Former Wildcats meet in NCAA championship game

Former Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats’ captain Shelby Nisbet helped the Clarkson University Golden Knights to their first women’s hockey national championship Sunday. The Wiseton native scored a goal in the 5-4 win over the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers to help the Knights end the Gophers’ two-year championship run. She tipped home a point shot with 20 seconds left in the first period to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead.

Nisbet’s longtime teammate Baylee Gillanders scored for the Gophers in the loss. Both seniors were playing their final collegiate game.

The Golden Knights finished the season with a 31-5-5 record and became the first team from outside the Western Collegiate Hockey Association to win the NCAA women’s ice hockey national title.

Nisbet, 5’6’’ forward, finished with nine goals and seven assists in 39 games with a +11 rating in her final season.

The Golden Gophers finished with a 382-1 record after winning the WCHA regular season and playoffs. Gillanders, a 5’11’’ defenseman from Kyle, finished the season with 14 points in 39 games with a +39 rating. She finished her career as a two-time national champion with a +142 rating in 159 games in a Golden Gophers uniform. The former Wildcat was named a defenseman on the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team.