Women's hockey handles St. Benedict in MIAC opener

The Pipers (1-1-1, 1-0 in the MIAC) won their conference opener for the first time in team history, outshooting the Blazers (0-5, 0-1) 39-18 in the contest.

Junior forward Sara Mickelson netted a pair of power-play goals for the Pipers. She started the scoring at 13:07 of the first period, knocking home a rebound goal off a shot by defenseman Marie Gross.

The Blazers would come back to tie the game with a power-play goal of their own by Sarah Wilson at 16:06 of the first period.

After the Pipers' Emily Dusold and the Blazers' Erin Baldwin traded power-play goals to start the second period, Mickelson scored her second goal of the game at 9:31 of the period with an assist going to Gross. Sophomore Lindsy Eilertson added the final tally of the second period to make the score 4-2 heading into the final stanza.

Hamline kept the pressure up in the third, netting the only goal of the period - by Melanie Leveille - at 18:09.

Over the final two periods, Hamline outshot the Blazers 31-9. The Pipers were 3-for-8 on the power play. St. Benedict was 2-for-8 with an extra skater.

Hamline netminder Crystal Testolin made 16 saves for her first win of the season. Sarah Zweber stopped 34 shots for the Blazers.

The two teams will square off again on Saturday at St. Cloud. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.