After watching his team win a pair of one-goal games against Minnesota State Mankato at the end of January, Gophers women’s hockey coach Brad Frost had plenty of praise for the Mavericks.
Their losing record would look a lot different, Frost suggested, if they were playing in a league other than the WCHA.
Frost was in no mood to say “I told you so” on Friday night at Ridder Arena after the Mavericks, the No. 6 seed in the WCHA tournament, skated away with a 5-4 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
The Gophers (25-8-2) need to beat Mankato (13-23-0) Saturday and Sunday afternoon to advance to the WCHA Final Faceoff next weekend at Ridder.
“We’ve talked a lot this season about what it will take to win in the playoffs, and that’s giving up zero, one or two,” Frost said. “We did not tonight. We were sloppy, we lacked detail, we weren’t stopping on pucks.
“Just all the little things we’re been really good at lately we did not do tonight. And against a hungry, good team that plays us tough all the time, that’s the result.”
Gophers top center and assistant captain Ella Huber found herself in the unusual position of scoring a postseason hat trick and leaving the rink feeling down in the dumps.
“It doesn’t really matter anymore,” Huber said of the hat trick. As for what went wrong, she didn’t know what to make of the Gophers’ performance.
“It’s playoff hockey and they’re a good team,” Huber said. “We need to figure it out, and we will.”
It was a very un-Gophers-like performance from a team that prides itself on playing solid defense. The Gophers turned the puck over in their own zone early and often, which only fed into the Mavericks’ aggressiveness and confidence.
“We just need to match that for the first five and then just run with it,” Huber said, before adding, “We were just inconsistent. But we’ll be back.”
The Gophers scored the only goal of the first period when Lauren O’Hara beat Mavericks goaltender Hailey Hansen on a rebound for her fourth goal of the season. When Huber scored 11 minutes into the second period, it appeared the Gophers had the game back under control.
But the Mavericks needed only 13 seconds to cut into the Gophers’ lead when Kennedy Bobyck beat Gophers goaltender Skylar Vetter on a rebound after a wild scramble in front.
The Mavericks keep the pressure on after that, with Vetter forced to make a handful of big saves to keep the Gophers in front. The Gophers looked like a team just trying to hang on until the end of the period so they could get to the locker room and regroup, but the Mavericks tied it at 18:13 on a wrist shot from the slot by Jamie Nelson.
Just over two minutes into the third period, the Mavericks had the lead. Madison Mashuga scored an unassisted goal when she outraced the Gophers defense to a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat Vetter from in tight.
Huber’s second goal of the game tied things at 3-3 at 5:32 after a battle in front of the Mavericks’ net.
Minnesota State regained the lead at 9:14, but Huber’s third of the game made it 4-4 at 13:22.
Minnesota’s State’s Kamryn Van Batavia got what proved to be the game-winner at 18:22 off a scramble in front.
“For one reason or another, we did not play the way we know we can play,” Frost said. “And they took advantage of it.”
It’s human nature for the home team and the higher seed to come into a three-game series thinking about winning two and not having to play on Sunday. Now it’s win the next two or be on the outside looking as the four remaining teams take over Ridder Arena.
“We’re guaranteed tomorrow,” Frost said. “What are we going to bring? We’ll find out tomorrow.”
Huber, like the rest of Gophers, left the ice rattled but confident that all is not lost.
“We’ll take care of business tomorrow,” she said, “and love to play on Sunday.”
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