Bozek Scores 100th Career Point; Gophers Trounce Buckeyes

The lady gophers ended another fantastic series at Ridder Arena this weekend, as senior defenseman Megan Bozek recorded her 100th career point Friday night in the Gopher’s sweep of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Bozek, of Buffalo Grove, Ill, is only the fourth defenseman in Gopher hockey history to reach the 100-point milestone, alongside Anne Schleper, Winny Brodt and Courtney Kennedy. Point 100 came after OSU net-minder Chelsea Knapp knocked away a slap-shot from Bozek at the point, only to be picked up by freshman Hannah Brandt for a wrap-around goal. Bozek was credited with the assist at 12:07 in the first period.

The Gophers would go on to win the game 7-2. Ohio State did not get on the board until late in the second period, during a five-on-three power play; the second was scored with only 17 seconds remaining on the clock.

Saturday’s game looked even better, if that’s possible. The Gophers completely dominated the Buckeye’s with a final score of 8-0. Goaltender Noora Ratty nabbed the shut-out and her 83rd career win, as junior forward Amanda Kessel scored her sixth career hat-trick. The team is now undefeated this season, with eight wins on the board and well on their way towards playing for the chance to defend their national title.

While there are a lot of great things about this team (really, we could start a long list), my favorite is that the younger players have been doing a great job of taking on a leadership role on the ice. Freshman Hannah Brandt has been a standout this year; she is the second-leading goal scorer  with 11 goals  – only surpassed by Kessel’s hat-trick Saturday (12 total). Fellow freshman Maryanne Menefee is right behind Brandt as the third-leading goal-scorer with six goals.

Also a freshman, goalie Amanda Leville has played almost 100 minutes in net this season amidst Raty’s stellar run; a very nice thing to see as the Gophers will graduate Raty at the end of the season. I will only admit to being slightly worried as to who was going to fill that spot next season, but it looks like Gopher fans will be able to breathe easy with Leville between the pipes, especially with a solid troupe of women defending out front.

All things considered, it looks like head coach Brad Frost and Co have set themselves up to skate a solid team that will be a serious threat for at least a few seasons into the future.