Final: #Gophers fall to the Beavers. pic.twitter.com/8aVHvT1bkG
— Minnesota Women's Hockey (@GopherWHockey) March 7, 2015
The Bemidji State women’s hockey team pulled out an upset 1-0 win Saturday over the No. 2 Gophers, knocking the three-peat WCHA champions out of the running for this year’s top prize.
This is the first time the Gophers have not made it to the title game since 2001, according to Gopher Sports.
The game was scoreless in the first two periods, with the Gophers leading with 27 shots on goal next to Bemidji’s 11, BSUBeavers.com reports.
The game-winning goal came at 11:46 in the third period. Stephanie Anderson stole the puck form the Gophers and hit an unassisted goal into the net. The goal was brought under review “because she was drug down on the play and in doing so seemed to kick the puck in, but the goal stood and the Beavers were rewarded their first power-play chance of the game,” according to BSUBeavers.com.
The goal marks Anderson’s 14th of the season.
The Gophers pulled goalie Amanda Leveille with 1:24 left in the game to try to even up the score, but Bemidji’s defense stayed strong.
Beavers goalie Brittni Mowat had 37 saves, in her seventh shutout win.
It’s an impressive run for the Beavers. So far this season, they’ve gone 21-16-1 overall. Bemidji went 2-2-1 over the Gophers this season, improving its overall record to 6-60-7 against Minnesota.
Bemidji State heads to its first-ever WCHA championship game to take on the University of Wisconsin Badgers. Game starts at 1:07 p.m. Sunday at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
