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November 22, 2005
Womens hockey heats up in Michigan
As temperatures dropped in the frigid abyss that is Minnesota, the womens hockey team turned on the heat. The youth-driven crew played the roll of aggressor in their opener and made the switch to comeback queen in their second game. On the evening of Nov. 14, their solid defense and superior offense proved too much for Finlandia in a 3-1 victory. The following afternoon, the Pipers showed that giving in or giving up were not in their gameplan. The Pipers scored two late goals in this, the second game against Finlandia, to force a 4-4 tie.
“For any team that hasn’t had a lot of success in the past, coming out and taking three of four points and forcing a tie has to be a pretty a rewarding feeling...We looked young at times,...but they battled back to tie.
That showed quite a bit of character,” said head coach Garnett Asmundson.
Saturday’s game showed that the Pipers do have what it takes to compete. In addition to strong veteran play, the work ethic from Hamline’s first-year players showed promise. The Pipers took the lead with sophomore Marie Gross’ power play goal at 6:58. Finlandia was able to answer back at the end of the period. First-year Callista Olynyk scored her first collegiate goal to break a 1-1 tie in the second, giving Hamline a 2-1 lead. After that, strong defensive play coupled with an unyielding offensive onslaught put the Pipers in position for victory.
“Defensively we kept them to thirty or less shots. Any time you can do that I think it shows promise, but we made some mistakes that allowed them to get some more shots than they should have had,” Asmundson said. “We had a lot more scoring chances than in the past. We just need to work on finishing those better.”
On Sunday, the game went differently. After taking a 2-0 lead, the Pipers gave up four goals and trailed 4-2 in the third period. First-year Samantha Dowzak scored on the power-play at 6:20 to cut the lead to 4-3. Seven minutes later, Kate Rasasch scored the game-tying goal.
“With a little bit of tweaking in practice we are only going to get better. If we work hard and work on the deficiencies I talk about, we are going to be a fun team to watch,” said Asmundson.
“We have a lot of kids that want to be a part of making Hamline a very good team in the MIAC. They are willing to put the time in off-season and in-season to make that happen... We have a long way to go but I believe this program is heading in the right direction.”
Posted by msveum at November 22, 2005 11:23 AM
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