Minnesota wins 3rd women's hockey title in four years

MINNEAPOLIS — Megan Wolfe scored early and Amanda Leveille made 19 saves, leading Minnesota to a 4-1 victory over Harvard on Sunday for the third women's hockey championship in four seasons for the Gophers.

Hannah Brandt, Megan Lorence and Rachel Bona had goals in the third period for Minnesota (34-3-4), which returned the trophy to the west after a one-year slip.

Sarah Edney's bad-angle shot from the left corner slipped past Leveille with 4:33 left trimmed the lead to 2-1 and gave Harvard (27-6-3) hope, but Lorence answered with a wrist flip past Crimson goalie Emerance Maschmeyer less than 90 seconds later.

Then came the empty-netter by Bona, and soon after the Gophers were leaping off the bench, flinging their helmets and sticks upward and piling on top of Leveille.

Maschmeyer made 29 saves. The junior stopped 43 shots in the 2-1 semifinal victory over Boston College on Friday.

The Gophers lost to Clarkson in the title game in Connecticut last year. Over 15 seasons of NCAA competition, 14 of the championships have been won by the three Western Collegiate Hockey Association powers: five by Minnesota, five by Minnesota Duluth and four by Wisconsin.

This was the fourth NCAA runner-up finish for Harvard coach Katey Stone, who wrapped up her 20th year as head coach.

Minnesota also beat the Crimson for consecutive titles in 2004 and 2005, and Harvard lost to Minnesota Duluth in the championship game in 2003. The Crimson won the American Women's College Hockey Alliance title in 1999 before the sport was sponsored by the NCAA.

Stone coached Gophers defenseman Lee Stecklein on the 2014 U.S. Olympic team in Sochi, Russia, but Brandt was one of the players cut from the squad before the Winter Games.

The Gophers controlled the game from the start, with an end-to-end energy that produced a 14-6 shots-on-goal advantage in the first period. Just when they were in danger of letting that domination go to waste, Wolfe sent the puck into the upper-right corner out of Maschmeyer's reach for the lead with 51 seconds left before the break.

The Gophers also got to play for the title on their home ice for the second time in three years, in front of a loud capacity crowd of around 3,500. The majority of the tickets sold out more than two months ago. The university allotted another 100 spots inside Ridder Arena to students in line with an ID card before the game, and those were snagged in less than five minutes.

The intensity level lagged a bit in the middle of the game, but the Gophers and their senior leaders Bona, Lorence and Rachel Ramsey had the title in their sights and wore down the Crimson as the end neared.

Ramsey, Stecklein, Wolfe, Sydney Baldwin, Milica McMillen and Kelsey Cline led another stifling performance on the blue line in front of Leveille. Ramsey hit the right post with a slap shot early in the third period.

Then a few minutes later Brandt, one of the two runners-up for the Patty Kazmaier Award for nation's top player, knocked in a backhand off a slick pass by Maryanne Menefee. Brandt finished the season with 35 goals.