DULUTH, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s hockey team won its 17th MIAC regular season championship with a 3-2 overtime victory at St. Scholastica on Thursday night. With one game left in the regular season, the No. 6-ranked Gusties improve to 18-3-2 overall and 12-1-2 in the league.
“We’ve been playing one game at a time this whole season, but in the big picture we all knew we wanted to first make the playoffs and then get home ice because that gives us the best chance to win,” Head Coach Mike Carroll said. “We have a veteran group that’s been through a lot and some underclassmen that have bought into this program and to see their faces light up after we won was awesome to see.”
St. Scholastica (11-8-2, 8-4-2 MIAC) started the scoring just 1:35 into the first before the Gusties answered on a Molly McHugh (Jr., Minnetonka) power play goal at the 6:54 mark. Linemates Tina Press (Sr., Cottage Grove) and Hailey Holland (Jr., Aberdeen, S.D.) assisted on the goal and the score remained 1-1 at the first intermission.
The Gusties once again took advantage of a power play as Kayla Vrieze (Sr., Eagan) put the Gusties up one 5:27 into the second, helped by Brooke Power (So., Lakeville). Three minutes later, the Saints netted the equalizer and the score stayed at 2-2 at the second break.
Neither team found the back of the net in the third with the Gusties leading the shot count 48-16 after 60 minutes.
St. Scholastica was whistled for a checking penalty two minutes into the overtime and Power immediately seized the moment with her MIAC-leading 17th goal of the season six seconds into the skater advantage, securing the MIAC title in thrilling fashion. Press and Holland tallied their 17th and 21st assists, respectively.
Katie McCoy (Jr., Grafton, Wis.) earned the win after making 14 saves. The Gusties were strong on special teams, going 3-for-6 on the power play and killing off all five Saints power plays.
“We pride ourselves on our penalty kill and we needed it today,” Carroll said.
The Gusties and Saints conclude the series at 2 p.m. Saturday at Don Roberts Ice Rink.