DULUTH — The North Star College Cup has gained itself an in-state trophy friend at Amsoil Arena.
Three seasons after the Minnesota Duluth men’s program won the final edition of the short-lived North Star College Cup tournament, the Bulldogs women’s program joined them as the State of Hockey champions by beating Bemidji State 2-0 in the championship of the second-annual Minnesota Cup on Sunday, Jan. 5, at Amsoil Arena.
ADVERTISEMENT
Junior defenseman Ashton Bell and senior wing Ryleigh Houston scored for the Bulldogs while senior goaltender Maddie Rooney made 38 saves for her second shutout of the season and 11th of her career.
“Maddie Rooney looked like a gold-medal-winning goalie. She was the difference,” said Bemidji State coach Jim Scanlan, whose team was held in to the single overtime goal that came Saturday in a semifinal win over St. Cloud State. “I thought we were the better team for 60 (minutes), had the better chances, but that’s what she is capable of doing. She was outstanding today.
“Duluth is a good team and they were backstopped by an outstanding goalie tonight.”
It was an evening of redemption for the Bulldogs on a number of fronts.
The Bulldogs were a goal away from playing in the inaugural Minnesota Cup championship last season at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, losing 3-2 in overtime to host and eventual champion Minnesota. The Gophers were the team left out of this year’s edition. UMD wound up finishing third.
In mid-October of this season, UMD was swept at Bemidji State after a promising 3-1 start to the season. That remained on the minds of the UMD players going into the game. They’ll seek further redemption come Jan. 17-18 when the Beavers return to Duluth for a pair of WCHA games (this weekend’s tournament was nonconference).
ADVERTISEMENT
Then there was Saturday evening’s letdown against Minnesota State-Mankato in the semifinals of the Minnesota Cup. While UMD did advance to the championship via a 3-on-3 overtime goal by sophomore wing Gabbie Hughes, the Bulldogs had to settle for a 2-2 OT tie in that game — that’s how the NCAA record books will count it — after giving up two third-period goals to the Mavericks.
There was no letting the Beavers back in Sunday’s tournament finale.
“It was awesome, just a great game today. I was really happy with the 60 minutes we put together,” said UMD coach Maura Crowell, who got to celebrate her second tourney title in four days after leading Team USA to gold at the Under-18 Women’s World Championship in Slovakia last week. “It was a battle last night against Mankato, and we knew we could play a little bit cleaner and a little bit more complete. We did that, so I was really happy about it. It gets us going in 2020 the way we want to.”
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead into the third period on Sunday after Bell converted on UMD’s lone power play 10:25 into the second period. Houston put the Bulldogs ahead by two with just under six minutes to play in regulation after getting a piece of a blue line blast by freshman defenseman Taylor Anderson.
Rooney made 18 of her 38 saves in the final 20 minutes, including three big ones during a Beavers power play that came six minutes into the third when the UMD lead was just one.
ADVERTISEMENT
Rooney said the win over Bemidji on Sunday gives the team a boost of confidence for that key series coming up in a few weeks at Amsoil. UMD, fifth in the WCHA, sits three points back of the fourth-place Beavers in the league standings.
“We played well as a team as a whole,” Rooney said of Sunday’s win. “We had good offense, good defense. Everyone was just all in. It was nice to win in general, but especially nice since it was against Bemidji.”
- The 2021 Minnesota Cup will be hosted by Minnesota State-Mankato. Like the Gophers this season and Bemidji State last year, 2021 will be the Bulldogs' turn to sit out the tournament. They'll return again in 2022 when St. Cloud State hosts.
Bemidji State 0-0-0—0
Minnesota Duluth 0-1-1—2
First period — No scoring.
Second period — 1. UMD, Ashton Bell 7 (Sydney Brodt, Gabbie Hughes), 10:25 (pp).
ADVERTISEMENT
Third period — 2. UMD, Ryleigh Houston 1 (Taylor Stewart, Anneke Linser), 14:08
Shots on goal — BSU 11-9-18—38; UMD 9-9-7—25. Goalies — Lauren Bench, BSU (25 shots-23 saves); Maddie Rooney, UMD (38-38). Power plays — BSU 0-of-2; UMD 1-of-1. Penalties — BSU 1-2; UMD 2-4. Referees — Sarma Ozmen, Alicia Hanrahan. Linesmen — Brian Jansen, Aaron Neville. Att. — 1,004.
