Sophomore goaltender Saskia Maurer saved 53 shots as the St. Thomas women’s hockey team tied No. 4 Minnesota 1-1, collecting the team’s first points against UMN in program history before losing 2-1 in overtime Friday at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
The Tommies (8-24-1 overall, 3-23-1 WCHA) managed two periods of shutout hockey against the Golden Gophers (24-5-3, 21-3-3), marking the first time Minnesota failed to score in either of the first two periods against the Tommies.
“On paper, they’re better than we are, but you know, sometimes we can rise to the occasion,” coach Joel Johnson said. “It was really fun to watch as a coach just to say ‘wow, we can compete.’”
St. Thomas played harder than the Gophers to start the game, intercepting lazy passes and playing excellent defense. The Tommies didn’t hesitate to sacrifice the body, getting in front of five shots in the first eight minutes.
The Tommies kept pace with the Gophers, managing 10 shots to Minnesota’s 12 at the end of the first.
“I think every game is a game,” Maurer said. “It doesn’t matter which opponent we have, the team gives me every time a good opportunity to look good.”
The Gophers left little room for the Tommies to play offense in the second period, keeping pressure on Maurer who made 24 saves in the second period. Whenever the Tommies got an offensive opportunity, which happened sparingly, it was quality.
“We said ‘hey,’ here’s how we can compete against this team, and our players bought into the idea,” Johnson said. “We don’t have to be perfect individually, we can be great as a group of five or six.”
St. Thomas shocked the crowd when sophomore defender Nicole Vallario scored unassisted a little more than three minutes into the third period.
“It was just amazing,” Vallario said. “I didn’t know it was going in and then I saw it and it was just amazing.”
The goal seemingly awoke the Gophers, who evened the score less than a minute later. The remaining 15 minutes were intense, hitting a high as St. Thomas went on the penalty kill for tripping with about five minutes left in regulation.
The Tommies managed one shot after successfully killing the penalty, and a combination of blocks and saves kept the team alive long enough for time to expire in regulation.
“You know, it’s one of those moments as a coach, you’re like ‘boy I hope this lasts,’” Johnson said.
The magic came to an end in 3-on-3 overtime, when sophomore forward Abbey Murphy found the back of the net about two minutes in to give the Gophers the extra point in the contest.
The Tommies return to St. Thomas Ice Arena at 6 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 18, to finish the two-game weekend series against Minnesota.
Annabelle Wiskus can be reached at wisk9881@stthomas.edu
Sam Larson can be reached at lars4378@stthomas.edu