First of Three Eastern Road Trips Up Next for Golden Gophers
Minnesota will travel to the East Coast for the first time this season
when the Golden Gophers face Brown and Harvard in non-conference action this
weekend.
Saturday will see a rematch of last season's national championship game
as Minnesota faces Brown in Providence, R.I., beginning at 1 p.m. CDT.
Sunday, the Gophers will be in Cambridge, Mass., to take on Harvard in
another game that is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
Gophers Gain Sweep of Mavericks to Retains Top Spot in WCHA
Minnesota picked up a pair of road victories over the weekend by
defeating Minnesota State, Mankato 2-1 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday.
The series opener saw the Gophers outshoot the Mavericks 49-18, but a
47-save effort by MSU, Mankato goalie Shari Vogt kept the visitors from
turning the game into a rout. As it was, senior Ambria Thomas (Fairbanks,
Alaska/West Valley) scored a power-play goal seven minutes, 31 seconds into
the third period for the game-winning goal. Sophomore Ronda Curtin
(Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) scored at 17:20 of the opening period to
give Minnesota the early lead. Senior Erica Killewald (Troy, Mich./Troy)
stopped 17 shots to get the victory.
Curtin got the game's first goal again on Saturday but it was a
three-goal third period that put the Mavericks away. Thomas had a goal and
two assists in the period while frosh La Toya Clarke (Pickering,
Ontario/Dunbarton Secondary) had two goals and two assists in the game. Once
again, Minnesota had a sizeable advanatge in shots on goal, outshooting MSU,
Mankato by a 44-12 margin.
Brown, Harvard to Open Seasons This Weekend
Brown and Harvard are opening the 2000-01 season this weekend with their
first regular-season games of the season. For the second year in a row, both
teams will be playing Minnesota and Wisconsin opening weekend. The Bears
face the Gophers on Saturday and the Badgers on Sunday while Harvard will
open against Wisconsin on Saturday and Minnesota on Sunday.
Brown lost five of its top seven scorers from last season, including its
top three, along with goalie Ali Brewer, the 2000 Patty Kazmaier Award
winner. Sophomore Kim Insalaco is the teamıs top returning scorer, after
collecting 27 points in her rookie season, while sophomore goalie Pam Dreyer
returns after not allowing a goal in four games during her rookie campaign.
Harvard lost All-American defense Angela Ruggiero to the U.S. National
Program and will be without the services of its top two returning forwards
due to the Four Nations Cup in Provo, Utah. Senior Tammy Shewchuk and junior
Jennifer Botterill, both members of the Canadian National Team, combined for
65 goals and 136 points while playing in 25 and 23 games, respectively. The
offensive burden will rest on the shoulders of senior Angie Francisco, who
scored 14 goals and 50 points last season. Junior Alison Kuusisto, who was
in goal for the Crimsonıs 1999 AWCHA Championship victory, will backstop the
team.
Blueliners Get on the Board
Frosh defense Melissa Coulombe (St. Pierre, Manitoba/St. Pierre
Collegiate) and Stefanie Snow (Bedford, N.H./Cushing Academy) both collected
their first career points in Saturdayıs 6-1 victory at MSU, Mankato.
Coulombe set up goals by Ambria Thomas and Courtney Kennedy (Woburn,
Mass./Buckingham, Browne & Nichols) just 34 seconds apart in the second
period for her first career points.
Snow's first career point came when her shot from the left point was
tipped by Ronda Curtin for the gameıs first goal.
Johnson Gets Victory in First Career Start
Stefanie Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis South) was less than
nine minutes away from a posting a shutout before MSU, Mankato's Tristin
Stephenson converted a rebound during a 5-on-3 power play with 6:58 left in
the game.
The goal was the only blemish on Johnson's record as she stopped 11 of
12 shots in her first career start to earn her first win.
She made her first career appearance last weekend, in a 4-2 home loss to
Ohio State. There, Johnson stopped seven of eight shots in 23:33 of action.
Clarke Shut Out Friday, Scores Four Points Saturday
After recording multiple-point games in each of her first four games, La
Toya Clarke was held pointless by MSU, Mankato in Fridayıs 2-1 win.
She rebounded Saturday by collecting a pair of goals, the first proving
to be the game-winner with the second coming on the power play, and scoring
four points.
Clarke leads the team with 11 assists and 14 points, and is tied for the
team lead with 27 shots.
Curtin Call
Despite practicing just one day last week, and participating only in
non-contact drills, due to a concussion suffered in last week's loss to Ohio
State, Ronda Curtin bounced back with goals in each of the Gophersı wins
over the weekend.
She scored the first goal in both games and has four goals and seven
points on the season.
Muzerall Returns to Minnesota Lineup
After missing two games due to a concussion and two due to suspension,
senior Nadine Muzerall (Mississauga, Ontario) will be back in the lineup
this weekend.
