9 hours Ago By Staff reports
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Duluth's regular season ended under controversial circumstances Saturday, albeit in a game that was meaningless in the WCHA standings. Minnesota claimed a 1-0 victory at Ridder Arena, with the game's only goal coming on a bizarre play in which captain Abbey Murphy was credited with a goal with 8:39 to play in regulation. ADVERTISEMENT A Minnesota shot was deflected to the back glass toward UMD goaltender Eve Gascon.
Gascon responded in time to glove it, but it was ruled she carried the puck over the goal line in the air despite no publicly available video evidence. The Big 10 Plus video stream included only a center-ice camera and a close-up camera. GOAL CONFIRMED! 🚨 That's one way to do it, Murph! 📺: @BigTenPlus pic.
twitter.com/ZnNTFvMxVm Video review by WCHA officials confirmed the goal. The referees should have had access to overhead cameras, but that video wasn't part of the live stream and not posted online as of Saturday afternoon.
It was the only shot of 49 Minnesota put on net that got past Gascon, who made at least 14 saves in every period. Off the backboard and IN 😎 pic.twitter.
com/BJdpkmaxm9 UMD was stymied by Gopher goalie Hannah Clark, who made 22 saves. UMD finishes the regular season 19-13-2 overall and 14-12-2 in the WCHA, good for fourth place in the conference, but has gone 0-12-1 in their last 13 meetings with the Gophers over the last three seasons. Saturday's result ups the likelihood the Bulldogs and Gophers could meet again, as Minnesota moved up to third in the Pairwise rankings, which could portend a rematch at Ridder in a potential regional final.
Minnesota finished third in the league standings and will host Minnesota State in the WCHA playoffs next weekend. The Bulldogs, who sit sixth in the Pairwise, will start a best-of-three WCHA quarterfinal playoff series against St. Cloud State on Friday afternoon at Amsoil Arena.
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