2008 Woodie Awards
Bulldogs shut out Huskies
With olympic goalie Kim Martin guarding the net, the Huskies were unable to score against a solid UMD
Travis Weldon
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Sports
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The SCSU women's hockey team (0-2-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) fired 56 shots against the No. 5 University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (2-0-0, 2-0-0 WCHA), only to have every shot turned away by goaltender Kim Martin as Duluth triumphed 3-0 and 8-0 in a very physical series this weekend at the National Hockey Center.
Martin, who was named best goaltender for the silver medal team Sweden in the 2006 winter Olympics, had no trouble helping her team catapult over the Huskies.
"Their goaltender was amazing," head coach Jeff Giesen said. "She is obviously one of the best goalies in the world. We had plenty of chances, but we couldn't get anything by."
The Bulldogs used stellar goaltending and a well-balanced attack to keep the Huskies off the board. The Bulldogs top line netted 10 points (four goals, six assists) on the weekend while the second line added five.
The Huskies had chances to change the momentum with 22 power play opportunities in the series, but converted on none of them.
"That goes a little bit to her credit, Martin, in goal," Giesen said. "We just need to find a way to get some goals scored."
On Friday night, the Huskies skated to a scoreless tie at the end of the first period. First-line center Saara Tuominen ripped a shot past senior goaltender Kendall Newell five minutes into the second period.
The Bulldogs kept the pressure riding high in the third period, with 18 shots and two more goals.
Newell posted 31 saves, including 16 in the final period for the Huskies.
The power play was the Achilles heel for the Huskies. It went 0-13 and gave up a short-handed goal. The team was able to generate some scoring opportunities and controlled the puck in the zone, but was not able to get past Martin.
Sophomore Megan McCarthy tallied five shots on net, while seniors Brittni Kuyper, Laura Fast, and sophomore Holly Roberts all had four.
Tempers hit the roof in the second game as 31 penalties were called totaling 62 minutes. Of the 31 penalties, 13 of the calls were roughing in the third period. A large brawl ensued with 33 seconds left in the game that resulted in seven penalties and a few thrown punches.
The whole series was physical, something Giesen was pleased to see.
"That's just good hockey, both teams played hard" he said.
The Bulldogs pounced on the Huskies and grabbed an early 1-0 lead just a minute and a half into the game, which was just the start of a three goal first period.
"We tried to come at (Saturday's game) doing the same things we did (Friday's game)," Giesen said. "We started out with a couple of goals against and got ourselves in a hole. With (Martin) playing the way she did, we knew we weren't going to get past her very easily. It kind of got away from us."
The Huskies put together a much better second period only allowing one goal after the 17-minute mark. The Bulldogs notched four in the final frame to put the game well out of reach.
The Bulldogs were able to get around the Huskies defense and create plenty of odd-man rushes, leaving freshman Ashley Nixon with a lot of work to do in her first colligate start in net. She gave up seven goals on 31 shots.
Senior Carmen Lizee came midway through the third period in relief. She allowed one goal on seven shots.
The Bulldogs has not minded coming to the National Hockey Center in the past two years as the team outscored the Huskies 19-0 during that span.
Overall, Giesen was pleased with where the team is in just a short amount of time.
"I think we did a lot of good things in our opening weekend," he said. "Obviously the results aren't what we want - or expect. But I think we did a lot of good things out there too."
The Huskies will continue the gauntlet of the opening schedule as they face a home-and-home with the #7 University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. The two teams square off at 2:07 Saturday at the National Hockey Center.