Bulldogs Trounce Mavericks 5-3 with Third Period Comeback

Sunday afternoon Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State played a consolation match as part of the new tournament for the Minnesota Cup. The Mavericks started the game on the attack and kept Duluth boxed in for the first five minutes of the game before the Bulldogs got some offense of their own started. Maggie Flaherty did make nice shot down the slot through traffic and another Duluth shot from the right side was barely stopped by goaltender Abigail Levy’s quick toe save.

Still the period was predominately controlled by MSU instead of UMD. That became most apparently when a slick tic-tac-toe pass between Brittyn Fleming and Brooke Bryant allowed Fleming to tuck the puck into goal after Maddie Rooney lunged forward for the save at 12:35. Then with 1.5 seconds left in the period Duluth pulled Rooney for the final faceoff, which was in Minnesota State’s end, but the extra skater didn’t help on the play.

The Bulldogs came out raring to go, but were immediately foiled by Anna Klein earning an elbowing minor just 22 seconds into second period. The Mavericks made a lot of attempts, but none of the shots were particularly good and the penalty harmlessly expired. They remained on the attack, even after Duluth returned to full strength soon they were back on the power play, as Ashton Bell went for checking at 5:27. This power play proved more fruitful than the first as Anna Wilgren’s left side shot through traffic found the back of the net at 5:55. Rebekah Kolstad and Corbin Boyd assisted on this power play goal.

Now two down Bulldogs were buzzing and didn’t stop moving until Naomi Rogge’s shot caused a mess at the crease and Levy eventually managed to cover the puck. Less than a minute later Duluth finally got on the board at 7:14 when Gabbie Hughes tipped the puck in an open backdoor after Levy lunged to try and block Klein’s initial shot. Flaherty had the second assist. Wilgren took a hooking minor at 7:41 and MSU quickly killed the penalty before going on to kill McKenzie Sederberg’s interference minor at 10:46 as well. Bryant carried the puck up the right side, passed laterally to Sederberg for the tip in, and while Rooney tracked the entire play, she couldn’t slide across the crease fast enough to stop the shot, which went in at 14:38.

The Bulldogs mounted an impressive comeback third period. Kailee Skinner made a shot from the blue line, which Klein caught in the slot and passed to Hughes for the tip in behind Levy on the right side, scoring at 50 seconds. Play went back and forth with both teams creating chances, though the best one during Bryant’s tripping minor as 7:00 was a shorthanded attempt by Boyd. An absolute mess of bodies went down in MSU’s crease, but in the process McKenzie Hewett managed to score at 10:07. Ryleigh Houston and Kylie Hanley assisted on the tying goal.

The Mavericks kicked their skating into overdrive and harried Rooney. Sofia Poinar even had a shot hit the post. However the Bulldogs eventually beat them back into their own zone and went on the attack, though they then decided to use their timeout at 15:25, possibly to rest their skaters. That seemed to be the right decision because Duluth created a little chaos and a lateral pass across the zone to Skinner allowed her to score from the right circle at 17:01. Hewett had the lone assist. MSU pulled Levy for the extra attacker at 18:49, put her back at 19:13, and pulled her again at 19:43. This allowed Klein, assisted by Hughes, to make an empty netter at 19:58 with a right point shot.

Duluth made an unexpected four-goal comeback third period to beat Minnesota State 5-3 and outshot them 36-30. It was not the expected result, as the Mavericks had looked like the better team for most of the game, but the Bulldogs were certainly happy with the results.