BETWEEN THE PIPES

Women tie No. 6 St. Thomas

Posted on Feb 11, 2009

Its last nonconference game of the season could be a preview of an NCAA matchup, if the teams make it to the tournament and if it turns out to be, it should be another dandy.

The No. 8 ranked UW-River Falls women’s hockey team tied No. 6 University of St. Thomas (UST) (Minn.) Tuesday night in what Falcon coach Joe Cranston said was one of the more exciting games of the year.

UWRF goalie Cassi Campbell made 27 saves in what could be her last game for more than a week because Cranston wants to rest her injured knee for the NCHA playoffs, which could be held at Hunt Arena if the Falcons sweep Finlandia University (Mich.) this weekend.

“It was a really good game,” Cranston said. “Up and down action with a lot of momentum swings. They would have control of the puck for a while and we would get it right back.”

The best part about playing UST this late in the season is UWRF gets a good test before the postseason and played a team that will not affect its conference standings, but would be a good measuring tool heading into the playoffs.

“Perfect game for us to play at this point in the season,” Cranston said. “We had to be intense and have a sense of urgency, which we did. This game was a confidence builder for us and we know we can beat some of the better teams out there.”

Typically, the way the NCAA tournament folds out, if UWRF and UST win its conference tournaments, it will meet again come tourney time.

With that in mind, the winner of Tuesday nights game could have had home ice advantage in the NCAA’s, Cranston said.

“There was a good chance at one of us getting home ice in that game,” he said. “Last night [Tuesday] could have determined that. It’s too bad that we gave up a power play goal in the third, but it was a good game overall.”

Each team scored two goals in the first period. UWRF’s Brittany Erickson gave the Falcons a brief lead late in the period, but UST’s Marie Omann answered less than a minute later to tie the score 2-2.

It was not until the third period that another goal was scored.

Sophomore Jamie Briski scored her 10th goal of the season early in the third, but the Thommies were able to tie the game midway through the third on the power play, scored by Meghan Parker.

Only real negatives for UWRF was that it had only 21 shots on net and was 0-6 on the power play, but it was going against one of the best teams in the nation.

UWRF will travel to Finlandia this weekend and could wrap up the NCHA regular season title with two wins.

Cranston said he might rest Campbell the whole weekend and let freshman Melissa Deardorff play both games against the last place team in the NCHA.