By Michael Heilman

The defending Isobel Cup champions Minnesota Whitecaps opened their 2019-20 NWHL season with a convincing 9-2 win over the Metropolitan Riveters Saturday afternoon from the Tria Rink in St. Paul, MN.

The Whitecaps opened the first period scoring forty-nine seconds into the game as Jonna Curtis scored with Amanda Boulier getting the assist to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

The Riveters then answered back with a Kate Leary goal with an assist from Madison Packer to tie the game up 1-1.

The Riveters then took the lead on a goal by Rebecca Morse with Cailey Hutchinson and Madison Packer, getting assists to put Metropolitan up 2-1.

Less than a minute later, the Whitecaps tied the game up at 2-2 as Jonna Curtis would get her second goal of the game with Nicole Schammel and Meaghan Pezon both getting assists. The Whitecaps then took a 3-2 lead when Allie Thunstrom scored on a Whitecaps powerplay with assists from Meghan Lorence and Emma Stauber to end the first period.

From there on, it was all Minnesota. The Whitecaps Nicole Schammel scored just fifty-seven seconds into the second period on a shorthanded goal with Sydney Baldwin getting the assist to extend the Whitecaps lead 4-2. Minnesota’s Meghan Lorence would score on a rebound to further the lead 5-2 with Stephanie Anderson and Amanda Boulier, both assisting in Lorence’s goal. Meghan Lorence would then get her second goal of the game stealing the puck from Riveters Colleen Murphy and lifting the puck to the left side of the goalie to give the Whitecaps a 6-2 lead. With less than five minutes left in the second period, Jonna Curtis would complete the hat trick goal with assists from Amanda Boulier and Nichole Schammel to make it a 7-2 Minnesota lead at the end of the second period.

Nicole Schammel continued the scoring spree for the Whitecaps a little over three minutes into the third period when she scored her second goal of the game with Jonna Curtis and Amanda Boulier getting assists to add to Minnesota’s lead 8-2. With over six minutes left to play, Whitecaps Sydney Baldwin scored the final goal with an assist from Amanda Boulier to give the Whitecaps a 9-2 victory over the Riveters.

The three stars of the game were Jonna Curtis, who had three goals and one assist. Amanda Boulier with five assists and Nicole Schammel with two goals and two assists. Minnesota Whitecaps goalie Amanda Leveille made thirty-five saves out of thirty-seven and, allowing just two goals.

These two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon from the Tria Rink with the puck dropping at 4 pm est, 3 pm cst. The game can be seen on the NWHL Twitch channel.