Brian Moos / Sports Director

DULUTH, Minn. – On Saturday, St. Cloud State women’s hockey beat Minn.-Duluth 5-2, propelled by a strong second period. With the win and yesterday’s shootout victory, SCSU women’s hockey won a road series against Duluth for the first time since 2013. In order to break that drought the Huskies had to battle back from a deficit in the first period. 

Duluth got on the board early, sophomore Caitlin Kraemer buried a close-range shot off a great feed from senior Danielle Burgen. The Bulldogs lead came at 2:35 in the first. SCSU didn’t get fully bottled for the rest of the first, but they certainly had to weather the storm. UMD outshot SCSU 23-10 through the first 20, with shots on goal favoring the Bulldogs 13-4. After stopping 39 shots on Friday, sophomore Emilia Kyrkkö held off 12 to open the game. Duluth opened the door for the Huskies with 35 seconds left in the frame, taking a tripping penalty. That penalty, drawn by former Bulldog Payton Holloway, put SCSU on the power play through the first intermission. 

With one minute and 25 seconds left on their first powerplay to start the second period, the Huskies tied the game. Just 24 seconds into the period, junior Alice Sauriol passed to junior Laura Zimmerman in prime scoring position. Zimmerman put the puck low and past junior Ève Gascon’s left pad for the tie. The Huskies were not satisfied with a tie game for long. 13 seconds later freshman Maria Mikaelyan dangled past Gascon after being set up by sophomore Marie Moran. All Mikaelyan needed was a soft backhand shot to an open net to put the Huskies up 2-1. It was the first lead of the weekend for SCSU. 

When I asked head coach Mira Jalosuo about the second period she answered, “The second period was one of, if not the best period we’ve had the whole year,” Jalosuo continued with audible pride, “We were playing very basic, boring hockey. Getting pucks deep, everyone going hard and making the right reads with the puck.”

Scoring slowed for a while, but with Kyrkkö holding strong in net and the Husky offense continuing to press, SCSU extended their lead. It was the Russian freshman again, as Maria Mikaelyan buried a rebound off a Sydney Jackel shot. 

When asked about what Mikaelyan has brought to St. Cloud coach Jalosuo said, “Obviously two big goals for us today… she doesn’t look like a rookie against these top-ten teams in the nation.”

The Huskies put themselves up 3-1 with 11:14 remaining in the third. The Bulldogs would earn a powerplay and empty their net to skate six on four with over six minutes left to go. SCSU’s penalty kill came up big and after gaining full strength scored an empty netter, courtesy of junior Sofianna Sundelin with 3:14 remaining. 

Duluth would score the final two goals, first to cut the Husky lead down to 4-2. Shortly after though, UMD committed the rare folly of putting the puck in their own empty net from the offensive zone. Final score 5-2, Huskies over Bulldogs, woeful trends broken, five out of six WCHA points won on the weekend. 

To wrap this weekend up, I asked Mira Jalosuo about Emilia Kyrkkö. She stopped a total of 76 shots over both games after being named to the HCA National Goaltender of the Year watchlist. Kyrkkö’s win today is hopefully a sign of things to come with there is no margin for error. “It was a big game for her, she’s won on Friday nights, but when she has been playing on back-to-backs she hasn’t been able to win on Saturdays. I’m extremely happy for her in getting that confidence, it’s going to pay off when the playoffs come,” said Jalosuo. 

St. Cloud State improves to 8-14-2 on the season and have jumped from seventh place in the WCHA to fifth, tied with Mankato at 17 points. The Huskies will host the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday at 6 p.m. on 97.5 FM RadioX.