Gophers Get 7-3 Win at Minnesota-Duluth

DULUTH, Minn (Gophersports.com) - The No. 3 Golden Gophers were three-for-three on the power play and Milica McMillen and Hannah Brandt led all players with three points each as Minnesota earned a 7-3 road win over Minnesota Duluth at AMSOIL Arena Friday night.

Brandt's three points came on two goals and one assist while McMillen had one goal and two helpers. Five other Gophers also recorded multi-point efforts in Dani Cameranesi (1g-1a), Kate Schipper (1g-1a), Lee Stecklein (2a), Megan Wolfe (2a), and Sarah Potomak (2a).

"I'm really happy with our compete and with our battle level here tonight," head coach Brad Frost said. "Going three-for-three on the power play was big, but I think even better was scoring four five-on-five goals, something that we've been talking a lot about."

Minnesota's NCAA-leading power play went three-for-three on goals from Brandt, Kelly Pannek, and McMillen. Meanwhile, the Gophers did not take a penalty for just the seventh time in program history.

The Gophers (26-3-1, 21-3-1-0 WCHA) took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission on goals from Schipper and Brandt, but UMD's Katherine McGovern cut the lead to one just 3:34 into the second period. However, the Gophers used a pair of power-play goals to extend their lead to three going into the second intermission at 4-1 as Pannek and McMillen found the back of the net with the man advantage in the middle frame.

Minnesota Duluth (12-18-1, 9-15-1-0 WCHA) scored twice in the third period with goals by Reagan Haley and Brykaliuk, but the Gophers buried three of their own to seal the four-goal win. Taylor Williamsonscored her fourth goal of the season at 10:59 before Brandt tallied her second of the game off a tip from a shot by McMillen at 15:17 and Cameranesi scored on a breakaway at 16:55.

Amanda Leveille made 13 saves on 14 shots over the first two periods before Sidney Peters played the third period and stopped 12 of 14 shots faced. UMD netminder Maddie Rooney set a Minnesota Duluth record with 61 saves as the Gophers outshot the Bulldogs 68-28, one of the highest shot totals in program history. Minnesota's program record for shots on goal in a single game is 72 against Augsburg on Feb. 13, 1999.

"We had a great volume of shots and some real good net-front presence, again things that we've been working on," Frost said. "I'm really happy with putting up the number of shots that we did and the goals and being able to come away with the three points tonight."

The teams wrap up this weekend's series at 4 p.m. CT Saturday afternoon.