Kehler Leads Women's Hockey In Sweep

by Dan Myers
Issue date: 10/24/06 Section: Womens Sports

The Minnesota State women's hockey team used a pair of Britni Kehler shutouts to propel them to a weekend sweep of North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

Six players scored goals in MSU's 7-0 win Saturday. Freshman Christina Lee began a solid weekend by tallying two goals and assisting on another.

Mavericks head coach Jeff Vizenor also used a few new line combinations to generate offense early. Kala Buganski scored her first collegiate goal just 28 seconds into the contest. Lindsay Macy and Maggie Fisher earned assists.

Macy made the game 2-0 just two and a half minutes later on a goal from Buganski. Bunker and Lee rounded out the first period scoring with goals of their own.

"The trademark of our team is taking care of the things we need to take care of," Vizenor said. "We went up there and did everything we needed to do. I'm proud that we were able to go take care of business that we were supposed to."

Jodi Helminen and Fisher added second period goals while Lee added her second of the game with just over six minutes to play in the third to round out the scoring. Kehler stopped 29 shots in the win.

Vizenor said he thought the Mavericks played better in Sunday's 3-0 win.

The power play was certainly better, taking advantage of two UND mistakes. MSU scored a goal with the man advantage in the first and third periods each, sandwiching an even strength goal by Megan Jedinak in the second frame.

"That was important because North Dakota took a lot of undisciplined penalties," Lee said. "That definitely helped us out in the win."

Lee gave the Mavericks all the offense they would need almost six minutes into the game on a power-play tally from Macy and Kristina Bunker.

Jedinak's goal at 13:09 of the second was the only scoring until Noelle Needham's power play goal at 14:26 was the clincher for Minnesota State, who improved to 2-4-0 in WCHA play this season.

"I felt strong this weekend," said Lee, who is tied with Fisher for the team lead in goals with four. "We had a good week at practice last week and we came out and they were just going in the net. We were all making plays. It felt good."

Entering the weekend, the Mavericks had trouble scoring goals. In their previous four games, the Mavs had found the net just five times. Their 10 goals this weekend was the most in a two-game series since January 2005, when MSU scored 10 against SCSU. The Mavs also got their struggling power play on track with the two man advantage goals Sunday.

Kehler stopped all 52 shots she faced on the weekend to earn her second and third shutouts of the season.

The Mavericks will take this weekend off before hosting defending national champion Wisconsin Nov. 3 and 4 at All Seasons Arena.

Dan Myers is the Reporter Sports Editor