The Minnesota women’s hockey team moved into first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with two wins this past weekend.

The Gophers (9-2-1 overal l, 8-1-1-1 WCHA) swept their fourth series of the season to move one point ahead of Wisconsin in the WCHA . Minnesota beat Bemidji State (1-9-2, 0-8-0-0) 3-0 and 7-0.

Minnesota had a slow start on Friday as the game went scoreless in the first period . That was not the way the Gophers wanted their first period of the weekend to go. Sophomore Terra Rasmussen, who had three goals this weekend, said the Gophers didn’t come out ready to play, but came together after the first to take control.

“The first period for us [has] always been a bit of a struggle,” she said. “The first game didn’t go quite as we expected. It was closer than we thought.”

The Gophers scored one goal in the second and two more in the third to put the game away. Coach Brad Frost said his team dominated most of the game and the couple of goals in the third helped secure the win.

First-year Alyssa Grogan earned her first career shutout as she stopped all 16 of Bemidji’s shots, while the Gophers had 49 shots.

All four lines saw ice time this weekend and played well, Frost said. First-year Kelly Seeler earned her first point at Minnesota when she assisted on sophomore Emily West’ s winning goal.

On Saturday the Gophers continued with the pace they ended with on Friday as six players contributed to the seven goals in Saturday’s win.

“We just came out with a little more intensity,” Frost said. “Right from the drop of the puck, we were able to get the puck to the net, but more importantly take the goalie’s eyes away and get the rebounds.”

Sophomore Jenny Lura started in net and faced seven shots before senior Kim Hanlon replaced her with 15 minutes left in the second period. Hanlon saw 20 shots in her first ice time since Oct. 3, 2008, in a 3-2 loss to Robert-Morris.

“[Hanlon] shut the door the rest of the way and played very well,” Frost said.

First-year Sarah Erickson received a game misconduct for checking from behind, 45 seconds into the third. This pushed the Gophers lines around. Rotating three left wings with four centers and right wings worked for the Gophers as two goals were scored with the adjusted lines by Rasmussen and senior captain Gigi Marvin .

“It was a lot different but everyone transitioned very well and we ended up with a win so that’s all we were looking for,” Rasmussen said.