Duluth, Minn. – The Saint Scholastica Women's hockey team traveled to the southern part of the state to play the Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus College, in Saint Peter, Minn. Tonight MIAC Conference match up ended with the Gusties taking home the victory over the Saints with a final score of 0-6.
How it Happened
First Period
The Gusties started things off tonight by winning the opening faceoff. After giving up the opening faceoff, the Saints stayed strong on defense, not allowing the Gusties to attempt an opening shot and making them struggle to keep it in the Saint's end.
The Gusties found themselves on the power play early in the night, just a minute and a half in, the Saints were booked for a hooking penalty. While on the penalty kill, the Saints only allowed the Gusties to attempt five total shots, four of which were saved by Saints goaltender Makenzie Cole (Cohasset, Minn./Grand Rapids HS), the fifth shot was blocked by Sophie Parendo (Proctor, Minn./Proctor HS).
Coming out of the power play, the Gusties got three shots on net, but Cole was in the net and confidently stopped all three shots.
The Saints got a look of their own, with Jenna Horvat (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) receiving the puck with an open look to the net, unfortunately, her shot flew just high and missed the net.
The Gusties came back down the ice, but on the breakaway, the Saint's defense had their sticks in the right place and broke the advance up.
Nearing the halfway mark, the Gusties attempted two more shots, only one of which fell on target, and was again shut down by Cole.
Horvat once again had an opportunity to break the scoreless game, but the Gusties goaltender was quick with the glove and stopped the shot. To answer back, the Gusties went down the ice and relived what just occurred, Cole, recorded another save.
On a quick shot, the Gusties once again managed to give Cole another save before the puck left the Saint's end.
On an odd-man rush, Saints' Hanley Block (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria HS) had the puck skating down the right side of the ice, but the Gusties defense was in the right spot and caught the shot before it could get on net.
After the Saints attempted their offensive push, the Gusties found themselves all alone traveling into the Saints zone, but on the solo shot, the Gusties skater was unable to beat Cole on her own.
Shortly after the Gusties breakaway attempt, the Saints had their turn on the power play. While on the power play, the Saints only attempted one shot, but it failed to land on net, instead, it got caught up in the defense and was blocked. The Gusties on the other hand attempted two shots, the first was on target and saved by Cole, and the Second was stopped by the Saints' defenseman Hannah Martin (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS).
The Gusties followed their penalty kill with three more shots, two of which were on target, and the third was blocked by Alaina Hedberg (St. Paul, MN/Tartan HS).
Nearing the final minute of play in the first period, the Gusties had another breakaway attempt, but this time, the Saint's defense broke up the play using their bodies.
With one minute left, the Saints suffered two more penalties. Both penalties were tripping penalties.
On the penalty kill with the clock winding down, the Saints were successful in avoiding a Gustie goal. The first period came to an end with a score of 0-0.
Second Period
The Saints began the second period short two skaters. Following one shot by the Gusties that was saved by Cole, the Gusties second shot of the period found the back of the net, breaking the scoreless game thus far.
The Gusties' offense continued to push, getting two more shots on net as the Saint's second penalty ended.
The Saints had a two-on-one breakaway attempt but the Gusties defense was able to stop that attempt and take the puck back getting two more shots on net.
Grace Chapman (Blaine, MN/Blaine HS) had her chance in the Gusties' zone, finding a good shooting spot, but like the rest of the Saints' shots so far, she was stopped as well. The Gusties followed this up by attempting two more shots, only one of which fell on target.
Horvat recorded another shot on net tonight, but the Saints were unable to get past the Gustie's goaltender. Gustaves came back to attempt a shot of their own that was saved by Cole.
The Gusties attempted one more shot on net before the Saints were called for another tripping penalty.
It did not take long for the Gusties to convert this power play into a goal, only taking them two seconds to find the back of the net, extending their lead to two.
