The Wake

After dominating the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for six seasons, the University of Minnesota’s Women’s Hockey team is adjusting to life in the middle. The Gophers put up their worst regular season record since the inception of Women’s Hockey in the WCHA, but when “worst ever” is third place is it really that bad?

The Gophers opened the season with a bang. An impressive five-game winning streak in October left fans saying “Natalie who?” But after their streak-ending loss to Duluth they struggled; often failing to win back-to-back games. Most notably the weekend of Feb. 10, when Minnesota reached 20 wins against rival Wisconsin, marking the seventh consecutive year with 20 or more wins. The next day Wisconsin downed the Gophers 3-1 to clinch the No. 1 spot in the WCHA. It’s the first time a team other than Minnesota or Duluth has won the league regular season championship.

“We’re not playing consistent. It shows in our record. Friday to Saturday we’re not playing consistently,” says senior defenseman Allie Sanchez, the team’s +/- leader.

Minnesota lost or tied at least one of two games in weekend tournaments against Duluth, Minnesota State, Bemidji State, Ohio, and Wisconsin. More importantly, Minnesota doesn’t have a winning record against its biggest rivals, Wisconsin and Duluth.

“We’re a tough team when we’re on our game,” notes Sanchez. “I don’t think we’ll make any adjustments to systems, we just need to focus.”

The team is headed to the WCHA championship first round with confidence, but they aren’t as heavily favored as in years past. With the loss of high-scoring veterans like Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, who combined for 228 points in the 2004-05 regular season, and the least-winning regular season ever, many doubt that they’ve got enough to win a third consecutive national championship. But the Gophers have talent and the team is optimistic.

“We need to stay confident. We’re getting scoring from lots of players now,” says sophomore forward Erica McKenzie, point leader for Minnesota with 19 goals and 17 assists. McKenzie is a 2004 graduate of Hastings High School and recipient of the Let’s Play Hockey Ms. Hockey Award, given to the top senior girl’s hockey player in the state of Minnesota. The team will look to McKenzie to lead the offense during the tournament but expect to see production from other young players like sophomore Bobbi Ross and freshman Gigi Marvin.

The team boasts a good overall game. There’s enough offensive power to give them an 82-52 scoring advantage over opponents on the season. And they have a strong defense that can put up the points — five of their top eleven point getters are defensemen. With a decrease in scoring from last year, the defense has had to step up their efforts. Senior defensemen Sanchez and Ashley Albrecht have proven that even without 100-plus point scorers, the Gophers are a force to be reckoned with. McKenzie and Sanchez attribute the team’s success this season to the unity of the players.

“Team play and chemistry between the new players. We have a lot of young players but the team camaraderie is important,” says McKenzie.

“The team gets along well off ice and on ice. It translates well onto the ice. We click,” adds Sanchez, who is playing her final year.

What will it take to propel the Gophers to a third national title? “We need to play Minnesota hockey. When we play Minnesota hockey, we’re tough to beat,” says McKenzie.

Minnesota will compete in the WCHA Championship first round. The first round is the best two-of-three games. The winners of each series will advance to the WCHA Championship, March 11-12 at Ridder Arena.

The University of Minnesota will host the 2006 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis on March 24-26. This is the second time that the Golden Gophers have hosted the Frozen Four. Minnesota also hosted in 2001.