Emmanuelle Blais scored four goals and Saara Tuominen notched a goal hours after stepping off a plane carrying her Winter Olympics bronze medal as Minnesota Duluth defeated North Dakota 6-2 in the opening game of a Western Collegiate Hockey Association women's series Friday night at Heritage Center.
Blais scored a power-play goal late in the first period, and then added another goal in the second period and her team-leading 25th and 26th goals of the season in the third -- the first on a power play, the second shorthanded -- to secure a 1-0 series lead.
The second game is at 7:07 p.m. today.
Tuominen, who won a bronze medal with Finland on Thursday in Vancouver, British Columbia, returned in the afternoon and scored her ninth goal of the season in the evening to give the Bulldogs (25-8-2) a 2-0 lead.
Jennifer Harss had 30 saves for UMD; Jorid Dagfinrud had 42 for the Fighting Sioux (8-21-4).
ADVERTISEMENT
North Dakota 0-0-2--2
Minnesota Duluth 1-2-3--6
First period -- 1. UMD, Emmanuelle Blais (Jaime Rasmussen, Sarah Murray), 17:54 (pp).
Second period -- 2. UMD, Saara Tuominen (Jessica Wong, Audrey Cournoyer), 6:26; 3. UMD, Blais (Katherine Wilson), 14:50.
Third period -- 4. UMD, Blais (Rasmussen, Wong), 4:18 (pp); 5. ND, Margot Miller (Jordan Slavin), 7:06 (sh); 6. ND, Candace Molle (Alyssa Wiebe), 7:23; 7. UMD, Blais (Laura Fridfinnson, Sarah Murray), 8:58 (sh); 8. UMD, Jocelyne Larocque (Rasmussen, Tuominen), 17:50 (pp)
Saves -- Jorid Dagfinrud, ND, 42; Jennifer Harss, UMD, 30.
