Duluth, Minn. —the game-winning, goal that will go down in Wisconsin history as one of the most dramatic, was just a blur to its author.
Freshman Caroline Harvey’s third game-winning goal of the season lifted the Badger women’s hockey team to a 3-2 overtime victory over Minnesota on Friday night in front of a crowd of 3,425 at AMSOIL Arena and sent UW to the national finals for the third time. in the four seasons.
Seniors Britta Curl and Jesse Comper got assists on the game-winner. Also, give freshman Layla Edwards an unofficial assist for allowing the puck to pass to her and get to Harvey.
The play was emblematic of an effort to upset the No. 2 seed Golden Gophers in the tournament. It also prevented another back-and-forth battle between the border rivals and earned the Badgers (28-10-2) a Sunday afternoon national final at 3 p.m. with No. 1 Ohio State.
By then Harvey has probably seen this play countless times.
“Honestly, I fainted, but it was so crazy…” Harvey said when asked to recall what happened. “It was a great team playing out there. I was excited to finally be here with our team like this.
The goal capped a six-game grudge match between the two programs this season that included three overtimes and two ties.
There was a back-and-forth affair between the badgers and the gophers
Wisconsin overcame a slow start and an early deficit to pull out the win. The team then put up a dominating performance through most of the second and third periods before giving up a potentially heartbreaking field goal with 71 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.
It was the kind of night that could leave you breathless.
“What a great game that was,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson. “It’s been fun. Obviously we’re really excited. It was great ups and downs and overtime flowed, both teams had great chances and opportunities…. It’s the sixth time we’ve played against each other and mostly Matches have been like this.
box score:Wisconsin 3, Minnesota 2 overtime
Minnesota (30-6-3) got off to a fast start, scoring a goal from senior Taylor Haise during the fourth minute. For a good portion of that period the Gophers stayed in UW’s zone, which frustrated Johnson.
“The second media timeout (message) was to go back to the little things,” he said. “We have to move our feet. We have to get the puck in the offensive zone. We have to try to create some opportunities.”
“Even between the first and second periods, I told the team that we’ve got to go play like we’re capable of and leave everything out there, and I felt like we started doing a little better in the latter part of the first period, and then we construction of the same.
Layla Edwards, Sophie Shirley score back-to-back for UW
While Wisconsin began to right its ship late in the first period, its game really took off in the second when it outscored the Gophers 17–7. However, the Badgers were not rewarded for their work until the seventh minute of the third period.
Edwards tied the game on a pass to Comper at the 6:32 mark. Senior Sophie Shirley got the go-ahead score with 7:25 left on a pass from junior Maddie Wheeler.
“Our team knew we were due for a score,” Harvey said. “We kept putting pressure on him. We were close for so long. It was almost the time we were going to hit one in the net and it happened. We have so much fight in our team, so much grit that we knew we were going to come back.”
The plays were the back end of a dominant momentum swing. At the 6:19 mark of the period, Gophers senior Grace Zimwinkel appeared to score, but the officials quickly waved the goal away, ruling that she used a high stick to make the play.
If that play doesn’t end, Wisconsin goes down 2–0 with about 14 minutes to play. Minnesota coach Brad Frost could have requested a review of the play, but he didn’t want to run a timeout for something he didn’t think would be successful.
“I just know these referees. I was able to see it on screen, even on replays,” he said. “I would say 90% of the time whatever call is on the ice, it’s going to be the same after replay, probably more like 95%. . . and he waved it right away.
Badgers maintain composure after allowing tying goal late in regulation
However, it will not be easy to finish the game. The Gophers put up a furious run during the final 5 minutes, which led to the game-tying score by Madeline Wethington with 71 seconds to play.
It was a potentially crushing moment that didn’t have a lasting impact on the Badgers on the night.
“I didn’t expect it to be an easy game. Minnesota is a really skilled team,” Kronish said. “We’ve had a really good fight with them this year. All the games we’ve played this year, they’ve been mentally prepared for these kinds of games.”
Kronish made 10 saves in overtime and finished the night with 37. His defense to stop a two-on-one break midway through the overtime period was arguably his best game of the night.
UW hopes it has more of them. At Ohio State, the Badgers would face a team that won three out of four meetings, including the previous contest, a 3–1 victory that gave the Buckeyes the WCHA title.
It was a relatively easy afternoon for Ohio State to shut out Northeastern 3-0 on Friday
Regarding preparing to face Ohio State, Kronish said, “I think it just comes down to taking everything day by day.” “Coaches always tell us not to look too far ahead. It’s a three-period game. You can’t look too far to the end, only realizing we have 60 more minutes to play hockey. It’s not over.” Happened.
“We can ride that high tonight, but tomorrow morning it’s a clean slate and we need to go back to the game plan and focus on what lies ahead.”
More:Like his father Bob Johnson, Wisconsin women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson loves teaching the game
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This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin women’s hockey defeats Minnesota, advances to national finals