Minnesota Women’s Hockey continues WCHA play versus Ohio State

The No. 1 ranked University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Women’s Hockey team (6-0 overall, 2-0 WCHA) will continue WCHA play this weekend versus No. 6 (The) Ohio State University (5-1, 3-1 WCHA) at Ridder Arena.

Minnesota will get its toughest test on the season at home as they welcome the Buckeyes, who currently sit atop the WCHA Standings with 9-points. OSU is coming off a split on the road last weekend, off of then No. 6 North Dakota.

The Buckeyes bring to Ridder Arena on Friday at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday at 1:07 p.m. a Top 7 offense and defense in the nation and great senior leadership at forward and between the pipes.

Senior goaltender Chelsea Knapp has started every minute of the season thus far and has posted a .940 save percentage and a 1.51 goals against average in six starts. Knapp is second in the nation in minutes played at 358:31.

All four captains for OSU are senior forwards that put up points. They are four of the top five scorers on the team, with the only anomaly being junior defender Annie Svedin.

A combined 31 points have been scored by the combination of captain Hokey Langan and assistants Paige Semenza, Tina Hollowell, and Minttu Tuominen.

Semenza is tied for 6th in the nation in scoring with 11 points (7 goals, 4 assists) and is just three points away from equaling here entire point total from a season ago.

Now that we have warned you about the opponent, let us focus on the 2011-2012 defending NCAA National Champion Golden Gophers.

Minnesota has allowed just one goal all season in six games played. That came on October 5th versus St. Cloud State University.

They are led offensively by the two ladies tied for the No. 1 spot in the nation in scoring, junior Amanda Kessel and freshmen Hannah Brandt. They each have scored 18 points on the year and rank No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in goals and assists in Division I (with a few players sprinkled in with ties).

Brandt is coming off one of the great HS Prep careers in the state of Minnesota. She won the prestigious Ms. Hockey Award in the state last year and has been playing on most of the US National Team events over the last few years. At just 5’6” in height, she is one of the most pure goal scorers in the women’s game (Think Steven Stamkos of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning).

The rest of the roster is stacked and one trip to Ridder this weekend will tell you all you need to know about their chances at a National Title defense.

Prediction – FRI: MN 6 – OSU 2 | SAT: MN 4 – OSU 0