NCAA Tournament: UConn women's hockey drops double OT heartbreaker to Minnesota-Duluth, 1-0

UConn women’s hockey’s 2023-24 season came to a heartbreaking end in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a double-overtime loss to the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in double overtime. After 97:13 of scoreless play, UMD scored the winner by cleaning up a rebound on the back post.

Tia Chan was phenomenal in goal, stopping a season-high 48 shots despite getting no help from her offense. Before Minnesota-Duluth scored, she had gone nearly nine periods without allowing a goal.

Through the end of regulation, neither side had generated much in the way of scoring chances. UMD had a 30-18 advantage in shots on goal, though few of those attempts challenged Chan. Both sides had a pair of power plays as well but they all came up empty.

In the first overtime, the Bulldogs nearly had a winner when they got the puck on the doorstep, only for Chan to turn away the grade-A chance. Down the other end, UConn went on the power play with 2:06 remaining and had a few good looks but couldn’t get anything by UMD goaltender Eve Gascon.

The Huskies thought they had a winner in double overtime when Peterson scored on a shot from the point, but it didn’t hold up on review. After the officials looked at the play, they determined UConn were offsides on the initial zone entry, which took the goal away.

With that, the game continued.

The end finally came with 2:47 left in the second overtime. Chan turned away an initial shot from the Bulldogs but the puck trickled out to Mannon McMahon, who finished it into the open net for the victory. The officials reviewed the play for potential goaltender interference but the call on the ice stood.

While UConn’s season ends in bitter fashion, that doesn’t take away from all the team accomplished. The Huskies finish the year 25-8-5 record and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history after winning both the Hockey East regular season and tournament titles.