For the seventh year in a row the No. 6/5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will be participating in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Championships. The Bulldogs will face No. 4 the University of Minnesota in one of the semi-final games on Saturday, March 11 at 4:07 p.m. A win would put them in the championship game that will be played at 1:07 p.m. on Sunday, March 12. The other semi-final game will be between the No. 2 University of Wisconsin and No. 10 St. Cloud State University at 1:07 p.m. on Saturday.

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UMD Bulldog Women's Hockey Game Notes at WCHA Playoff Championships (March 11-12, 2006)



THE RECORDS: UMD is now 22-7-3 overall and finished the 2005-2006 season with a 18-7-3 record in the WCHA. The Gophers are 26-9-1 overall and ended the year with a 19-8-1 league record. The Badgers head into the tournament with a 31-4-1 overall record and a top finish in the WCHA at 24-3-1. The Huskies are the fourth seed with a 18-17-1 recorded and a 13-14-1 league finish.

GOPHER NOTES: This is the seventh appearance for Minnesota in the WCHA Tournament as well. The Gophers have a 9-4-0 record at the tournament. Sophomore F Erica McKenzie is at the top of the scoring charts for the Gophers with 51 total points, including a team high 27 goals. Freshman F Gigi Marvin is the assist leader on the team with 28 and 44 total points. Minnesota has split the time in net between two rookie netminders. Brittony Chartier has a 13-7-1 record with a .916 saves percentage and a 1.98 goals against average. Kim Hanlon has complied a .948 saves percentage and 1.02 goals against average in her 15 games played with a 13-2-0 record. The magic number for a win over the Gophers is two. All nine of their losses have been when they have allowed their opponents to score two or more goals.

THE TOURNAMENT: This year's tournament was switched around to be more like the men's side of the WCHA Final Five Tournament. The top four teams in the league hosted best-of-three first-round games, with the winners advancing to the WCHA Playoff Championships at Ridder Arena. Wisconsin defeated the University North Dakota, Minnesota downed Minnesota State University, Mankato, the Bulldogs took out Bemidji State University, and the Huskies defeated The Ohio State University; all in two games. There will be no third place game this season.

AGAINST MINNESOTA: The Bulldogs are 2-2-0 against Minnesota so far this season…this will be the fourth time that the two teams have met in the WCHA playoffs…UMD holds a 2-1-0 advantage in that series…the all-time series currently stands at 15-13-4 in favor of the Gophers…the last meeting between the Bulldogs and Minnesota in the WCHA playoffs was back on March 14, 2004 when UMD lost to the Gophers 2-4 to end their run for a fourth national championship...Top-10 Patty Kazmaier Finalist Noemie Marin and junior F Jessica Koizumi have had the best results against the Gophers so far in the 2005-2006 season. Each player had six points; Marin with three goals and assists, and Koizumi with one goal and five assists. Senior D Krista McArthur is close behind with four and rookie F Michaela Lanzl has tallied three. Of the three teams that UMD could face in the tournament junior G Riitta Schaublin has the best number against the Gophers. Schaublin, a Top-10 Patty Kazmaier Finalist has a .933 saves percentage and a 2.00 goals against average.

WCHA HONORS: Schaublin was the top honoree for the Bulldogs in the 2006 WCHA Awards announced on Wednesday, March 8. Schaublin was named the WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year and to the WCHA All-First Team. Marin and sophomore D Rachael Drazan were named to the WCHA All-Second Team, while rookie F Michaela Lanzl and senior D Krista McArthur earned spots on the WCHA All-Third Team. Lanzl was also named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team. Nine players were named to the WCHA All-Academic Team. Junior D Rachael Bertram, sophomore F Karine Demeule, Drazan, sophomore F Erin Holznagel, Koizumi, junior F Allison Lehrke, Marin, Schaublin, and junior D Suvi Vacker.

KOIZUMI ZOOMING: Junior F Jessica Koizumi had an outstanding weekend as she tallied a personal season high point total for the Simi Valley, Cali native. Koizumi is now on a personal career high four game point-scoring streak and a three game goal-scoring streak. The point streak dates back to Feb. 24, 2006 against Minnesota State University, Mankato. The goal streak is from Feb. 25, 2006 to the present.

