By Kyle Ginsbach/Assist. Sports Director/@GinsbachKyle

St. Cloud State Women’s hockey fell 2-1 in a shootout against in-state rival Minnesota Duluth Friday afternoon at the Brooks Center.

Coming into the series, the Huskies knew the series would be crucial to their NCAA tournament hopes and got off to a fast start. Sophomore forward Alice Souriol would find the back of the net five minutes into the first period on a rush with Sophomore linemate Sofianna Sundelin, giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead. In net, fifth-year goaltender Sanni Ahola would make 11 saves in the first 20 minutes, with the Huskies carrying their one-goal lead into the break.

In the second frame, play would begin to tip toward the Bulldogs. The game itself would take on a more physical nature as well, with frustration with officiating growing on the SCSU bench. UMD would be held off, though, and heading into the final period, the Huskies would cling to their one-goal lead. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs would even the game early into the third period. Minnesota native Olivia Mobley would get credit for the score, with the 1-1 score holding as the horn sounded. In OT, both teams would take advantage of the large sheet of ice, generating multiple chances, but after those five minutes the game would head to a shootout. Once again, Olivia Mobley would be the difference maker, being the only skater to score in the shootout, allowing UMD to walk away with the extra WCHA point. However, the game goes down as a tie for NCAA tournament purposes, something the Huskies can be happy about.

Afterward, Huskies head coach Brian Idalski had this to say on the contest, “Overall, I thought we defended well, I thought we had good movement as a five-man unit in the O-zone, so I was pleased with that.”

Up Next: The Huskies and Bulldogs will play game two at the Brooks Center tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. with Brian Moos and Sam Roering on the call. You can find KVSC’s coverage on the Sports Stream.