Women's Hockey 2023-24 Season -- Part 2: The Regular Season

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Abbey Murphy finished the season with 31 goals, tops in the NCAA. Murphy is the regular season goals scoring leader.

 

Current Gophers gaining attention in international play.


Forward Josefin Bouvang has multiple goals for Sweden:




Defender Nellie Laitinen of Finland:



Forward Abbey Murphy:




Speaking of Abbey Murphy:

"Abbey Murphy is hockey’s next great pest: ‘There is truly no one like her’"

theathletic.com

'There is truly no one like her': Abbey Murphy is hockey's next great pest

Team USA's Murphy plays a hard-nosed game, loves to talk trash, and isn’t afraid to mix it up or defend her teammates on the ice.
theathletic.com theathletic.com
 

Defenders Chloe Primerano and Gracie Graham of Hockey Canada (U18) headed to Minnesota Gophers. Both shoot left:







Chloe Primerano: For the second straight year Primerano has been named the Female U18 Prep MVP Award Winner. It was a historic season for Primerano as she set single season Female U18 Prep records with 35 goals, 54 assists and 89 points, smashing the previous record of 63. Her 137 career points are third among all skaters and most among all defensemen. Primerano is committed to the University of Minnesota for next season after capturing MVP, Best Defender, Tournament Allstar and Leading Scorer honours at the 2024 U18 Women’s Worlds, where she set the record for most points by a defender at one U18 Women’s Worlds (16) and most points by a Canadian at one U18 Women’s Worlds



Graham finished second among defensemen and third among all skaters with 59 points in 29 games. The University of Minnesota commit has tallied 104 points in 81 games with RHA Kelowna over her three year career with the team. Graham has represented Team Canada twice at the U18 Women's World Championships, winning Gold in 2023 and bronze in 2024. This is her second individual CSSHL award, having been named the Top Freshman Award winner in 2021/22.




gophersports.com

Gophers Sign Six to 2024-25 Freshman Class - University of Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS – Head coach Brad Frost and the Golden Gopher women's hockey team are pleased to announce the addition of six incoming student-athletes to ...
gophersports.com gophersports.com


gophersports.com

Gophers Add Chloe Primerano to 2024 Signing Class - University of Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS – Head coach Brad Frost and the Golden Gopher women's hockey team have announced that Chloe Primerano will reclassify and join Minnesota's ...
gophersports.com gophersports.com
 

GopherMarroon said:
Defenders Chloe Primerano and Gracie Graham of Hockey Canada (U18) headed to Minnesota Gophers....

gophersports.com

Gophers Sign Six to 2024-25 Freshman Class - University of Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS – Head coach Brad Frost and the Golden Gopher women's hockey team are pleased to announce the addition of six incoming student-athletes to ...
gophersports.com gophersports.com
Click to expand...


Gophers singing class also includes Minnesota Ms. Hockey Ayla Puppe too!!!








And Hockey Canada goaltender Hannah Clark!



youtu.be

Highlights from Ontario Red vs. Alberta in the 2023 National Women's U18 Championship semifinals

Hannah Clark made 21 saves for the shutout, Maxine Cimoroni, Abby Stonehouse, Lexi Bertelsen and Claire Murdoch scored and Ontario Red blanked Alberta 4-0 to...
youtu.be youtu.be



And Minnetonka's Kendra Distad!



And Elk River's Carly Humphrey!

youtu.be

Meet Elk River hockey star Carly Humphrey

The Elk River High School girls’ hockey team may be off to a slow start to their season, but a stand-out defender is making sure her final season with the El...
youtu.be youtu.be



And Moorhead's Kate Kosobud!

 



Natalie Darwitz, former Gophers star player and assistant coach, is featured today in the Star Tribune for her work as PWHL - Minnesota's general manager:


www.startribune.com

Natalie Darwitz built Minnesota's PWHL hockey franchise

PWHL Minnesota GM Natalie Darwitz constructed a roster, negotiated contracts, hired coaches, made a trade, swept floors and unpacked smelly equipment.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com



gophersports.com

Natalie Darwitz - Women's Hockey Coach - University of Minnesota Athletics

Gopher alum Natalie Darwitz joined the Gopher women's hockey coaching staff as an assistant coach in the 2008-09 season. She took a year off to be Team USA'...
gophersports.com gophersports.com
 






In the PWHL, Minnesota hosts Toronto tonight in game four of the first-to-win-3 series. Toronto leads the series 2-1.

Minnesota won their first ever home playoff game last Monday at Xcel Energy Center in St Paul.

Toronto will be without their best player Natalie Spooner, the PWHL points and goals leader, after suffering an injury last Monday on this clean hit from former Gopher Grace Zumwinkle, no penalty. We never would wish an injury on a player but it happens.