NCAA SELECTION SHOW: After all the individual league championships are completed on Sunday, the NCAA will be announcing the brackets for the 2006 Women's Frozen Four. The announcement will be made on College Sports Television (CSTV) at 8:45 p.m. EST. CSTV is available on Direct TV (Channel 610) and Dish Network (Channel 152) and various cable systems throughout the nation. The brackets will also be available online at www.ncaasports.com after the selection show.

RANKINGS: The Bulldogs held steady at the No. 6 spot in the USCHO.com poll and at No. 5 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll released this week. UMD is one of four WCHA teams in the polls, as all four participants in the 2006 WCHA Playoff Championships are ranked in the Top-10. The Bulldogs are also holding at No. 5 in the USCHO.com pairwise rankings.

ON THE AIR: For the seventh year, you can hear all the action for the Bulldogs home and away games live. Saturday's game can be heard on 610 AM (KDAL) and if UMD advances to the championship game it will be covered on 710 AM (WDSM). Tom Hansen will be handling the play-by-play duties for his sixth season, the longest of any women’s hockey play-by-play announcer in the country. The broadcast can be heard via the internet at: www.umdbulldogs.com. Click on the “Bulldogs on the Air” link. Follow the link to WARP radio and enter in the call letter “WDSM,” then hit “Go.” Finally, click the “Click Here to Listen” link.

LIVE VIDEO WEB-CAST/STATS: Minnesota will be providing live stats for all games during the WCHA Playoff Championships. The stats can be accessed on the Minnesota website (www.gophersports.com). USCHO.com will also be providing a free live video and audio web-cast of the games. Fans will be able to view both semifinals and the championship game via the USCHO women’s page (www.uscho.com/women). Technical production will be provided by BroadcastMonsters (www.bcmonsters.com). Users will need a broadband Internet connection (300 kbps or higher) and Windows Media Player to view the video feed.

BADGER NOTES: This also the seventh trip to the WCHA finals for Wisconsin. The Badgers have a 8-7-0 record in the tournament, including a 2-1-0 record in 2005. The top scorer for Wisconsin is junior F Sara Bauer, a Top-10 Patty Kazmaier Finalist. Bauer has 48 points, including a team leading 21 goals and 27 assists. Senior F Sharon Cole is right behind her with 37 points. The Badgers have played three different goaltenders throughout the 2005-2006 campaign. Their top netminder is senior Meghan Horras, who has a 15-2-1 record. Horras has compiled a .925 saves percentage and a 1.57 goals against average. Junior Christine Dufour is 9-1-0, with a .942 saves percentage and a 1.10 GAA. The final goaltender, who has seen more action recently is sophomore Jessie Vetter. Vetter is 7-1-0 on the year with a .939 saves percentage and 1.08 GAA. One of the keys to defeating Wisconsin is to keep them out of the offensive zone with tough defense and to keep them off the scoreboard. All four of their losses this season have come with they have failed to score more than two goals.

HUSKY NOTES: The second half of the season has been good to St. Cloud State. Since January the Huskies have recorded a 11-7-0 record, while the first half of the season they went 7-10-1. The leading scorer for St. Cloud is Kristy Oonincx, with 15 goals and 29 assists for 44 points. Junior F Hailey Clarkson is number two on the team with 38 points. Junior netminder Lauri St. Jacques has seen most of the time between the pipes for the Huskies tallying a 12-12-1 record. St. Jacques has a .921 saves percentage and a 2.32 goals against average. She will be the key to the Huskies win or loss in the tournament as she has been tough to score on in the last few weeks.

BULLDOG BITS: Mari Pehkonen, Lehrke, and Koizumi tallied goals just 1:19 apart on Friday, March 3...that was just six second faster than the UMD record for the fastest three goals...after missing the last three series at the 2006 Winter Olympics with Team Germany, Lanzl started the scoring for the Bulldogs at 3:23 in the first period on Friday, March 11, 2006…the goal was Lanzl first point since Jan. 20, 2006 against Minnesota and her first goal since Nov. 26, 2005 against Harvard University...Schaublin earned her fourth shut-out of the 2005-2006 season, stopping all 24 shots by Bemidji State on March 4.