Thornton also doubles as a defensive specialist, often drawing the assignment to shut down the opposition's top player.

Today, that will almost assuredly be the multi-talented Gopher freshman forward Jenny Schmidgall, a member of the 1998 gold medal US Olympic team. She leads the offense with 66 points in her rookie season.

After Schmidgall, a trio of sophomores forms the heart of the Minnesota attack. Forward Erica Shulz and defensemen Nadine Muzerall and Winny Brodt all have over 40 points this year.

In its games against teams in the Final Four this season, this quartet has accounted for all of the Minnesota goals.

Brodt, a transfer this year from UNH, has special motivation to light up her former team.

Minnesota has an extra advantage this weekend, playing on its home ice for the tournament. It has only lost two games at Mariucci Arena this year--to Harvard and its semifinal opponent No. 4 Brown.

The Golden Gophers enter the weekend riding a modest three-game winning streak, while the Wildcats had a five-game streak snapped in their heartbreaking ECAC final loss to the Crimson.

In particular, UNH is a team that has a long playoff tradition. Though the AWCHA tournament is only in its second year, the Wildcats have not missed an appearance in the finals of the ECAC tournament since 1987-88.

"I think we have proven that you don't need Olympic talent to play at that level," Kay said.

And despite its independent status, Minnesota has always been in the upper echelons of college hockey.

This should prove to be a closely fought, even match-up for that precious slot in the championship game. Contrary to popular belief, both of these teams have enough talent to move on to tomorrow night's finale and claim the championship.