College hockey roundup: UMD, SCSU women skate to tie outdoors on Hockey Day Minnesota

Freshman forward Naomi Rogge of Eden Prairie scored the Bulldogs’ lone goal at the 11-minute mark of the second period. Rogge slipped her team-leading 12th goal of the season inside the near post from a sharp angle to tie the game at 1-1.

“It was pretty surreal. You grow up as a kid always wanting to play in that,” said Rogge, who watched her older brother, Mitch, play at Hermantown on Hockey Day in 2010. “In high school, I was always waiting for the call for Eden Prairie to be in it. When I heard Duluth was in it, I was pretty excited.

“It was everything I hoped for. The conditions were perfect. Being able to play extra time out there was amazing, and I got to see my brother in the stands. It was pretty cool.”

Sophomore forward Hallie Theodosopoulos gave the Huskies (6-15-3) a 1-0 lead early in the first period. It was her third goal of the weekend after having led the Huskies to a 3-2 WCHA win on Friday indoors at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center via a pair of third-period goals.

The Bulldogs (10-13-2), who finished 0-for-5 on power plays, outshot the Huskies 44-17 in the outdoor game with a 31-10 advantage in the second and third periods.

UMD sophomore goaltender Catherine Johnson of Lakeville, Minn., finished with 16 saves in just her third start of the season.

“It was awesome. What a special event to be a part of,” UMD coach Maura Crowell said. “We talked to our players about this game being about more than just us. It’s an opportunity to represent our league, our university and women’s hockey in general. Bringing our college product to the masses is something really special and a great opportunity. We took a lot of pride in putting out a good version of ourselves today and hopefully it showed.”

Saturday’s game, with overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s, was the first time an NCAA women’s game was played outdoors as part of Hockey Day Minnesota festivities on Fox Sports North.

The Huskies won a six-round exhibition shootout 1-0 at the end. St. Cloud State will host UMD for the final time in conference play Jan. 31.

St. Cloud State 1-0-0-0—1

First period — 1. SCSU, Hallie Theodosopoulos 5 (Laura Kluge, Kayla Friesen), 4:42.

Second period — 2. UMD, Naomi Rogge 12 (McKenzie Revering, Jalyn Elmes), 11:00.

Third period — No scoring.

Saves — Catherine Johnson, UMD, 5-6-4-1—16; Emma Polusny, SCSU, 11-11-x—22; Janine Alder, SCSU, x-7-12-2—21.

Concordia (Wis.) 1

The Saints finished of the weekend sweep, getting a pair of goals from Mac Johnson for the NCHA victory at Mars Lakeview Arena.

Johnson gave the Saints a 1-0 lead late in the first period and then extended that lead to 3-0 13:37 into the second on a power-play goal.

Abby Sawyer and Lexi Holman also scored for the Saints (8-3-4 overall, 7-1-2 NCHA) while Rachel Anderson finished with three assists. Lexi Thomeczek made 20 saves in goal as CSS moved into second place in the conference.

Wis-Eau Claire 2

UWS goalie Sky Brown made 24 saves but couldn’t prevent the Blugolds from overcoming a 2-0 deficit in the WIAC overtime encounter at Eau Claire.

Maggie Cragg and Celina Clark scored power-play goals to put the Yellowjackets (14-5-1, 3-1-1 WIAC) in the lead 2-0.

Mariah Czech opened the scoring for Eau Claire (11-6-3, 0-3-1) with 13 seconds remaining in the second period and Courtney Wittig tied the score with 4:07 left in regulation.

Parker Mismash scored twice in the first 8:29 of the third period to help the Saints upset the top-ranked Green Knights at Mars Lakeview Arena.

CSS (13-5-1 overall, 7-4-1 NCHA) scored the first two goals of the game as Cole Golka and Kyle Star tallied 1:41 apart in the first period.

Peter Bates halved the deficit midway through the second period before Mismash secured the win with his fifth and sixth goals of the season.

Bates and Kurt Black scored for St. Norbert (15-3-1, 10-2) but Saints goalie Forbes Ploszaj made 27 saves and kept out the tying goal.