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St. Cloud State University
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SCSU gets tough test in No. 2 UMD
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Thursday, February 6, 2003
The phrase "parting is such sweet sorrow" might be on the minds of the SCSU women's hockey team this week.
The unit comes off a huge sweep last weekend over independent rival North Dakota. The Huskies hope to continue their success this weekend and gain more steam coming down the home stretch against WCHA powerhouse the University of Minnesota-Duluth during a two-game stint at the National Hockey Center.
With the eight games remaining on the Husky schedule, six of those games are against WCHA opponents. SCSU remains only four points behind Ohio State University for the fifth spot and the chance to advance to the conference tournament. That means OSU needs to lose either their series against the University of Minnesota this weekend, or SCSU needs to either split or sweep UMD this weekend and then beat upcoming opponents Wisconsin and Minnesota State University, Mankato to stay in the hunt for the Final Five.
"We're getting down to that point," SCSU head coach Jason Lesteberg said. "We have to start winning some games or we're not 'gonna make the postseason. We need to use this last weekend against North Dakota as a key to this weekend."
SCSU comes out of one of their best weekends this season in which they rang up 10 goals against UND and rifled a season high 52 shots on goal in Saturday's 6-0 schlacking. The weekend was stellar for players as the team is picking up steam as a whole. Gritty senior Erin McNamara's three goals and one assist helped lead the Huskies to the weekend sweep. Transfer sophomore Carrie Holldorf's stellar season and good weekend (two goals and two assists) also helped the Huskies get back on the right track.
Lesteberg told his team after last weekend's games that they need to keep moving the puck like they did against UND.
"The more you control the puck, the more you'll control the game," he said. "We've done that a number of times this season. If we can put 60 minutes together (of good hockey) we're gonna put ourselves in a position to win."
"They're number one in our minds," he said. "We need to control the puck and get some shots on net, in order to be successful."
UMD is indeed one of the top teams in hockey land. In a USCHO.com poll, the Bulldogs are ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 22-2-2 record. The last time these two teams met, UMD shelled SCSU for 19 goals while only allowing three goals the entire weekend.
The weekend turned out to be the Jenny Potter and Erika Holst show as the tandem lit up the Huskies for 20 points combined. Potter leads the WCHA with 49 points total, one point shy of the total goals the Huskies have. Four of the top five leading scorers in the WCHA are also from UMD, making this weekend look very difficult on paper.
Despite leading the conference in most goals allowed, most of the Huskies opponent's goals have come when both teams are at even strength. For most of the season, SCSU's penalty kills, and even at some points their power play, has been very effective. Last weekend the Huskies held the "Fighting Sioux" to zero power play goals, going 0-for-12 on the weekend. Overall, St. Cloud has held their opponents to 26-for-115 on the penalty kill. SCSU responded moderately well going 4-for-13 on their power play during the weekend.
"We did very well last weekend, we were 12-for-12 (on the penalty kill)," Lesteberg said. "We scored a number of power play goals. We changed our lines around a little bit to try and generate a little offense and traffic in front. It seems to be working for us."
Another big contribution to the Huskies success recently is the superb play between the pipes from senior Laura Gieselman and first-year goaltender Brie Anderson. Gieselman's play this season has led her to being named Defensive Player of the Week. The senior owns a 3.20 goals against average and a 90.4 save percentage.
But, the net-minding of Anderson as of late has turned a few heads. In last Saturday's game, Anderson stopped all 23 shots UND put on net, earning the rookie her first career collegiate shutout. The shutout also caught the eye of the WCHA and honored Anderson with the Player of the Week award. The Grand Forks, N.D., native owns a 4-6-0 and 84.3 save percentage.
"You always want two goalies, that if one isn't at their 'A' game, you can put the other one in there," Lesteberg said. "They're both playing well, but we'll take a look at it during the week and decide from there."
One of the biggest things that Lesteberg noticed over the weekend was that there was a larger amount of fans on hand to cheer on the Huskies. Attendance for SCSU has been in the lower hundreds so far this season, and Saturday's game attracted around 250.
With four "Dogg Pound" members in attendance, Lesteberg said it was a nice boost for his team. Senior captain Kobi Kawamoto skated down to the Dogg Pound section after the game to thank the fans that were vocal throughout Friday night's game. Lesteberg, for one, hopes that this weekend goes well and more fans will come out and cheer the Huskies on.
"We want as many fans as we can get," he said. "Bringing in the top team in the country might help that."
SCSU's series against the defending NCAA champions starts Friday at the NHC. The pucks for both games are slated to drop at 7:05 p.m.
