Minnesota Women Bounce Back in a Big Way, Beat Ohio State: Puck Drop
- Puck Drop: Monday, October 20, 2025
- Sunday's Scores
- Monday's Games
- Did You Notice?
- On This Date in Hockey History:
- Hockey Quote of the Day
- We'll Leave You With This ...
After struggling in the series opener, the No. 3 Minnesota women's hockey team scored three goals in the first period en route to salvaging a split with No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday at Ridder Arena, 6-3.
Freshman Bella Fanale opened the scoring with her fifth goal of the season, and was followed by Josefin Bouveng, and Ava Lindsay scored her first goal of the year. Ohio State's Joy Dunne's one-timer with 33 seconds to play in the first threatened to turn the momentum, but Jamie Nelson first career goal in the second frame kept the Gophers (7-1-0, 3-1-0) out of reach.
Sanni Vanhanen and Jenna Raunio both scored for the Buckeyes (5-1-0, 3-1-0) in the third period, but both times Minnesota answered. Nelli Laitinen and Bouveng both had three points, and Lindsay added an assist, her 12th of the season to lead the nation. Hannah Clark made 27 saves to get the win.
"We came out with much more compete and courage here today which was fantastic," Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said.
Head coach Brad Frost on today’s win! 👇 pic.twitter.com/eOFBsxDDTV
— Minnesota Women's Hockey (@GopherWHockey) October 19, 2025
Puck Drop: Monday, October 20, 2025
Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times ET.
Sunday's Scores
WOMEN
No. 3 Minnesota 6, No. 2 Ohio State 3
Brown 1, Merrimack 0
Monday's Games
No Games Scheduled
Fanale puts us up early!💥
— Minnesota Women's Hockey (@GopherWHockey) October 19, 2025
📺 : B1G+ | FOX9+ pic.twitter.com/hpgmdoXeod
Did You Notice?
• Former UConn center Tage Thompson told NHL.com that he believes his performance on the gold-medal U.S. team at the World Championship will boost his chances of being on the team for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games after not being on the squad for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. “I think probably the biggest thing I took out of it was the mindset. It’s a short tournament, so it’s kind of that desperation mode right from the beginning. But being able to balance that without having any panic in your game. “[We were] put in a do-or-die situation early on in the tournament, but I felt like there was no panic; there was just belief throughout our group that we were going to get it done. And I think that calmness in the locker room was something that I found very instrumental in our win and it’s something I think we’re going to try to correlate and bring here into Buffalo.”
• One of the players this Breakaway On SI story is about is former Denver defenseman Zeev Buium: Islanders, Wild Rookie Defensemen Starting Something Special
• Two days after Rory Edwards made 23 saves during a 2-1 victory against Boston University, Anya Zupkofska notched her first career shutout. Brown outshot Merrimack 43-10, including 15-1 in the first period and 22-3 in the final period.
• According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman the Ottawa Senators have an eight-year contract extension offer on the table for former North Dakota center Shane Pinto. He said: “The NHL leader in goals, he is red hot to start the year. There’s been a lot of talk locally about his future. His contract is up after this year, though he has two more years before he’s an unrestricted free agent. But, hearing this week, the Senators put an 8-year offer on the table for Pinto. Now I’m not saying anything is imminent, and I don’t necessarily think anything is close, but what I do believe is the Senators wanted to show that they are serious about putting a stake in the ground to keep him.” Pinto, 24, is off to a scorching-hot start this season with seven goals and one assist in six games.
On This Date in Hockey History:
October 20, 1948: Minnesota goaltender Murray McLachlan was born in London, Ontario.
October 20, 1966: Minnesota defenseman Todd Richards was born in Robbinsdale, Minn.
October 20, 1978: Providence right wing Mike Farrell was born in Edina, Minn.
October 20, 1978: Wayne Gretzky scored his first two professional goals for the Indianapolis Racers (WHA), against the Edmonton Oilers. He was still 17 and obviously didn’t know it at the time but would only play six more games for the Racers before being traded to the Oilers.
October 20, 1979: The US Hockey Hall of Fame enshrined John Riley Jr. and Robert Dill.
October 20, 1986: Providence defenseman Matt Taormina was born in Warren, Mich.
October 20, 1989: Boston University center Colin Wilson was born in Greenwich, Conn.
October 20, 2011: Former Wisconsin left wing Dany Heatley scored with 1.2 seconds left in regulation and former St. Cloud State center Matt Cullen scored the shootout winner to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory at Edmonton. On the same night, former Wisconsin defenseman Ryan McDonagh scored with two seconds remaining in overtime to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 win at Calgary.
October 20, 2021: Former Boston University defenseman Charlie McAvoy notched his 100th assist in his 237th NHL game.
Hockey Quote of the Day
“Everyone talks about athleticism in goalies and I don’t think that their view of athleticism is the be-all and end-all. They always talk about, ‘Oh he’s so athletic, he can make a save any way,’ but the thing is, he doesn’t need to. If you keep yourself in position, you give yourself a chance at all times to make the save as opposed to being able to dive around and do the splits.”Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell)
We'll Leave You With This ...
Augustana appears to be a really enjoying the weekend sweep of No. 15 Arizona State:
𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚#WeHoldThePen ⚔️ #BuildingChampions pic.twitter.com/U9ABlIGI5h
— Augustana Men's Hockey (@AugieMHockey) October 19, 2025
Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of Alabama Crimson Tide On SI, which first published as BamaCentral in 2018, and is also the publisher of the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt sites . He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004 and is the author of 27 books including “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” and “Nick Saban vs. College Football.” He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.
Follow BamaCentral