WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team in general—and
Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) in particular—rang in the new year in impressive fashion Friday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
Henderson recorded her first collegiate multiple-goal game—scoring twice in the first period—as the Cardinals cruised to a 4-1 nonconference win over UW-Eau Claire in the first game of the 2015 portion of their schedule.
"Easily predict how the first game back from a long break would go—and really, tonight was exactly what I figured," said Saint Mary's coach
Terry Mannor. "We were pretty sharp early on, but they were started to get a little tired physically, and when that happens, you start making mental mistakes.
"Overall, I was very happy with the way we played—now we have to go out and build off this tomorrow."
And it wasn't just Henderson recording a first in the Cardinals' first game back from the holiday break, as
Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) and
Jane Hannula (Coon Rapids, Minn.) each netted their first goals of the season to account for Saint Mary's other two goals in the victory.
Henderson gave the Cardinals all the offense they would need, scoring back-to-back goals seven minutes apart in the first period, as Saint Mary's took a 2-0 lead into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes.
Lien got into the scoring column three minutes into the second stanza to push the advantage to 3-0, before UW-Eau Claire foiled Saint Mary's goal
Tori Herrmann's (Elk River, Minn.) shutout bid on goal by Jennifer Thomsen with 3:14 left in the middle frame.
Hannula would round out the scoring at 2:16 of the third period, scoring an unassisted tally for her first of the season.
Herrmann finished with 19 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while a pair of UW-Eau Claire goalies combined to make 33 saves for the Blugolds.
Saint Mary's (4-5-1 overall) will look to complete the nonconference sweep of UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, as the two teams head to Hobbs Ice Arena in Eau Claire, Wis., for the second game of their two-game series. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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