Tonight is “Rock Ridder” at the women’s hockey game and it seems to have served half of its purpose. There are many more people at the game tonight than at previous games. However, the goal of the promotion was to fill the stands completely, not half-way.
The promotional deal was if you brought a canned good, you would get into the game for free. The Gophers teamed up with Second Harvest, a local food shelf.
It hasn’t taken long for the Gophers to put on a show for the crowd that showed up. Just 1:22 into the game, Monique Lamoureux skated around five Ohio State players and put the puck in the net.
Brittany Francis and Rachael Drazan both added goals on an Ohio power plays to make the score 3-0 at the end of the first period. .
With three power plays, the Gophers have had multiple opportunities to increase the score, but are unable to put the puck in the net off rebounds. This may be a credit to the Ohio’s defense for clearing out the front of the net more than the Gopher forwards.
The Gophers have kept their sticks in check and only taken one penalty that has resulted in an Ohio State power play.

Around the WCHA: the first shoot out took place earlier in the day when St. Cloud beat Duluth.

In the second period, an increase in penalties came with an increase in scoring but only for the Gophers and ended 7-0. Jocelyne Lamoureux and Laura May each notched a goal while Jen Schoullis scored twice.
The Gophers took four penalties but were able to kill them all off.
Shots on goal have agreed with the score of the game: the Gophers have 32 and Ohio has six.
The referees seem to be whistle-happy. There were eight penalties in the second period but no goals came from them.

Ohio scored at 5:17 into the third when Melanie Gagnon was caught out of position coming onto the ice after a line change.
Terra Rasmussen notched a goal in a game where all four lines are getting ice time on a regular basis. The Gophers lead shots on goal with 41-12 at the end of the game.