Women's Hockey Heads to Columbus for Second Straight Weekend, First Round of WCHA Playoffs

Buckeyes are 4-0 this season against Mavericks and 2-0 all-time against MSU in playoff games

by Dan Myers
Issue date: 2/22/07
Section: Womens Sports

It's not often a team will win six games against another in the same season.

At least that's what Mavericks head coach Jeff Vizenor and the Minnesota State women's hockey team must be thinking heading into the first round of the WCHA playoffs this weekend.

"I'd hope so," Vizenor said. "I hope the odds would be in our favor."

The Mavericks (16-15-2 overall, 12-14-2 WCHA) will head to Columbus, Ohio for the second consecutive weekend to face the Ohio State Buckeyes at OSU Ice Arena Friday, Saturday and if necessary, Sunday afternoon. The series is a best-of-three.

The Buckeyes (18-12-4 overall, 13-11-4 WCHA) won both games this past weekend, coming from behind in a 4-3 overtime win Friday and taking Saturday's meaningless finale 6-4.

The Mavs changed things up slightly in game two, giving starting goalie Britni Kehler some much needed rest in the process. Only Bemidji State's Emily Brookshaw has accumulated more minutes this season among WCHA goaltenders, as Kehler has been on the ice for an astonishing 1,900 minutes.

Katerina Geertsen earned her first collegiate start on Saturday and gave up six goals on 38 shots.

"There were a couple things that could have happened," Vizenor said. "We could have tied for fourth place and we could have broken our season wins record. But before the game, we didn't dwell on it. We dwelled on the things we had done well on during the season and talked about those things.

"I think we did the thing that was best for our team long term."

Long term starts this weekend for MSU, as the Mavericks will look to advance to their first WCHA Playoff Championship in program history.

The playoffs haven't been kind to MSU in the past, as the Mavericks were swept by Minnesota last season - the first with the current playoff format. OSU knocked MSU out of the playoffs following the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons, when the format was more of a traditional, winner-moves-on, style tournament.

The games this season with the Buckeyes, however, have been close.

Saturday's two-goal differential was the largest margin of victory for OSU this season, as the previous three games had been decided by only one goal. Ohio State won a pair of games in Owatonna, Minn. in November by scores of 2-1 and 4-3.

In three of the four games, however, Minnesota State has held a lead and been unable to keep it.

It has been a common trend this season for MSU - the Mavericks have blown a three-goal lead once in each of their last three weekends.

"We have a curse," said junior assistant captain Jodi Helminen. "We were joking around and saying that whoever scores that fourth goal is going to be a star.

"We just can't break it, but I think it will come this weekend."

Getting offense from Helminen is especially important this weekend.

The only question mark health-wise for the Mavericks is that of Helminen's line-mate, Amanda Stohr. While Stohr's numbers may not put much of a scare into opponents (7-8-15), her production on both ends of the ice as well as her leadership will be sorely missed if her sprained ankle is not healed enough to play on this weekend.

Fellow junior Brittany Mackley was moved up to center the productive Helminen-Kristina Bunker combination on the wing. Bunker leads the team with 18 assists and is fourth on the squad with 25 points (7-18-25).

Also helping the Mavericks is the return of top defenseman Sammy Miller, who did not play this past weekend because of the flu. While other defenseman, and even assistant coach Dan Lichterman, were not feeling well early in the week, all are expected to make the trip to Columbus and play this weekend.

"You're going to miss a kid like Sammy Miller," Vizenor said. "She plays so many minutes every game. Our other kids stepped up and played to the best of their abilities, but Sammy is a veteran in locker room and on the ice and obviously you want to have her out there."

Forward Noelle Needham has been nursing a sore knee, but has played through it for some time and is expected to play as well.

Friday's game one is scheduled to face-off at 6:07 p.m. while Saturday's game two gets underway at 3:07 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will begin at 3:07 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be played at OSU Ice Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Dan Myers is the Reporter Sports Editor