Thumbs up, thumbs down, three stars: Bulldogs make statement in defeat at NCAA Frozen Four – Duluth News Tribune

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania – For the second season in a row, the Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team had its season in heartbreaking fashion at an NCAA Frozen Four in Pennsylvania.

Last year in Erie, the Bulldogs were driven out of the Frozen Four semifinals by Northeastern 3-2 in overtime by a controversial overtime goal. And while UMD found relief against the Huskies this season on the Penn State University campus in the Frozen Four semifinals with a 2-1 double overtime victory on Friday, the Bulldogs are short in the NCAA championship game Sunday thanks to a trio of bad guys Pausen. in a 3-2 loss to first-time national champion Ohio State.

Below are thumbs up, thumbs down and Three Stars of News Tribune College Hockey Reporter Matt Wellens of the 2022 NCAA Frozen Four at the Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Between 2001 and 2011, the University of Minnesota Duluth Women’s Hockey Program appeared in 10 of the first 11 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Hockey Championship tournaments under head coach Shannon Miller. The Bulldogs have scored seven Frozen Fours and played six times in national championships and won five NCAA titles.

And eight years later, the Bulldogs have won the NCAA Tournament just once. That appearance – a home quarterfinal loss to Minnesota – came two years after the university made the controversial decision to replace a five-time national champion at Miller with Maura Crowell, whose only previous experience as Division I head coach for an Olympics Season was Harvard as interim for Katey Stone.

While Crowell got the Bulldogs back to the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17, she also had three losing seasons in her first four years as head coach of the Bulldogs.

Over the last three seasons, however, the Bulldogs have been 57-31-7 (.637) and they have reached back-to-back Frozen Fours. They were as tough as you can get in the NCAA Tournament, with an unannounced trip that led to the Northeastern’s game-winning goal in the 2021 Frozen Four semifinals and Ohio State getting the right bone from a bulldog’s skate to win the 2022 National Championship. .

“I’m incredibly proud of our team, incredibly proud of the players in our program,” said Crowell, whose team scored a Sunday goal from Redshirt senior Naomi Rogge to erase a 1-0 Ohio State lead in the second inning. a snipe from fifth-year senior transfer Elizabeth Giguere to erase a 2-1 OSU lead early in the third. “Some of these guys have been here for a long time, four or five years, and we’ve built this thing from the bottom up. We’re here to stay, so really proud of the way we’ve been playing this whole season. I’m proud of the name on the front of the jersey here and we’ll be back.

Rogge and fifth-year senior Anna Klein were freshmen when the Bulldogs went 15-16-4 in 2017-18. That season ended with UMD beating Bemidji State in three games in a WCHA quarterfinal series at the Amsoil Arena.

UMD went 15-16-4 again in 2018-19 – that season ended with a 4-1 loss to Minnesota in the WCHA semifinals – with players like Taylor Anderson, Lizi Norton, Kailee Skinner, Kylie Hanley, Anneke Linser, Gabbie Hughes , McKenzie Hewett, Maggie Flaherty and Emma Soderberg.

The 11 players who joined the program in the fall of 2017 and 2018 have now led the Bulldogs to back-to-back Frozen Fours and within a goal of a national championship. At least seven of those 10 players are scheduled to return next season, along with six others who have now played in the Frozen Fours back to their college careers.

UMD will also welcome a pair of Olympians including Chinese striker Kassy Betinol and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Ashton Bell – both of whom played in the 2021 Frozen Four.

As heartbreaking as it was, Anderson said the loss for Northeastern to Erie Fuel was on a national title this year, and Sunday’s loss to the Buckeyes will disrupt the fire for another race in 2022-23 if the Bulldogs host the Frozen Four at the Amsoil Arena.

“This only adds to the experience,” Anderson said. ‘I know last year, going to the Frozen Four was huge for us. We used that this year to add confidence and experience to our game as well. We can not wait to be back next year.

Women’s hockey fans were thrilled a year ago when ESPN began loading the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four – or at least part of it – on one of their “national television” stations on ESPNU.

This excitement over the ESPNU coverage turned into anger this year, however, as spectators voted at 3pm CDT to find only one lacrosse game left at the station. Some got the note that the game starts on ESPNews instead, others did not. Those who received the note – and were able to find ESPNews – then had to cry back to ESPNU when the game was switched back after Lacrosse finished.

Fans of men’s college hockey are used to this channel dance, but I never remember it happening with the national championship. She has been involved in channel dancing and “games that have been going on” for years, be it during ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA regional tournaments or an NCHC game that was delayed because a MAC basketball game went on overtime on CBS Sports Network.

No search, scrambling or channel dancing was required Friday for the Frozen Four semifinals of the women streamed on ESPN + – a service that costs a fraction of what you have to pay for a cable or satellite subscription to stations like ESPNU an contains. ESP News.

It’s never a problem for cable cutters – those who have dropped cable or satellite TV subscriptions – when it comes to watching NCHC.tv, WCHA games on B1G + or the NHL on ESPN + via streaming applications on their TV, computer, Tablet or smartphone.

Traditional linear television has its limitations when it comes to delivering programs to you, just as a print newspaper is hampered by its production deadlines when it comes to delivering news in a timely manner.

I understand that streaming is not an option for everyone, especially since much of the country still lacks access to broadband internet. Then again, less and less can also afford the high cost of cable and satellite subscriptions.

Streaming is the future of sports on television, and it would be nice if more in college hockey – men and women – embraced it, rather than seeing it as a sign of respect.

3. UMD Fifth Year Senior Wing Elizabeth Giguere – In the last two games played in an epic college hockey career that included a national championship with Clarkson in 2017-18 and the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award in 2019-20, Giguere became the game-winning assistant in Friday’s Double-OT Victory over Northeastern and an equalizer early in the third period against the Buckeyes.

2. UMD Senior Goaltender Emma Soderberg – The Swedish Olympian has made a career-high 46 points on 47 shots in the Frozen Four semifinals and 36 of the 39 shots she played in the national championship. The 146 saves she has made in four NCAA tournament games is an NCAA tournament record. The previous record of 110 stood for 12 seasons.

1. UMD Redshirt Senior Forward Naomi Rogge – The fifth-year Bulldog, returning for a sixth and final season in 2022-23, has posted two goals in an assist, including the game-winning double-OT goal over a feed from Giguere against the Northeast. Rogge made the tournament team together with Soderberg.