Gophers Defeat Colgate 3-2 to Advance to Frozen Four

Minnesota gets a 6th meeting against #1 Wisconsin next Friday

The Minnesota Golden Gophers used a pair of Abbey Murphy goals and a goal from former Colgate defender Sydney Morrow to take a 3-0 lead after two periods in their NCAA Quarterfinal against Colgate on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders would mount a comeback and cut the Gopher lead to just one with nine minutes left in the game, but the Gophers used some great team defense to hold onto the lead and return back to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2023.

The Gophers came out strong in the opening period. The Gophers second line of Ava Lindsay, Peyton Hemp and Emma Kreisz had several great early looks, but Colgate goalie Hannah Murphy made several nice saves. After one save, the typical pushing and shoving escalated to a point where the Raiders Avery Pickering was sent to the box for roughing after the whistle. After a listless opening minute of power play time, the Gophers would make them pay. Colgate cleared the puck for the third time on the kill and Abbey Murphy picked it up behind the Minnesota net. She came down the ice with speed and circled the Raiders net once, and then came back around a second time where she floated a backhand over Hannah Murphy’s shoulder to put Minnesota in the lead 1-0. The goal was the 102nd of her Gopher career tying her for 6th all time in program history with Natalie Darwitz. It would take less than a period later for her to take over 6th by herself.

Both teams would have quality looks the remainder of the period but both goalies did their jobs well. Minnesota took that one goal lead into intermission.

The second period opened similar to the first. Minnesota had some great looks, but couldn’t covert and Colgate had an occasional good look but the Gopher defenders kept the majority of the shots from even reaching Clark.

Minnesota went back on the power play after Josefin Bouveng was hauled down near the blue line. Minnesota did not waste much time this time as just eight seconds into the power play Minnesota ran a gorgeous set play that got the puck behind the Colgate net where Ella Huber left it for Murphy. She crossed behind the goal in full stride and slipped a perfect wrap around between the far pipe and Hannah Murphy’s pad and into the goal to make it 2-0.

Colgate got their first chance on the power play two minutes later when Huber was called for slashing. They got a few great looks, but Clark made two dazzling saves to keep the puck out of the net. Fifteen seconds after the end of the penalty Minnesota would make it 3-0. Colgate transfer Sydney Morrow ripped a blast from the right point that hit off of the left goalpost, bounced back off of Hannah Murphy’s back and into the goal.

Colgate had a few good lucks to get their first goal of the game after a Minnesota defensive zone turnover, but Emma Pais tipped a puck just wide of a wide open Minnesota net, and Clark made the follow-up save to keep the Raiders scoreless.

Minnesota went back to the power play with 1:21 left in the second period but did not score before the period horn rang to send the teams to the locker room with Minnesota in the lead 3-0.

Colgate killed off the penalty and then went on a power play of their own as Kreisz was called for bodychecking for Minnesota. It took just 14 seconds for the Raiders to cash in as Elyssa Biederman crashed the net and was fed a pass from the corner. Clark stopped her first shot, but she put the rebound past her to cut the Gopher lead to 3-1 with 17:34 to play.

Both teams had good shots but nothing would happen until nine minutes left in the period. Minnesota’s Chloe Primerano coughed up the puck behind her own net and Colgate threw it out front. The first shot was blocked by a sprawling Morrow, but the rebound bounced right to Pickering who noticed Clark was out of position and shot it in the open net to cut the Gopher lead to 3-2.

Colgate turned on the jets and tried valiantly to find the tying goal, but just could not get the puck past Clark. They pulled their goalie with 1:30 to play and had a few looks with the extra skater, but the Gopher defense blocked several opportunities, and the final horn would sound with the home team celebrating on the ice.

Minnesota advances to their 16th Frozen Four in program history, tied for the most in NCAA history with the familiar foe they will see next Friday. The Gophers will face #1 Wisconsin who defeated Clarkson 4-1 in Madison. It will be the 6th battle this season between the Gophers and Badgers, and Minnesota will look to see if the 6th time is the charm as Wisconsin is 5-0 so far this season in their matchups. It’s a rematch of the last time the Gophers went to the Frozen Four in 2023 where they lost a heartbreaker 3-2 to the Badgers in overtime in Duluth in the semifinal. #3 Cornell will play the winner of Ohio State and St. Lawrence in the second semifinal.

We will have a full NCAA Frozen Four preview later this week,