The nation's leading goal scorer last season, she scored a goal in the
Gophersı season-opening 4-1 win at St. Cloud State. She suffered a
concussion in Minnesota's 5-4 win over the Huskies and missed the Ohio State
series.
This past weekend, she and senior Betsey Kukowski (Apple Valley,
Minn./Apple Valley) were absent from the lineup due to a two-game suspension
for violating team rules.
Anderson Streak Ends
Sophomore Gwen Anderson (North St. Paul, Minn./North St. Paul) had a
three-game point-scoring streak snapped in Sunday's win.
Last year, she played in just 22 of 39 games and scored five points.
This season, Anderson already has three assists and has played in each of
Minnesota's first six games.
Shooting Gallery
After recording the lowest shots on goal total (35) for a two-game
series in its history versus Ohio State, Minnesota bounced back with 93
shots in its series at MSU, Mankato.
The Gophers took 49 shots in Friday's 2-1 win, including 18 in both the
first and third periods. Saturday, Minnesota had 44 shots.
Slominski Slowed in Quest for 100
For the first time since Oct. 29-30, 1999, junior Laura Slominski
(Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville) was held without a point in a two-game
series, leaving her one point shy of 100 for her career.
Last season, Slominski scored 59 points, a 27-point jump from her rookie
season, and led the nation in short-handed assists (6) and tied for the
national lead in short-handed points (8). She also tied for 10th nationally
in points and assists (34).
The Series
Minnesota and Brown have split seven previous meetings with a 3-3-1
record, but the Gophers have not beaten the Bears at Meehan Auditorium in
two attempts. Minnesota is 2-1-1 at home against Brown but 0-2-0 at the
Bears' home arena, where they last met Jan. 17, 1998. Minnesota defeated
Brown in the title game of the AWCHA National Championship on March 25 in
Boston.
Harvard has won each of the three meetings it has had with Minnesota.
The teams, however, are meeting for the first time at the Crimsonıs Bright
Arena.
When Last We Met
Minnesota defeated Brown 4-2 in the title game of the 2000 AWCHA
National Championship at Matthews Arena in Boston, Mass., March 25. Kim
Insalaco's goal at 17:18 of the first period gave the Bears an early lead,
but Minnesota came back with four straight goals. Courtney Kennedy scored
4:47 into the second period to tie the game and Laura Slominskiıs goal with
1:11 to play in the period gave the Gophers the lead for good. Nadine
Muzerall and Winny Brodt then scored goals in the first five minutes of the
third period and Erica Killewald's 34-save effort capped off the win and
helped her earn tournament MVP honors.
Minnesota's last meeting with Harvard, Nov. 7, 1999, was vastly
different as the Crimson handed the Gophers their worst home loss ever, an
8-3 defeat. Tammy Shewchuk led the onslaught with four goals and six points.
Ronda Curtin and Winny Brodt each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota and
Betsey Kukowski added the Gophersı third goal.
Sheıs the Boss
Head coach Laura Halldorson is in her 11th season as a head coach, with
a career record of 146-93-16. In her fourth season at Minnesota, she is
87-18-7. She led the Gophers to the AWCHA National Championship in each of
her first three years, with fourth- and third-place finishes preceding
Minnesotaıs 2000 national title.
A 1985 graduate of Princeton, Halldorson was a three-time All-Ivy League
selection and led the Tigers to the Ivy title each year. She was also a
member of four national club champions with the Minnesota Checkers and was
part of the 1987 U.S. National Womenıs Team.
A past president of the American Women's Hockey Coaches Association,
Halldorson was the AHCA National Coach of the Year in 1998 and was named the
Minneapolis/University Rotary Club Citizen of the Year last year.
The head coach at Colby College for seven years, she amassed a record of
59-75-9 while guiding the White Mules. In 1996, she was named the ECAC
Womenıs Co-Coach the New England Hockey Writersı Coach of the Year.
Guiding the Bears
Magaret Degidio "Digit" Murphy is in her 12th season as Brown's head
coach and is currently the longest-tenured women's ice hockey coach at an
NCAA Division I institution.
During her time as the Bears' head coach, she has posted a 185-74-23
record. She is a 1983 graduate of Cornell, where she set a number of school
scoring records.
Guiding the Crimson
The 1999 America Hockey Coaches Association coach of the year, Katey
Stone is in her seventh season as the head coach at Harvard.
A 1989 graduate of New Hampshire, Stone owns a career record of 99-68-6.
Next Up
Minnesota returns to WCHA action Nov. 10-11 when it hosts
Minnesota-Duluth for two games at Mariucci Arena.
Both games get underway at 7:05 p.m. with the action being carried live
on WDGY radio, 630 AM. Tom Witschen will be calling the play-by-play action.
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Craig Roberts
Asst. Media Relations Director
University of Minnesota Women's Intercollegiate Athletics
Phone: (612) 624-0522 Fax: (612) 624-8018
For the latest in Gopher Sports News visit www.gophersports.com
Or call the Diet Coke Gopher Sports Hotline at (612) 624-STAT
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