UWS women knocked out of NCHA playoffs

Wessman Arena will host the NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Championships in March, unfortunately the host University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets won’t be participating.

The Yellowjackets were eliminated from the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs with a 6-5 loss to the St. Norbert Green Knights Saturday afternoon at Wessman Arena.

The Green Knights also won Friday’s game 5-4 to sweep the quarterfinal series and end Superior’s season with a record of 16-9-2.

St. Norbert takes record of 16-9-2 into the semifinals of the NCHA’s O’Brien’s Cup tournament.

UWS led 3-2 after the first period Saturday, then 4-3 midway through the second, but SNC scored three straight goals for a 6-4 lead early in the third period then held off the Yellowjackets, who made it a one-goal game with Kara DeKezel’s power-play goal with 5:05 remaining.

UWS pulled its goalie with a little more than a minute remaining, but needing to score two goals and get the win, to force a mini-game, was too much for the Yellowjacket to overcome.

The teams took scoring until the score was tied 4-4 when St. Norbert’s Zoe Kurth scored short-handed 14:01 into the second period.

Hennriette Ostergaard scored with 4:27 left in the second period and Karissa Anderson scored on a power play 8”55 into the third to give St. Norbert a 6-4 lead.

Kelsey Firkus, Haley Omstead and Chelsey Wierschem scored in the first period and Bailey Lane scored in the second period for UWS.

Kurth, on the power play, and Ali Parker scored for the Knights in the first period.

Kaley Gibson had 16 saves for SNC and Megan Leikkari had 12 for UWS.

In the opening game Friday, Ostergaard scored a power-play goal with 2:40 remaining in the third period to give St. Norbert College a 5-4 win.

Ostergaard also scored the Green Knights’ first goal, while Anderson, Andrea Senne and Laurel Hill added tallies for St. Norbert.

Gibson stopped 25 shots in goal.

Olmstead had a pair of goals for the Yellowjackets, while goalie Megan Leikkari made 18 saves.

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