Turn Back the Tape: Harvard and Minnesota Women's Ice Hockey Teams Square Off Once Again

It’s March in Minneapolis, and for fans of the Minnesota women’s ice hockey team, this month has a single meaning: championship time.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Gophers (33-3-4, 22-2-4 WCHA) will suit up for a national title matchup. This season’s edition features Harvard (27-5-3, 16-4-2 ECAC), which is a rerun of championship bouts in 2004 and 2005.

Minnesota won both those contests, giving the team two of its five overall national titles.

The Gophers’ dominance extends outside of matchups against the Crimson. In each of the past three years, Minnesota has taken a share of the WCHA crown, quite possibly the toughest divisional prize in college hockey.

Over the past several years, the Gophers have been the masters of the Midwest, the New York Yankees of women’s hockey. And with the team’s top four point-getters slated to return next year, the tradition of success shows no signs of ending.

“To make it to the national championship four years in a row, it’s remarkable,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said. “I know our team is very excited, especially to be able to advance and do that at home.”

Just how good are these Gophers?

Ask recent history, and the answer will come back without hesitation: practically unbeatable.

Between Feb. 17, 2012 and Nov. 17, 2013, Minnesota played 62 games without a loss, an NCAA record. Only six contests were decided by a margin of one goal.

This stretch included the 2012-13 campaign, which inarguably stands as the most impressive year of women’s hockey ever played. The Gophers earned an overall 41-0-0 mark and ended the season with a championship photo-shoot in Ridder Arena in late March.

Even when North Dakota broke the perfect streak with a 3-2 win the next year, Minnesota needed little time to recover. The Gophers ripped off a 19-0-1 run to close out the regular season and returned to the title match a month later.

“These kids are never about themselves,” Frost said. “When you get a bunch of great people on a team, then the organization creates a culture that’s pretty darn special.”

This year’s squad, which boasted a 19-game unbeaten streak at one point, is a beneficiary of this culture. It’s not just that Minnesota wins, but that the wins are so lopsided: the Gophers have outscored opponents 180-47, including a 42-12 advantage in power-play scores.

As much as Minnesota has distinguished itself as a unit, the Gophers are just as impressive as a collection of individuals.

“We recruit…incredible kids, first and foremost,” Frost said. “We can recruit great kids from great families who happen to be really good hockey players, and that’s the order of how we do things.”

Since 2002, 12 Minnesota players have earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. This list includes forwards Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, who served as captains of the 2006 and 2010 American squads, respectively.

In three straight seasons stretching from 2003 to 2005, Wendell and Darwitz were named finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, which recognizes the best player in women’s hockey each year. The Gophers also earned two titles over Harvard during this stretch.

Wendell and Darwitz are not unique for the national attention that they received. Since 2008, at least one Minnesota player has claimed a spot on the 10-person shortlist for the award. In the 2012-13 season, all of the top three finalists played for the Gophers.

According to players and coaches, Minnesota incubates not just talent but also life values. This season, the Gophers had to memorize a team wide quote, and at media day, junior forward Hannah Brandt could rattle it off from memory: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who are trained by it.”

“It’s definitely not just something [Frost] says to [the media],” Brandt says. “We hear it every day, probably plenty, and it’s definitely something we all try to live out.”

Attention to detail has led to incredible results, as Brandt tops the team this year with 73 points.  She has earned a top-three nomination for the Patty Kazmaier Award for her efforts. Talent is well distributed, however, as six Minnesota skaters have racked up at least 14 goals.

Heck, even the team’s mascot can skate. In between periods, a goofy costumed gopher whips around the rink, somehow swerving, stopping, and staying upright while wearing a large and furry head.

But the scariest part of the 2014-15 Gophers may have to do with a moment of weakness, not strength. Last season, Minnesota entered the NCAA championship with 18 straight victories, but the Gophers dropped the game, 5-4, despite erasing a 3-1 deficit at one point.

There’s a thought to ponder: as dominant as Minnesota has been in recent seasons, the team will skate into today’s final with the intensity of a slighted victim.

“Last year was hard that we didn’t win,” junior goalie Amanda Leveille said. “Coach always tells us that we can’t base the season on one game…. We’re going to focus on Sunday.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@thecrimson.com.