I was at the game. The refs were mostly letting the players play, including a couple big hits by Toronto not called. Toronto was more physical.

Video: Natalie Spooner leaves game with lower-body injury:​

Spooner Out After Zumwinkle Hit


www.yardbarker.com

PWHL Minnesota Turns Tables on Toronto in Game 3 of Playoff Series

On the brink of elimination, PWHL Minnesota faced PWHL Toronto in the comfort of their arena, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Monday night, May 13.
www.yardbarker.com www.yardbarker.com


The winner of the series will face Boston after an unexpected sweep of Montreal.

www.cbsnews.com

PWHL Boston advances to first-ever Walter Cup Final with sweep of Montreal

PWHL Boston closed out their playoff series against Montreal with yet another overtime victory on Tuesday night, punching their ticket to the first-ever Walter Cup Final.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com


 
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Two former Andover players came up big tonight in the double-overtime win over Toronto!


1. Claire Butorac scored the winning Minnesota goal. Great assist from Liz Schepers.






2. Maddie Rooney is sensational in goals. Wow.






Tonight, four former Gophers played at the same time, on one line shift, for PWHL Minnesota.

Up next: winner-take-all game five in Toronto.

Maddie Rooney is amazing. In this playoff series she made 65 saves on 66 shots against the top seed opponent. She earned two shutouts in a row, including tonight's double-overtime shutout.


Maddie Rooney earlier this season against NY:

 

Live in an hour and a half, the deciding PWHL game that will send one team to the first ever PWHL championship game, the Walter Cup. 6 PM CST.

Free to watch at YouTube.


 



Former Gopher TAYLOR HEISE with the winning goal over #1 seed Toronto. WHAT A SNIPE!!

Minnesota advances to the Walter Cup championship against Boston!

Heise was the #1 overall draft pick in the first PWHL draft.





Heise scored again on an empty netter.


gophersports.com

Taylor Heise - Women's Hockey - University of Minnesota Athletics

Taylor Heise (9) Forward - PRONUNCIATION Your browser does not support HTML5 audio. ...
gophersports.com gophersports.com






 

GopherMarroon said:
Click to expand...

Four former Gophers started on the first line tonight: Boreen, Heise, Zumwinkle and Stecklein.

Minnesota switches up the lineup. Former Gopher Pannek plays on the first line too. Only 3 former-Gopher forwards can be on the first line at a time.

 

www.startribune.com

PWHL Minnesota beats Toronto in Game 5 to reach inaugural finals

Maddie Rooney made 27 saves in the 4-1 victory as Minnesota won its third game in a row to earn its spot against Boston for the Walter Cup.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

"The scene came to Taylor Heise in a dream. The PWHL Minnesota forward pictured her team scoring on the power play Friday in Toronto, during the decisive Game 5 of the playoff semifinals.

That seemed unlikely for a group that went 5-for-61 on the power play in the regular season. Winning the series seemed like a long shot as well, after Minnesota was shut out in the first two games. But Heise turned her dreaming into doing, scoring the winning goal on the power play to give Minnesota a 4-1 victory and send it to the Walter Cup finals."
--Star Tribune. Rachel Blount


Minnesota versus Boston. All games stream free at YouTube.

www.youtube.com

PWHL Finals: Minnesota at Boston - Game 1 - May 19, 2024

PWHL Finals: Minnesota at Boston - Game 1 - May 19, 2024The Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, is a first-of-its-kind women’s hockey league that br...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com


Sunday (19th) 4 PM CST: At Boston

Tuesday 6 PM: At Boston

Friday 6 PM: AT MINNESOTA XCEL ENERGY CENTER - GET YOUR TICKETS AT TICKETMASTER

Sunday 5 PM (26th): At Minnesota

And then back to Boston Wednesday if needed, best of 5.


www.nytimes.com

PWHL Minnesota advances to finals with reserve sweep of Toronto

Minnesota pulled off the upset — and the reverse sweep — against No. 1 Toronto with a 4-1 win in Game 5 on Friday night.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com


"PWHL Minnesota pulled off the upset — and the reverse sweep — against No. 1 Toronto with a 4-1 win in Game 5 on Friday night... It’s a massive win for Minnesota after limping into the playoffs on a five-game losing streak and dropping the first two games of the semifinals. And a shock for Toronto, which entered the playoffs as the No. 1 team in the league and got to choose its semifinal opponent — No. 4 Minnesota."
-- NY Times, Hailey Salvian







Toronto fans say Toronto has a choke curse. Here we go again. Toronto fans are losing it right now. An all-USA hockey championship??? Montreal was swept. #1 Toronto was upset.



With mostly Minnesota players, Minnesota advances to the championship! And some other excellent players too! Lots of players make a big impact for Minnesota.






 

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