ST. PAUL, Minn. - Just 17 hours after a 5-1 win at Don Roberts Ice Rink, Gustavus women's hockey stepped back on the ice for the second game of the weekend series against St. Catherine, winning 4-0. The win included three goals in the third-quickest span in Gustavus women's hockey history and an improbable goal from past the blue line.
Both teams got their feet wet in the competition with shots in the first eight minutes, with both teams getting three on goal, with sophomore goaltender
Lily Timmons (Lake Elmo, Minn.) making all three saves. Senior
Lindsay Berggren (Shoreview, Minn.) took a penalty for hooking at the 8:24 mark, which set up an onslaught of shots for the Wildcats, including four on the power-play and three in the two minutes that followed. St. Catherine struggled to find the net though in that three minute span, only getting three to Timmons, thanks to three going wide and a block by first-year
Kayleigh Olson (Delano, Minn.) to keep the Wildcats off the board. The first period would prove to be much of a back-and-forth game of momentum shifts, with the Gusties taking four shot attempts after the first series by the Wildcats and then the Wildcats responding with four of their own. The last four minutes was a glimpse into the pressure that would come in the second period by the Gusties, who forced five saves out of the Wildcat goaltender on the power-play to close out the period.
The second period proved to be the difference maker, looking much more like the sustained pressure of night one compared to the first period of game two. The Wildcats blocked five shots in the first 7:13 and the Gusties got four to the St. Catherine goalie, but nothing was showing quite yet for the visiting Gustavus team. Then, like the skies clearing up for a downpour, came three Gustie goals. The succession of the three goals came in just 2:30 of game time, the third fastest succession of three goals in program history, only behind a series of goals on Dec. 2, 1998 by Nikki Norton, Sarah Garrison Moe, and Noelle Skalko (35 seconds) and a series on Dec. 5, 1998 by Sarah Garrison Moe with two and Nikki Lindstrom (38 seconds).
The first goal came from a play senior
Lily Mortenson (Champlin, Minn.) has executed multiple times this season, using a faceoff deke to get the puck right away and push the puck around the outstretched right pad of the Wildcat goalie, where junior
Kylie Scott (Dayton, Minn.) cleaned it up to take the lead. Mortenson struck once again just 93 seconds later after junior
Avery Braunshausen (Lake Elmo, Minn.) stole the puck away and passed it to Mortenson while she was entering the zone who slotted it under the left side blocker for her second goal of the game. The third and final goal of the sequence came with a delayed penalty, when sophomore blueliner
Ellie Groebner (Apple Valley, Minn.) shot the puck into traffic and it fell to first-year
Roz Landkammer (Monticello, Minn.) for the first goal of her career. The Gusties would go on to force seven more saves in the period for the Wildcats, dominating the second period overall with a 14-4 shots on goal advantage and winning the faceoff battle 17-6.
The third period held more pressure, with no goal to back it up for the first 17 minutes of the period. The Gusties took a penalty early in the period that set up three saves by Timmons on the penalty kill, but after killing off the penalty, Gustavus was able to reestablish control of the flow of play, registering 10 straight shots on the Wildcat goalie, the last three of which came on the power-play. While there is no official listed record of the even strength goals furthest away from the goal, junior
Macy Janssen would be in the conversation with the fourth goal of the game, getting the puck past the goalie from between the red line and offensive zone blue line to wrap up the game.
After a contested first period, the Gusties skated away in the second and third period in shots on goal, leading 40-20 and won 32-of-59 faceoffs. Timmons completed the 20-save shutout victory for the Gusties' first sweep of the season and four different players found the back of the net for the second game in a row.
Next week brings Bethel, with Gustavus hosting on Friday night at 7:00 p.m., the first night of a MIAC weekend series.
