The Gophers entered the deciding game of their best-of-three WCHA quarterfinal series against Minnesota State Mankato on Sunday at Ridder Arena knowing they had to win to be a part of the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend at Ridder.

Head coach Brad Frost figured that was all the motivation his team needed, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

“(The coaches) told us that someone else will get your locker room if you don’t win this game,” said Gophers junior center Ella Huber. “So it was like, ‘All right, yeah.’ That’s enough to fire you up.”

The Gophers played like a team on a mission, beating the Mavericks 3-0.

Despite holding a wide advantage in overall play, the Gophers led only 1-0 through the first 55 minutes before a pair of goals by Josefin Bouveng, including one into an empty net, sealed the win.

“I was just confident in how we were playing,” Frost said when asked about any nervous moments he had behind the bench. “If they’re hemming us in and repeatedly getting scoring chances, then you get a little nervous. Our team played the right way.”

So, the third-seeded Gophers survive a scare from No. 6 Mankato, dropping the first game with a poor performance in a 5-4 loss before bouncing back in impressive fashion by outscoring the Mavericks 10-1 in the final two games.

Ohio State, the top seed, will play No. 4 Minnesota Duluth at 1 p.m. Friday followed by No. 2 Wisconsin vs. Gophers. Saturday’s winner receives an automatic bid to the 11-team NCAA Tournament field.

When Huber scored at 2:33 of the first period it appeared the Gophers were picking up where they left off after scoring five in the first period on Saturday. But the Mavericks managed to keep things close.

“I knew it would be a little bit harder of a fight tonight with being it their last game if they didn’t win,” Huber said. “They put up a good fight.”

The goal was Huber’s fifth of the series, giving her 16 on the season.

“I like playing Mankato for some reason,” she said with a smile. “They just fire me up. It was a good weekend. Our line played really well together.”

Bouveng, Huber’s left winger, added an assist to go with her two goals following a two-goal, three-assist performance in Game 2. And she did it while playing at less than 100 percent after getting banged up late in the game Saturday.

Both coach and player were reluctant to say much about the situation for competitive reasons.

“There’s a lot of players that are less than 100 percent at this time of year,” Frost said. “They gut it out because they want to.”

Offered Bouveng: “I played a full game and we won.”

The Gophers outshot the Mavericks 36-11, with Lucy Morgan getting the shutout in her second consecutive start. Despite Mankato’s low shot total, it did have some good scoring chances. One of Morgan’s best saves came at 13:36 of the third period when she got an arm on a shot by Alexis Paddington from the slot.

Just over a minute later, Bouveng scored off a scramble in front.

“Luckily I was able to see it cleanly,” Morgan said. “Usually, when there’s a point-blank shot someone is trying to step in front of it.”

Frost has alternated Morgan and Skylar Vetter in goal all season but elected to come back with Morgan after a strong performance on Saturday.

“I got a call (from Frost) around 7:30 (Saturday night),” Morgan said. “I was at dinner, so I didn’t want to seem overly excited. I kept it very businesslike. But the whole rest of the dinner I was, like, shaking.

“I ate my food really fast because I was so excited.”

Frost said nothing has been decided regarding who will get the start on Friday.

Disaster averted, the Gophers secured their position among the best teams in the WCHA and in the country.

“Maybe we weren’t fully ready the first game,” Bouveng said. “But now it’s only going to be better opponents coming ahead, so I think this was great preparation for that.”

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