Second Period Outburst Leads Minnesota Duluth to Win, Sweep of St. Cloud State

St. Cloud State goalie Emma Polusny was able to keep a voracious Minnesota Duluth attack at bay for 25 minutes, but the Bulldogs broke through with four goals in 4:05 in the second period to take a comfortable lead on their way to a 5-1 victory, earning a weekend sweep over the Huskies.

Here was the game’s final scoring:

Final Scoring

First Period

None

Second Period

5:12 Gabbie Hughes from Naomi Rogge and Anna Klein 1-0 Minnesota Duluth

Hughes won a face-off at the right circle back to Anna Klein. Klein took a wrist shot that was stopped, but Polusny couldn’t control the rebound. Rogge got a whack on the rebound that bounced off Polusny’s pads to Hughes on the opposite side of the net for the goal.

7:43 Anna Klein from McKenzie Revering and Lizi Norton 2-0 Minnesota Duluth

Revering made move at the point to elude a defender and fire a wrist shot on goal. The initial shot was stopped, but Klein was in position for the rebound and put it between Polusny’s legs for the goal.

8:27 Naomi Rogge from Anna Klein and McKenzie Revering 3-0 Minnesota Duluth

Klein made an outlet pass from her zone to spring Rogge on the breakaway. Rogge shot the puck fivehole for the breakaway goal.

9:17 Clara Van Wieren from Nina Jobst-Smith and McKenzie Hewett 4-0 Minnesota Duluth

Jobst-Smith took a shot from the right point that was stopped, but Van Wieren had position in front of the net and was able to score on the rebound.

Third Period

16:17 Jenniina Nylund from Klara Hymlarova and Laura Kluge 4-1 Minnesota Duluth

After a Minnesota Duluth turnover on their own end of the ice, Nylund took a pass from Hymlarova at the right circle. She skated in and scored high over the shoulder of UMD goalie Jojo Chobak.

17:54 Clara Van Wieren from Taylor Anderson and Taylor Stewart 5-1 Minnesota Duluth

Van Wieren skated the puck into the slot from the left wing and put a snap shot over the glove of Polusny for the goal.

Notes and Thoughts:

-Poor damn Emma Polusny, who was fantastic in net but got nearly zero help from the defense in front of her. She made 26 saves to keep the game scoreless before UMD was finally able to breakthrough with a rebound goal by Gabbie Hughes. In fact, UMD’s four goals over their four-goal stretch were: rebound goal, rebound goal, breakaway goal, rebound goal. The Bulldogs were able to own the front of the SCSU net and take advantage of the pucks Polusny wasn’t able to corral.

Despite giving up five goals, Polusny still made 50 saves, so she finished with a save percentage north of .900.

-Minnesota Duluth held serve against an over-matched opponent. But if there is an area of concern for the Bulldogs, they went 0-for-4 on the power play, making it 17 straight unsuccessful power play opportunities since their last power play goal. The Bulldogs seem to have switched up their power play, having Gabbie Hughes run the power play from the left point, rather than playing more of an overload style with Hughes working off the left boards. To my eyes, that looks like it is limiting Hughes’ options and not really taking advantage of her best attributes since she’s not as much of a threat to shoot from out there.

-The next opponent for both Minnesota Duluth(Wisconsin) and St. Cloud State(Bemidji State) had to cancel games this weekend due to Covid. Minnesota and Minnesota State already scheduled an extra series for next week due to those cancellations. Maybe there is a rematch between these two teams in the works?