(Photo Prout)
ST. CLOUD STATE UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S HOCKEY RELEASE | 10/21/2923
FAIRFIELD, Conn. –No. 13 St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey (7-2-0, 2-1-0 WCHA) shut out Lindenwood (3-5-0, 0-0-0 CHA) 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at Martire Family Arena to earn the 2023 Women’s Ice Breaker Championship. Fifth-year forward Klára Hymlárová recorded her second collegiate hat trick in the win while senior goaltender Jojo Chobak turned away 34 saves for her first shutout of the season and junior defender Devyn Millwater scored her first collegiate goal. All three were named to the Ice Breaker All-Tournament Team with Hymlárová earning Most Outstanding Player honors.
Chobak was dominant between the pipes for SCSU, turning away all 34 shots she faced including a whopping 18 saves in the third period. She backed the penalty kill unit extremely well as the Huskies went 8-for-8 on the kill with one shorthanded goal, supporting their tender by excelling on the power play by going 2-for-3.
“We got a great start today – competed how we wanted to come out and played with the lead, so happy with that, “commented head coach Brian Idalski post-game. “I’m happy for Jojo to get the shutout and keep that going as a club. Also a great weekend for Klára – she was terrific all the way around with the penalty kill, power play, and 5-on-5 – super good weekend for her.”
“I think anyone that follows us and the WCHA is already aware of the fact that we have two quality goaltenders, ” said Idalski. “That’s obviously a luxury for us, we have faith in both – they both play at a high level and have for a long time. It’s awesome to have that. I think both of them help push each other to bet better, so it’s been the perfect storm for us in regards to their development in challenging and pushing each other to be better.”
Millwater opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the game with her first college goal, throwing one in from just inside the blue line above the left circle. Her shot came at a difficult angle for the tender to handle, going above the shoulder to make it 1-0. Graduate forward CC Bowlby pushed the SCSU lead to 2-0 with a shorthanded strike just over 15 minutes later, collecting a loose puck in neutral ice and rocketing home a wrister after skating down to the right side of the high slot.
Hymlárová scored the first goal of her natural hat trick on the power play eight minutes into the second period, launching a snipe from the high point through traffic to give SCSU a 3-0 lead. She added her second goal of the game two minutes into the third on another long-distance rocket on the power play then completed the hat trick by skating down to the left side of the crease and firing home a wrister on a good feed from fellow fifth-year forward Taylor Lind.
Graduate forward Katie Kaufman provided a multi-point game with a pair of assists while 10 Huskies recorded at least one point in the win. Junior defenders Dayle Ross and Taylor Larson shared the team lead in blocks with Millwater at two a piece.
“We have some more depth, we have some more talent – but playing the right way, playing hard all the time, just the compete level and execution. We still have a long way to go and still have a lot of room for growth and where we need to be. This is the end of nonconference, and now it gets to the weekend-to-weekend of the WCHA. That starts with us getting back and getting ready to go against Mankato, then you’ve got Wisconsin. The real grind starts now, and we’ll see where we’re at,” said Idalski.
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