BETWEEN THE PIPES
NCHA crown signed, sealed and delivered back to River Falls
Posted on Feb 15, 2009
With a 6-1 win and a sweep of FInlandia University (Mich.) the UW-River Falls women’s hockey team locked up the NCHA regular season title for the first time since 2003, the same year it won the conference playoffs as well.
UWRF beat the Lions by a total of 17-2 on the weekend, winning 11-1 on Saturday night.
Freshman Melissa Deardorff got the start in goal both games and Katie Kantrud played 20 minutes on Saturday. Deardorff played the whole game on Sunday for the Falcons conference clincher.
Coach Joe Cranston said he wanted to rest No. 1 goalie Cassis Campbell in the series and probably did not even have to make her take the long bus ride.
Campbell is still a little sore from her knee injury on Dec. 13 against UW-Eau Claire, the team UWRF will play this weekend in Eau Claire, so Cranston wanted to make sure the Falcons were playing well and have a commanding lead where he would not have to put her in.
NCHA will have a fun time selecting its player of the week. If it does not come from UWRF, I will be in complete shock.
Three players put up six points this weekend. Jessica Thompson had a goal and 5 assists, Stefanie Schmitz had the same and Abby Sunderman scored 4 goals and had two assists, including a hat trick in Saturday night’s romp. Jamie Briski also had a hat trick in the 11-1 thrashing of Finlandia.
Briski leads the team in goals with 14 and Sunderman is right behind her with 13.
If there was an easier team to play against to lock up a conference title, I would like to see them play the Lions. Cranston said before the team departed for Michigan that it would be tough considering the long road trip on hand, but UWRF is just too talented.
Cranston was a little upset at the effort a couple weekends ago against Concordia University-Wisconsin, so if any message was delivered, it got through.
The Falcons will host the NCHA tournament at Hunt Arena on Feb. 27-March 1.
Stay in touch, reaction on the conference title when the team returns home tomorrow.