Adrianna Milani, 17, leads the country and carries Minnesota into Duluth
The Gophers lose three players to the worlds this weekend, and their freshman with 10 goals in eight games is the answer.
Minnesota is sending three players to the worlds and heading to Duluth without them, and the reason that isn't a crisis is a 17-year-old freshman. Adrianna Milani has 10 goals in eight games, the most in the country, and this weekend is where we find out how much of the load she can carry.
The number
Ten goals in eight games is 1.25 a night, by our count. She scored four of them in last weekend's sweep of Lindenwood. She did it a year younger than most of her class, on a team that had to replace Abbey Murphy's goals.
None of this comes out of nowhere. Milani scored 10 goals for Canada at the 2026 U18 Women's Worlds, where Canada took silver. She's from Oakville, Ont., and spent three seasons with the Etobicoke Junior Dolphins before Minnesota.
"She obviously has a knack for scoring goals," Gophers coach Greg "Boom" May said, which is the kind of understatement a coach is allowed when his freshman leads the nation.
Milani was more honest about the jump. "It's definitely been a big adjustment for me," she said. It doesn't look like it from the stat line.
The weekend
No. 2 Minnesota (7-1-0) plays at No. 13 Minnesota Duluth (6-2-0) tonight and Saturday at AMSOIL Arena, going by this week's USCHO poll. It's a WCHA series, and it comes with holes on both benches.
The Gophers are without junior defender Chloe Primerano, junior forward Julia Schalin and sophomore forward Tereza Plosova, who are off to prepare for the worlds with Canada, Finland and Czechia. Primerano leads Minnesota's defenders with eight points.
May isn't thrilled about the calendar. "I just don't know if it's fair to the teams and the athletes to have to do this in the midyear every year," he said.
Duluth is short too. The Bulldogs are without top scorer Caitlin Kraemer, who has seven goals, and goalie Ève Gascon, who has allowed two goals in five games with four shutouts.
The W read
With Gascon out, this is the softer version of the UMD weekend, and it sets up for Milani. My call: she scores in both games, and Minnesota leaves Duluth with at least a split. The worlds break was supposed to test the Gophers' depth. It's going to test whether the freshman is the depth.
