With seven of the NCAA's nine national championships securely between them, the No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth and the No. 5 University of Wisconsin will pick up their storied rivalry right where they left it off this weekend at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. The Bulldogs and Badgers will be playing for sole possession of second-place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, where both teams currently sit with 21 league points apiece. The puck will drop on the series Saturday night at 7:07 p.m., and will carry over to Sunday with a 4 p.m. start time.
UMD NOTES VS. WISCONSIN
THE SERIES: The No. 7 Bulldogs are 23-19-9 all-time against the Badgers after earning two points from them the hard way in Madison a month ago.
After dropping the Dec. 4 contest 3-1, UMD picked up a 2-2 tie and shootout win Dec. 6. Rookie netminder Jennifer Harss was the story of the series, making 73 saves on the 77 shots she faced. Harss turned away 40 shots in the Dec. 4, 3-1 setback (the third goal was an open-netter in the final four seconds). She then made 33 stops in UMD's 2-2 tie on Dec. 6. The Bulldogs received goals from senior forward Emmanuelle Blais and rookie forward Jessica Wong on Sunday, with junior forward Laura Fridfinnson picking up her 100th career point on Blais' tally with an assist. Three Bulldog rookies stepped up for the shootout, with Audrey Cournoyer and Katie Wilson scoring on their attempts. But it was Harss who kept the net empty to help UMD pick up the extra league point from the shootout win.
The overtime game on Dec. 6 was the 14th in history between the Bulldogs and Badgers, and the eighth in the past four seasons. UMD's nine ties are the most UMD shares with any other team in the NCAA.
The Bulldogs' are 1-4-3 against Wisconsin in it's last eight skates, including two postseason setbacks in the WCHA and NCAA semifinal games of a season ago.
LAST WEEK: UMD (13-7-2, 9-5-2) will suit up for it's first series of 2010 against the Badgers. The Bulldogs, who have not played a game since their Dec. 13 skate with Bemidji State, may not have been together much recently, but six current UMD players were in Ravensburg, Germany last weekend for the 2010 MLP Cup.
Rookie forward Jessica Wong joined senior forward Emmanuelle Blais and junior defenseman Jocelyne Larocque in helping Canada's U-22 team win gold over Switzerland 9-0 last Sunday. The three were a part of 16 current and former UMD players who suited up for five national teams, including Team Finland members Saara Tuominen and Mariia Posa, and goaltender Jennifer Harss who protected the pipes for Germany.
LAROCQUE'S RETURN: Just a month removed from her Team Canada centralization, junior defenseman Jocelyne Larocque is suiting back up for UMD.
The Bulldogs' will be getting more than just another player with the Ste Anne, Manitoba native back on their roster. Larocque is UMD's only First Team All-American defenseman in program history, and ranks No. 5 all-time among Bulldog blueliners in scoring with 63 points (8g, 55a) -- after just her first two seasons. Just one year ago she led the NCAA in scoring from the backline for over eight weeks, with an average of 1.03 points a game.
While Larocque officially hit the ice with UMD earlier this week, the defenseman just a week ago helped Canada's U-22 Team win a gold medal in the 2010 MLP Cup in Ravensburg, Germany. Larocque dished out two assists in four games in Germany, and posted a plus-minus rating of +7.
TWO MORE OLYMPIANS FOR UMD: UMD's women's hockey program has become synonymous with the Winter Olympics, and the current crop of Bulldogs are only strengthing that world-class bond.
Senior captain Saara Tuominen and freshman blueliner Mariia Posa were named to Team Finland's 2010 Olympic roster Tuesday, joining Bulldog alum Heidi Pelttari to give Finland a strong UMD presence in Vancouver. While Tuominen was a 2006 Olympian with Finland, Posa will be making her first appearance in the Olympic games after improving her stock from a alternate on Team Finland at the 2009 IIHF World Championship last spring.
Of course, the Bulldogs, who are already without five currently rostered players due to Olympic commitments this season, will lose Tuominen and Posa for eight games, beginning with UMD's series against North Dakota in Grand Forks on Jan. 30-31. The two won't return until the Bulldogs' regular season has been wrapped up, but will be back for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
Along with the seven current Bulldog players who will hit the ice in Vancouver, UMD has a total of 15 former players and coaches who will represent their respective Olympic teams, a number that no NCAA program in the country can compete with.
