The Gustavus women’s hockey team completed its season sweep of MIAC opponent Saint Mary’s Sunday beating the Cardinals 6-0 at Don Roberts Rink. After shutting out the Cardinals 4-0 Friday night in Winona, the Gusties limited Saint Mary’s to only seven shots in St. Peter garnering their sixth straight victory. Six different players scored for the Gusties, while Gustavus’ Kara Meyer and Danielle Koopman combined for the shutout. The Golden Gusties improved to 13-1-1 overall and 10-0-0 in the MIAC, while Saint Mary’s dropped to 6-9-0 overall and 4-6-0 in the MIAC.
Gustavus was on the offensive immediately following the opening face off with a shot on goal less than ten seconds into the contest. After the Gusties were unable to convert with a 5-on-3 advantage starting at 7:20 and 7:24 of the opening period, Laura Stypulkowski scored Gustavus’ first goal at 12:28 off a pass around the goaltender from Kelly Crandall. The Gusties led 1-0 after one period.
Saint Mary’s started the first 1:56 of the second period on the power play. After coming up empty, the Cardinals came away without a shot on net during a breakaway at 15:55. Just four seconds into a Gustavus power play, Margaret Dorer scored off a shot from just inside the blue line at 15:47 with the assist going to Ingrid Neve. Gustavus extended its lead to 3-0 at 17:38 when Abby Randall scored off a pass from Kelly Crandall. Just 21 seconds later, Gustavus’ Andrea Peterson scored an unassisted goal at 17:59 giving the Gusties a 4-0 edge heading into the second intermission.
Gustavus began the first 1:21 of the final period on the power play. However, the Gusties were unable to tally a goal. Ingrid Neve scored her lone goal of the game for the Gusties at 3:39 of the final period off the assist from Laura Vannelli. Kelly Crandall scored Gustavus’ final goal at 14:40 off the assist from Molly Doyle. The Gusties were able to preserve the shutout for the final 5:20 and win 6-0.
The Gusties had a huge edge in shots (51-7) Sunday after out shooting the Cardinals 59-8 in their 4-0 victory Friday. Gustavus was 1-of-7 on the power play, while the Cardinals were 0-of-4. The Gusties currently have five players with 21 points or more. Molly Doyle leads the Gusties with 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists), while Andrea Peterson (13-12-25), Laura Stypulkowski (4-20-24), Kelly Crandell (9-13-22), and Ingrid Neve (15-6-21) each have more than 20 points.
Following the 6-0 shutout, Gustavus coach Mike Carroll said he was able to use the third period to accomplish two main goals. “We went into the last period attempting to preserve the shutout and let everyone see some ice time. We were able to try some different things that we will use against upcoming opponents that we wouldn’t be able to experiment with in a closer game. It was nice to get Danielle some playing time in goal as our goaltenders have to stay mentally confident for games where they will see more than seven shots all game.”
Gustavus is currently ranked third in the USCHO.com Division III poll as of January 19. The third-ranked Golden Gusties will be in action on January 30 against UW-Stevens Point, a team Gustavus beat 6-4 on January 9. The puck is scheduled to drop in River Falls, WI at 2 p.m.