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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A national meteorologist is in the Twin Cities this weekend to raise money for the Special Olympics by taking a frigid plunge.

Fox Weather meteorologist Ian Oliver took the plunge at Lake Nokomis Park in Minneapolis Friday after accepting the Polar Plunge challenge from FOX 9 meteorologist Ian Leonard.

The event, dubbed “Freeze-Ian for a Reason” by Fox Weather, was done to raise money for the Special Olympics. The two took the leap sporting matching wrestling costumes.

While it was Oliver’s first plunge, Leonard is a veteran cold plunger, having dipped into the arctic cold water more than 400 times in a 15-year period and raised more than $30 million for the Special Olympics.

The duo will plunge a few more times over the weekend, Fox News reports. To watch their plunge, go to http://pipr.es/KRbQozY.

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A St. Paul defense attorney facing criminal sexual misconduct charges in two counties will not serve time in prison under a plea agreement that his victim called “egregiously lenient” and said does not “reflect the seriousness of what he has done.”

Adam Kujawa, 38, had worked as a Ramsey County public defender for many years. He resigned Wednesday, a day after pleading guilty to Washington County charges stemming from sexual misconduct on his boat on Forest Lake in May 2021.

Adam Kujawa (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Kujawa entered an Alford plea to an amended charge of felony criminal sexual predatory conduct and to gross misdemeanor fifth-degree nonconsensual sexual conduct. An Alford plea means he maintains innocence while acknowledging the state likely has enough evidence to convict him.

The plea deal is being referred to as a “global resolution” by prosecutors because they say it settles criminal cases in two other Minnesota counties alleging similar conduct involving the same victim.

The woman, now 38, said Kujawa “trapped” her in a “domestic/sexual violence relationship” for over four years beginning in 2017.

Terms of Kujawa’s plea deal include two stayed prison sentences that total three and a half years, and four years of probation. He faces up to six months in jail at sentencing, which is scheduled for July 7.

He must remain registered as a predatory offender for 10 years, and undergo a psychosexual evaluation and follow the recommendations. He is prohibited from objecting to up to a 50-year order of protection by the victim.

Kujawa did not return a call Friday seeking comment. His attorney, David Lundgren, declined comment.

The underlying cases

Washington County prosecutors filed two cases against Kujawa in December 2021 — one alleging the Forest Lake incident, the other for alleged sexual assaults at his St. Paul apartment in September of that year.

Washington County handled the second case for the Ramsey County attorney’s office due to perceived conflicts of interest. Washington County District Judge Siv Mjanger dismissed the case last year, citing insufficient evidence to support the charge.

The original felony charge in the Washington County criminal complaint alleged third-degree criminal sexual conduct by means of force or coercion. According to the complaint, a witness reported to police in November 2021 that around May 15, while on the boat, Kujawa grabbed the victim by the hips and waist and pulled her toward himself. The witness said the victim told him “no” and to stop what he was doing. Kujawa placed his hands up the victim’s dress at least five times, the witness said. The victim told police that she would try to get away, but he would pull her back.

In the Ramsey County case, the woman reported on Sept. 29, 2021, that she had been raped by Kujawa twice at his Grand Avenue apartment over the prior two days. She told police that she was in a “romantic relationship” with him for four years, the complaint said.

She detailed various accounts of his behavior toward her, telling police she “knew there would be consequences if she did not do what he wanted,” the complaint said. When she would try to leave him, he would stalk her, she said.

Kujawa was charged with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct by means of force or coercion. In Mjanger’s order dismissing the charge in July, the judge wrote that the defense had “cited an impressive factual catalog of evidence that proves that the (woman) was not coerced into performing the sex acts in question” and was a “willing participant.”

Mjanger wrote the woman had explained that she had had sex with Kujawa “so he does not leave her for someone else and to avoid him pouting or refusing to talk to her. While this may be unhealthy or manipulative, it does not amount to coercion as defined by Minnesota law.”

Terms of the deal

Under Tuesday’s plea deal, the Cook County attorney’s office will dismiss its case that charged Kujawa with four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct by means of force or coercion. The charges were filed last September after the woman alleged that Kujawa “forced” her to have sex on four occasions over three days at a Lutsen ski resort in February 2020.

Also, the Aitkin County attorney’s office agreed not to file a criminal complaint it had drafted charging Kujawa with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and “lesser offenses” related to an alleged incident on Feb. 29, 2020, according to the plea petition.

Meanwhile, the Crow Wing County attorney’s office recently considered filing a case against Kujawa but declined charges, according to prosecutors.

At the plea hearing, the victim told Mjanger in a prepared statement read by a Ramsey County victim advocate that she is “not OK with any of the charges in other counties being dismissed as part of this plea” and that she “was given no voice and no choice in this decision.”

Prosecutors could have pushed the maximum jail penalty allowed of one day shy of one year, “but they did not do so,” she said.

“I live in fear of him every day, and yet he can do as he pleases with no concern for facing any real consequences for his actions,” she said.

On Friday, the Washington County attorney’s office said in a statement that the victim attended multiple meetings held over several weeks and her input, “sought through consistent and thoughtful discussion, led to careful consideration of her wishes and contributed to every decision made in this case.”

“While we are sympathetic to the anguish and turmoil this case has brought upon the victim,” the statement continued, “we firmly believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice and public safety given all of the unique factors and circumstances in this case.”

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