Captain Anna Williams skates with the puck in her possession. The Tommies controlled the puck in the third period, scoring three of their four goals March 9. (Carly Noble/TommieMedia)
The No. 1 St. Thomas women’s hockey team prepares to host the program’s second Division III Frozen Four. The team will face No. 4 Hamline University 7 p.m. Friday, March 15 at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
After a comeback victory over No. 9 UW-Eau Claire, the Tommies (25-1-2) will play the Pipers (22-3-3) for the fourth time in less than a month. The last time the teams played was for the MIAC championship where the Tommies won 2-0.
“(I’m) anxious to get to the games,” coach Tom Palkowski said. “This time of the year, we both know each other quite well, it simply comes down to execution.”
As the excitement for Friday’s game rises, Palkowski looks at Friday as being just another home game.
“Whether it’s the Quarterfinals of the National Tournament or getting into the Frozen Four, things are kind of the same,” Palkowski said. “At the end of the day we’re at home. Hopefully we feel comfortable sleeping in our own beds and we’ll be ready to go.”
Tommies’ MIAC Player of the Year senior goalie Kenzie Torpy saved 29 of the Blugolds 32 shots in the Tommies quarterfinal victory and will be playing in her first Frozen Four game.
“We had a good week of practice. It’s been fun, the girls have been working hard and I think that it helps that it’s Hamline. Because it’s our rival, it doesn’t take much to get pumped up to play them,” Torpy said.
The Pipers are coming off a 5-1 victory over No. 5 University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the Quarterfinals Saturday, March 9 to advance to the Frozen Four.
Pipers’ forward Bre Simon, who leads the MIAC in goals, recorded four points in the Pipers victory with one goal and three assists. Forward Molly Garin, second in the MIAC in goals, recorded her second hat trick of the season against the Eagles.
Forward Bre Simon leads the team and the conference with 63 points, 26 goals and 37 assists. Forward Leah Schwartzman is under Simon with 45 points totaled with 19 goals and 26 assists.
Despite both teams having a guaranteed game Saturday, the Tommies are only focused on Hamline.
“At this time of year, it’s one game at a time,” Palkowski said. “You can’t get ahead of yourself. So, we’re going to leave it out on the ice Friday night and then we’ll see what happens.”
The winner of Friday’s game will play the winner of No. 2 Plattsburgh State vs. No. 6 Adrian in the NCAA DIII Championship on Saturday, March 16 at 7 p.m. The loser will play for third Saturday at 3.
Matthew Curry can be reached at curr1523@stthoma.edu.