Two goals from forward Courtney Umland secured the No. 1-seed St. Thomas women’s hockey team a spot in the MIAC championship for the third-straight year, following a 2-1 triumph over the No. 4-seed Concordia-Moorhead Saturday afternoon at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights.
Umland netted her first score in the middle of the first period and recorded the game-winner towards the beginning of the third, with both goals coming unassisted. Coach Tom Palkowski knew the senior was going to score Saturday, and he could “see it in her eyes in practice all week.”
“She’s been snake-bitten all year, and a lot of breakaways and probably a lot of frustration for her, but I told our coaches before the game, ‘(Umland’s) going to get one today,’” Palkowski said.
It didn’t take long for Palkowski’s premonition to come true – just over 11 minutes into the game. The Cobbers were trying to get an offensive rush going in their zone, but instead Umland intercepted the pass in the high slot. As she skated in a little closer, the forward uncorked a shot that whistled by Concordia-Moorhead goalie Andrea Klug. Umland said keeping the season alive gave her motivation on Saturday.
“We’ve just been working hard all week at practice and coming into the game excited to play, and I don’t want it to end as a senior, so I think that’s the biggest motivation,” Umland said.
Strong defensive play from the Tommies in the first period hindered the Cobber offensive push and limited them to just six shots in the period, but there was one shot that almost had St. Thomas trailing early.
Concordia-Moorhead forward Megan Dondelinger captured the puck to the right of Torpy and unleashed a quick wrist shot. It sailed past Torpy’s glove, but was halted by the pipe and ricocheted out. This would have given the Cobbers a 1-0 lead with 12:38 left in the first period.
In the second period the Cobbers (14-11-1 overall) finally knotted up the Tommies (19-5-2 overall) with 6:24 remaining in the period. Concordia-Moorhead forward Kristin Drechsel won a faceoff to the left of Torpy in St. Thomas’ zone and shoveled back the puck to defender Hannah Johnston, who was a couple feet in front of the blue line. Johnston released the shot from the high slot which zoomed past Torpy. Palkowski said the second period has been the weakest period all year for this team.
“We’ve struggled in the second period quite a bit this year,” Palkowski said. “We’ve just had a little trouble finding sixty minutes, but the third period we took over and didn’t give them a lot of opportunities.”
With their worst period behind them, the Tommies’ offense continued to pressure and get quality shots early in the third period, but the score was still tied. Umland’s game-winning goal didn’t come until the 16:11 mark.
As she maneuvered down the left side of the rink, Umland got a bit of separation from the defense. She let loose a wrist shot that beat Klug’s glove and also rang off the post, just like Dondelinger’s in the first period. But instead of getting stuffed by the post, it bounced into the back of the net.
A roughing penalty by defender Tori Bailey late in the third period gave the Cobbers a great chance at an equalizer, but a stubborn penalty-kill unit and quality saves from Torpy prevented any opportunity of a tie game.
St. Thomas squares off against No. 2-seed Bethel in the MIAC Championship next Saturday at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.