After a brief moment of no shots, the Gusties found an opportunity to get another shot on target, but Saints defender Isabella Brama (Minneapolis, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) was there to block the shot. The Saints had a brief moment on offense, but the Gusties got the puck and gave Cole another save.
Gabby Gamst (Moose Lake, Minn./Moose Lake HS) found herself on another breakaway, but her shot was stopped by the goaltender.
The Saint's breakaway attempt was followed closely by another penalty on the Saints, this time, it was roughing. On the penalty kill, the Saints' defense shut down the Gusties who were only able to attempt one shot.
After the penalty kill, the Gusties got three shots on net, all got past the defense, but failed to beat Cole.
Before icing was called the Gusties attempted one more shot that was, once again, saved by Cole.
The Saints now on defense were pushing hard on the Gusties. Unfortunately, the Saints were called for holding. On the power play, they attempted two shots, and the second of the two managed to beat Cole, giving the Gusties their third goal.
Coming out of the power play, the Gusties got two more shots off that were stopped excellently by Cole.
Parendo tried to alleviate the deficit with a shot of her own, but the Gusties' goaltender saw the shot coming and stopped it before it crossed the line.
On a breakaway attempt, the Gusties had no defenders ahead of them, but Cole left the crease and broke the play up. That was not all Cole did, as she followed that play up with an amazing save.
Down to a minute remaining in the second period, the Saints won a faceoff in the Gusties zone but were unable to get a not off before the Gusties left their zone with the puck.
The only action that took place in the final minute was a shot that fell off target for the Gusties. The second period came to a close with a score of 0-3.
Third Period
Going into the third period, the Saints had a hole to dig out of, down three goals, and being outshot 5-36.
The Saints recorded the opening shot of the period, nearly a minute in, coming from Parendo. Gustavus went down the other way, recording three shots on target.
Gamst took another try, and was again stopped by the Gustie goaltender.
The Gusties had the puck on offense but were shut down by the Saints' defense before Horvat recorded another shot on net.
Gustavus held the puck in the Saints zone for an extended period. During that time, they attempted four shots, three of which were shut down by Cole, and the third flew wide of the net, and hit the glass.
The Gusties found themselves in another great scoring position after skating the puck, they took the shot and Cole deflected the shot with her shoulder. After the Gusties' open chance, they attempted another shot once more, it was saved, but the rebound was not. The Gusties scored their fourth goal of the night eleven and a half minutes into the third period.
Following the Gusties goal, Gustavus made a change, substituting their goaltender with nine and a half minutes left in the game.
Victoria Nelson (Mahtomedi, MN/Mahtomedi HS) was the first Saint to record a shot on the Gusties' new goaltender, but the shot was stopped.
Gustavus went back down the ice, and tried three more times, in usual fashion, all three were stopped by Cole. the Saints took the puck briefly, but after their brief unsuccessful position, the Gusties had it once again and tried another shot. This fourth shot was blocked by Martin, who blocked the shot with her head.
Cole recorded another save before the Saints got the puck out of their zone. Cole had another opportunity to record some saves, stopping an initial shot and the rebound that came with it.
Kendra Royer (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Marshall HS) attempted her first shot of the night as time wound down in the game, unfortunately her shot fell just wide of the net.
Under a minute remained in the game, and Cole put her skills to work, recording an incredibly acrobatic save.
The game came to an end with the Gusties taking the victory over the Saints with a final score of 0-4.
Goaltending
Makenzie Cole (Cohasset, Minn./Grand Rapids HS) played all 60 minutes of the game for the Saints, in that time, she faced a total of 52 shots and recorded 48 saves, giving her a save percentage of .923.
Lily Timmons was in net tonight for the Gusties, in that time she faced 8 shots and recorded 8 saves, giving her a save percentage of 1.000.
What's Next
The Saints (4-18-0, 2-13-0 MIAC) will travel back to Duluth to host the second of their two-game series against the Gusties (18-4-0, 12-2-0 MIAC) at home. Game two will be held on Saturday, February 15 at 6 P.M. The game will be held at Mars Lakeview Arena.
