and her third goal especially came at a crucial time to get us back to a four-goal lead going into the third period. She’s a very hard worker, so it’s nice to see her get some rewards. However, her whole line did a really nice job … she got the puck from her linemates, took advantage of some turnovers, and made the most of them … a great overall effort from her tonight.”
The Tommies were not finished however, and despite a four goal deficit, fought back. Just 11 seconds into the third period, Becca Zarembinski scored on a scrappy goal that just trickled in after a scrum in front of the net. Just over a minute later, Courtney Umland brought the Tommies within two, on a goal assisted by Leah Schwartzman. Then, at the 7:37 mark, Kathryn Larson, a junior transfer from Bethel University, cut the Gustie lead to just one on an unassisted goal, to make the score 5-4 with more than 12 minutes to play.
“We stopped moving our feet, made poor decisions, and were losing races,” said Carroll. “St. Thomas has some great skill players with nice hands, so if the puck is on their stick, they’re good enough to make two or three passes and shoot the puck. We didn’t do a very good job of getting on them and gave them too much space, which hurt us. We got away from what we did in the first two periods, which was unfortunate, but I’m proud of the team for hanging in there.”
Hang in there they did, and the Gusties were able to keep the Tommies out of the net for the remainder of the game, including holding off a 7-on-5 situation in the final 20 seconds, that came from an Eger penalty and as a result of St. Thomas pulling its goalie. Laine Fischer (Fy., Northfield, Minn.) then scored an empty net goal with six seconds remaining to seal the victory and assure the Gusties would come away with an MIAC-opening win.
St. Thomas outshot Gustavus 26-20, including a 13-3 mark in the third period, but the Gusties held the advantage in faceoffs by a 34-27 count. Lindsey Hibbard (Sr., Princeton, Minn.) earned her first win of the year between the pipes for Gustavus after making 22 saves and allowing the four goals in 60 minutes played. Torpy took the loss for St. Thomas after allowing four goals in her 25:19 on the ice before giving way to Paige Kittleson who played the final 34:41.
The Gusties and Tommies will play again tomorrow, with the series finale set to begin at 2 p.m. at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.