Goaltender Alise Riedel’s 2-0 shutout performance against Gustavus Adolphus Saturday afternoon at St. Thomas Ice Arena secured the No. 7-ranked St. Thomas women’s hockey team’s first MIAC championship in ten years and punched the Tommies’ national playoff ticket.
Riedel, a senior, stopped 29 shots, which paired with a good defensive performance by the Tommies (18-5-3) shut down the Gusties (17-7-2), who have won ten consecutive MIAC playoff titles– the first in the streak coming after the Tommies’ championship win in 2003.
Riedel said she can’t describe the feeling of finally taking the MIAC crown from Gustavus.
“There is not a feeling to describe it,” Riedel said. “Winning it in regular season and now is huge.”
Being the goaltender, the spotlight seems to shine a little brighter when the team is in the win or go home situation. Riedel said she and her teammates knew what was at stake against Gustavus.
“We all wanted it; we all knew the goal,” Riedel said. “We beat them in the regular season, we had the number one seed, so we just knew we had to step it up and really take it to them.”
After the first minute in the first period, it seemed like the Gusties’ reign as MIAC champions might come to an end as there were great opportunities for the Tommies, including an unsuccessful breakaway opportunity by forward Courtney Umland. Soon after though, St. Thomas struck first with a goal near the top of the left circle from defender Megan Juricko on a an excellent pass from Tara Baago.
“It was just super exciting,” defender Megan Juricko said. “I got an awesome pass. All I had to do was find a place to shoot it, and luckily, I did.”
The Tommies wanted to build on the Gusties’ deficit, and it didn’t take long after the first goal. With nearly twelve minutes left to go in the first period, defensemen Hannah Bird connected with forward Kelsey Barnier in Gustavus’ zone. Barnier in turn, saw forward Paige Baldwin sitting back door. Baldwin connected on the assist, tapped it in, and put St. Thomas up two goals.
Coach Tom Palkoski said the team was playing well the whole game through and felt good about not just this game, but the whole week.
“We were playing well, but their goalie made a couple big saves from going to three-nothing, at that point I would’ve felt a lot more comfortable,” Palkowski said. “I felt good all week. Our girls had an aura about them that they believe, and they know they can get it done.”
Both teams had good opportunities to score, but no one connected in the second or third periods. The best opportunity for Gustavus to break the goose egg happened midway through the third. Defender Mikaela Algren came into the Tommies’ zone and fired a shot from the slot, but hit the crossbar.
Looking forward, St. Thomas will wait to find out its opponent in the NCAA playoffs from a selection show on Monday. If you ask Riedel, it doesn’t matter who the Tommies play in the postseason.
“We’re going to bring home the national championship,” Riedel said.
Going into the NCAA playoffs, a hot goaltender is crucial, but Palkowski said the team needs other things to happen.
“Goaltenders in hockey is like the quarterback in football, and you’re only going as far as your goalie,” Palkowski said. “I feel pretty good of our chances of playing well, and then you gotta hope you get a bounce of a puck here or there, because that’s what playoff hockey is about.”
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu