Women's Hockey Takes Down Vermont In Windjammer ClassicWomen's Hockey Takes Down Vermont In Windjammer Classic
Craig Houtz

Women's Hockey Takes Down Vermont In Windjammer Classic

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Penn State women's hockey team earned its second shutout win of the season and tied a season high with four goals in its 4-0 blanking of Vermont Friday afternoon in the Thanksgiving Windjammmer Classic at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
 
Katie Rankin, Julie Gough, and Abby Welch were the Penn State goal scorers and Chantal Burke earned the 20-save shutout in goal for the Nittany Lions (4-7-4).
 
Mallory Uihlein also had three assists in the game to tie program single-game record last set by Katie McMillan Oct. 18 at Providence.
 
With the win over Vermont (5-6-5), Penn State moves on to the Windjammer Classic championship game against #7/6 Clarkson, who defeated Minnesota State Mankato 4-0 in the earlier game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first period was quiet for both teams in the scoring column. Vermont registered the first six shots on goal for the game, but Penn State was awarded the game's first power play, thought they couldn't capitalize to take the lead.
 
Both teams ended up having two chances on the advantage in the first 20 minutes with neither able to score.
 
Neither team could find a scoring chance to take advantage of through the first 10 minutes of the second period until the Nittany Lions finally got the bounce it needed to score first.
 
Natalie Heising took a shot on net that was padded away by Vermont goaltender, Blanka Skodova, but the rebound came right to Katie Rankin who swatted it in from a knee to give Penn State the 1-0 edge with 9:47 to play in the second period. Heising and Malloy Uihlein had assists on the play.
 


 
Julie Gough was called for a tripping penalty with 1:04 left in the second period and her penalty carried over to the third period. Not only did the Nittany Lions stop the Vermont power play, but Gough came right out of the box to score.
 
She received a touch pass from Brooke Madsen and beat Skodova on the breakaway to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead 1:03 into the third period. Uihlein tacked on her second assist of the game on the play.
 



The Nittany Lions weren't done there as they tacked on two more in the third period courtesy of Abby Welch. The senior netted her first of the season with 13:48 left on a rebound from Amy Dobson's shot.
 


 
Dobson picked up her first career point on the assist while Gough added her second point of the game on the secondary helper.
 
With just under five minutes remaining, the Catamounts pulled Skodova from the net in desperation to come back from three goals down, but Penn State made the move backfire as Welch batted in a loose puck in the Vermont zone on the empty cage to end it.
 
GAME NOTES

  • After being outshot 7-4 in the first period, the Nittany Lions dominated the shots on goal category 27-13 for the last two periods for a 31-20 edge for the game.
  • Penn State improved to 4-0-1 on the season when scoring the first goal of the game.
  • Mallory Uihlein is the first Penn State freshman defender to score three points in a game since Izzy Heminger on Nov. 19, 2018 at RPI (W, 4-0).
  • Abby Welch's two-goal effort was the first two-goal game of her career and her fourth multipoint game.
  • Julie Gough's two-point game was the first of her young career.
  • Katie Rankin's goal was her first since Oct. 18 against Providence. She now has 17 career goals which ranks tied for seventh in program history.
  • Chantal Burke's shutout was her third of the season and improved her season goals-against average to 1.77.
  • Brooke Madsen is on a three-game point streak (1G, 2A) and has eight points (5G, 3A) in her last nine games. 
  • The Nittany Lions are now 3-1-1 all-time against the Catamounts.  
  • Penn State will play for the chance to win its first Thanksgiving Windjammer Classic against Clarkson tomorrow beginning at 4 p.m.