No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth Wins Easy Over Ohio State

Buckeyes fall 7-2 on the road

Dec. 8, 2007

From Ohio State Athletics

DULUTH, Minn. (www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com) - The Ohio State women's hockey team fell to No. 3 Minnesota Duluth by a score of 7-2 Saturday at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center in Duluth, Minn. Junior forward Hayley Klassen scored both of the Buckeye goals as the team moved to 8-7-2 overall and 5-6-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Bulldogs improved to 13-3-1, 12-3-0 in the conference.

The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, including two goals by Sara O'Toole. UMD jumped on the board just 45 seconds into the period when O'Toole dragged the puck across the goal crease and tucked it into the right corner. She scored again at 10:59 when the Bulldogs had an extra skater on the ice on a delayed penalty. Minnesota Duluth then built its lead to three goals when Iya Gavrilova tallied a power play goal at 18:56.

In the opening minutes of the second period, Minnesota Duluth scored twice to increase their lead to 5-0. Karine Demeule scored at 1:44 and Saara Tuominen followed at 2:33.

Ohio State got on the board with Klassen's first goal at 9:11. Senior Erin Keys fired a long pass from the left lower corner all the way across to Klassen who was just returning from the penalty box. The native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, took the puck in on a breakaway and scored over the left shoulder of UMD netminder Johanna Ellison for the 4-on-4 goal. Freshman defenseman Teal Bishop picked up the second assist on the goal, her fourth of the season. It was the seventh goal by Klassen and 11th assist for Keys.

Klassen tallied another goal at 15:59 to move the score to 5-2. While at the red line, Klassen swiped the puck on a turnover, jumped in front of the UMD defense and fought them off to score unassisted from the right side. But, the Bulldogs responded just 17 seconds later on a goal by Heidi Pelttari to take a four-goal lead into the second intermission.

Minnesota Duluth scored once in the third period for a 7-2 final as Pelttari tallied a power play goal on a one-timer from the slot.

The two goals by Klassen increased her season total to eight and upped her point total to 15. It was her second multiple-goal game of the year and fourth multi-point outing.

Junior goaltender Liana Bonanno started the game and made nine saves in the first period. She was replaced by freshman netminder Deidre Facklis at the start of the second, who stopped 29 shots faced, including 15 of 16 in the third period, in her 40 minutes.

Overall, Minnesota Duluth had a 45-14 advantage in shots. The Buckeyes were 0-of-2 on the power play while the Bulldogs were 2-of-9.

Ohio State and Minnesota Duluth will conclude their series Sunday at 3:07 p.m. (CT) at the DECC. It is the final game of 2007 for the Buckeyes, who will be off until Jan. 4-5 with a home series against North Dakota.