St. Norbert Advances to NCHA O'Brien Cup Championship Game

From Sports Information Director, March 1, 2013 | Women's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIVER FALLS - St. Norbert College advanced to the championship game of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association O'Brien Cup Playoffs for the first time with a 2-1 semifinal win over the College of St. Scholastica at UW-River Falls' Hunt Arena.

The Green Knights (17-9-2) will face the winner of Friday's late semifinal between River Falls and UW-Stevens Point in the championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday. The winner of the championship game will receive the NCHA's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament. St. Scholastica saw its season end at 14-10-4.

St. Norbert, which has won its last eight games and 12 of its last 13 outings, jumped ahead in the first period. The Saints' Monika Waidacher was fingered for a checking penalty at 9:45 of the period, and St. Norbert's Katie Conlon cashed in at 10:16 for a power-play goal. Conlon's goal, her third of the season, was assisted by Lauren Roethlisberger and Ali Parker.

St. Scholastica answered in the second period, knotting the score at 1-1 when Gina Dodge scored at 12:51. St. Norbert pulled ahead again at 16:42 when Ali Parker scored for the eighth time this season, with Henriette Ostergaard and Ashley Wilson assisting.

The third period was uneventful, except for St. Norbert killing off a minor penalty inside six minutes remaining. The Green Knights outshot the Saints 11-7 in the final 20 minutes.

St. Scholastica outshot St. Norbert 29-25. The Green Knights' Kaley Gibson made 28 saves, while the Saints' Teraysa White made 23 stops. St. Norbert was 1-for-4 on the power play, while St. Scholastica came up empty at 0-for-4.