Gophers Advance to Conference Finals, Huskies Fall to UMD
The Gopher women's hockey team beat Wisconsin to advance to the WCHA title game, the Granite City Lumberjacks shutout Alexandria to open their final weekend of the regular season with a win, and the Minnesota Timberwolves fought hard to outlast the Lakers on the road Friday. On Sunday, the Minnesota Wild will look to keep rolling when they visit Calgary.
RECAPS:
- The no. 3 ranked and no. 2 seeded Gopher women's hockey team beat no. 6 Wisconsin in the semifinal round of the WCHA Tournament Friday night. Minnesota got out to an early 1-0 lead and allowed the Badgers to tie things up twice in the contest, but two late goals lifted the Gophers to victory. Four different players scored for Minnesota in the win. Skylar Vetter made 23 saves and allowed two goals. The Gophers improve to 28-5-3 and will face no. 1 Ohio State (31-4-2) in the championship game on Saturday. Minnesota was 2-1-1 against the Buckeyes in the regular season. Puck-drop is set for 2:00 p.m. at Ridder Arena.
- The Lumberjacks opened the weekend with a 3-0 win over Alexandria on the road Friday night. Ashton Ericksen, Carson Van Zuilen, and Jacob McPartland each netted one for Granite City. Ryan Lehet made a perfect 28 saves to earn the shutout. The Lumberjacks improve to 38-6-1-1 and will close out the regular season with a trip to take on the Minnesota Loons (13-30-1-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
- The Timberwolves outlasted the short-handed Lakers on the road Friday for a 110-102 win. Los Angeles, sporting Minneapolis Lakers jerseys, was without LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell in the matchup. Anthony Davis led all scorers with 38 points for L.A. Rudy Gobert led Minnesota with 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Anthony Edwards added 19 points. The Wolves improve to 33-32 and will continue their California trip with a matchup against the Kings (37-25) on Saturday. Pre-game coverage tips off at 8:30 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.
- The no. 6 SCSU men's hockey team fell 4-3 to UMD to open their final series of the regular season. The Bulldogs opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period. St. Cloud tied it up with two goals from Kyler Kupka in the second. Duluth netted two more in the third to control the game 4-2. SCSU rallied late in the game, but only came up with one more goal thanks to Mason Salquist. Duluth outshot St. Cloud 37-25 in the matchup. The Huskies fall to 19-11-3 and will have one more chance to win before post-season action kicks off when they host the Bulldogs in game two at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.
- The SCSU softball team dropped their first two matchups at the Spring Games in Florida on Friday.
The Huskies dropped game one 3-2 to Findlay. After two scoreless innings, St. Cloud earned the first run in the third to take the lead. SCSU gave up two runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth to fall behind 3-1. The Huskies rallied for one more score but came up short of the mark. Raven Vanden Langenberg and Sydney Trees each made it home once for St. Cloud. Lauren Kirchberg threw four strikeouts and allowed eight hits on the mound for the Huskies. In game two, SCSU fell 3-1 to no. 1 Rogers State. Vanden Langenberg scored the lone run for St. Cloud. Trinity Junker threw five strikeouts and gave up five hits in the loss. The Huskies drop to 5-7 and will continue the action down south with another doubleheader on Saturday. Game one against Glenville State is set for 2:00 p.m. followed by a game against Saint Anselm at 4:30 p.m.
- The Norsemen fell to the Bulls 5-4 in the shootout on the road Friday night. St. Cloud struck first with a goal from Jack Wandmacher in the opening period. North Iowa tied it up 1-1 in the second, and then the teams traded shots for a total of six goals in the third period, leaving the score tied at 4-4. The teams stayed neck and neck through the shootout as well, needing six players each before the game was decided. The Norsemen fall to 22-18-3-4 and the Bulls improve to 23-20-2-1. The teams will travel back to St. Cloud where they will play two more games this weekend. Puck-drop for game two is set for 7:00 p.m. Saturday.
- The Twins came up short 9-4 against the Red Sox on Friday. Reese McGuire led Boston with four RBIs, while Kyle Farmer had two RBIs for Minnesota in the loss. The Twins are now 4-4 in Spring Training and will face the Braves Saturday. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.
PREVIEWS:
- The Wild (35-21-6) will look to roll to their fourth straight win when they visit Calgary (27-22-13) on Saturday. The Flames beat Minnesota 5-3 back in December, but have lost their last four in a row. Pre-game coverage starts at 8:45 p.m. on AM 1390 and 93.9 FM Granite City Sports.