Whitecaps Lay Out Lions at Lindenwood

Sunday afternoon the Minnesota Whitecaps finished their series against the Lindenwood Lions at the Lindenwood Ice Arena in Wentzville, MO. Yesterday the Whitecaps won 5-2 and they were looking to finish the sweep. Luckily, 89.1 FM “The Wood” streaming radio broadcast of the game worked splendidly, otherwise there would be even less known about this game than there was about yesterday’s game, as both teams’ Twitter accounts were silent during game play. There are still no box scores.

In today’s match Julie Friend stood between the pipes for Minnesota, while Lindenwood went with freshman Annika Asplundh after using Sophie Wolf the day before. The Lions came out strong first period with Jordyn Pimm getting her name mentioned on the broadcast a lot. Lillian Marchant had a great chance. Then around the halfway mark in the period Jonna Curtis went to the box for checking Sierra Burt. On the resulting power play Kirsten Martin had a solid breakaway attempt before the Lions got trapped in their own zone. After killing the penalty the Whitecaps started edging the Lions out offensively. Lee Stecklein had a great shot that Asplundh denied. Neither team managed to score first period and shots on goal were a mystery, as they weren’t put up on the scoreboard for this exhibition match.

Second period started with Megan Wagner putting a wide shot on goal as her team seemed to be skating well. However, Minnesota was moving faster and created more offensive capabilities, as they had a breakaway that resulted in a shot that hit the post, then Asplundh had to slide across her crease to deny Meghan Pezon before another Whitecap shot hit the crossbar. A little after the halfway mark of the period Stecklein and Amanda Boulier pulled off a neat tic-tac-toe pass that resulted in Stecklein scoring the first goal of the game.

Not long after Lindenwood tied the game at 13:17. It sounded like either Jada Burke or else Sierra Burt got pushed into position by a Whitecap to catch Shannon Morris-Reade’s rebound and score. Then Erin Near took a tripping minor for stopping Stecklein’s breakaway. On the resulting power play Stecklein scored, blocker side, from the blue line. At 19:15 Marchant banged home a rebound over the sprawled form of Friend on the ice. Pezon wasn’t willing to let the tie stand, as she put Minnesota back in the lead at 19:39 with a little help from Boulier’s centering pass.

 At some point there was a goaltending change for Lindenwood, though it wasn’t obviously announced on the broadcast, as Lauren Hennessey made a save early in the third period. There must have been a penalty on the Whitecaps because Amy Menke scored shorthanded on a breakaway. Amy Schlagel took a bit hit from Morris-Reade without a call, but Lindenwood didn’t get away with a penalty a little later, as a delayed one kicked in at 13:20. On the power play the Whitecaps cycled the puck until Pezon put a shot on goal that slipped through Hennessey’s pads into the back of the net.

After that the Lions killed a penalty on Hannah Alt and then got a power play of their own, but the score didn’t change again. Minnesota beat Lindenwood 5-2, completing the sweep and extending their overall record to 11-0 for the season. The Whitecaps next play at home on December 1^st when they host the Boston Pride.