Of the 15 current and former Bulldog Olympians slated to skate in Vancouver, only three -- Posa, Haley Irwin and Elin Holmlov -- have not competed in the Olympic Games before.
In all, 22 current and former Bulldog players and coaches have been named to their countries respective Olympic teams since UMD began a program just 11 years ago.
HAPPY WITH HARSS HOME: As the lone Bulldog 2006 Olympian who will not be returning to Vancouver (due to Team Germany failing to qualify), rookie goaltender Jennifer Harss will make a run at UMD's goaltending records.
Harss, a native of Rieden, Germany, has made a NCAA-best 623 saves in her first
22 games as a Bulldog, already the fifth most saves made by a UMD netminder in a single season. Her saves count also gives her the fifth most stops by a Maroon and Gold goaltender in a career.
She has earned more wins (13) than any other pipe-protector in the WCHA, and has grabbed the third most victories in all the NCAA. Harss has played the third most minutes by any netminder in the nation (trailing Lucy Schoedel of Syracuse by a mere three minutes), but has allowed fewer goals against (47) than either of those two goaltenders.
BADGER BAITERS: The current senior class has faced Wisconsin more than any other program since they have suited up in the Maroon and Gold. With 19 possible skates with the Badgers over their careers, UMD's current elder class has faced Wisconsin in the past three NCAA Frozen Fours. In fact, two seniors and a junior on the current roster have scored ten or more points against Wisconsin over their careers. Senior forward Saara Tuominen heads that list, with Tuominen at one goals and 10 assists for 11 points against the Badgers. Classmate Emmanuelle Blais has scored five goals and dished five assists, including two scores that have been netted during NCAA championship title games.
Junior forward Laura Fridfinnson, who has suited up against Wisconsin 14 times over her career, has a Bulldog-high six goals and four assists for ten total points.
All three players earned points in UMD's last outing against Wisconsin on Dec. 6, with Tuominen dishing two assists, Blais recording a goal, and Fridfinnson picking up an assist.
BLAIS-ING TOWARDS A CAREER SEASON: She is merely a few weeks removed from becoming just the 12th player in UMD history to become a member of the 100 career-point club, but senior forward Emmanuelle Blais shows no signs of slowing down.
The native of LaSalle, Quebec continues her torrid pace for a career season, leading UMD in scoring with 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points. Blais ranks No. 10 in the NCAA and fourth in the WCHA in point scoring. Blais has notched two or more points during an outing on 10 occasions so far this season, or in almost half of UMD's games. She has notched a point in 17-of-22 contests, and has three times recorded three or more points.
Currently, Blais is on track to set a new personal season best for scoring. Her current pile of 30 points leaves her just four points shy of her freshman career high output of 34 (14g, 20). Her career point haul of 110 points puts her in theNo. 10 slot on UMD's all-time scoring list. With 54 goals (as well as 56 assists) in her 126 career skates, she ranks No. 8 among Bulldogs' in all-time for goals.
ROOKIES GOING ROGUE: With only nine players returning from the 2008-09 squad, it was assumed the 2009-10 Bulldogs would have to rely heavily on their influx of new freshmen to carry the load this season. While the current crop of rookies have held up to the early expectations, having scored 31 of UMD's 67 goals to date, they are more of a rule than an exception in Bulldog program history.
22 games into the current season, four freshmen have recorded 10 or more points, including Katie Wilson with 22, and Audrey Cournoyer who has 16. While two of those rookies rank in the top-13 for scoring by freshmen in the nation, with Wilson at No. 3 (10g, 12a) and Cournoyer at No. 13 with 16 (4g, 12a), in program history, the Bulldogs have had four or more rookies score 10 or more points during seven of 11 seasons.
The Bulldogs' rookie class of 2007-08, which included current players Laura Fridfinnson, Jocelyne Larcoque and Tara Gray, had five freshmen score score 10 points, four of whom had 25 or more, and three, including Fridfinnson, registered over 40 in 39 skates.
UMD's initial rookie class of 1999-00 had seven players rake in 10 points, with six over 24 points and three who turned in 50 or more through 32 games.
AND FRIDFINNSON MAKES 13: Laura Fridfinnson became the 13th member of UMD's 100 career point-club on Dec.6, and is the second Bulldog this year to join the club. She joins Emmanuelle Blais and senior forward Saara Tuominen as the third currently rostered UMD player to reach the milestone.
Fridfinnson, a native of Arborg, Manitoba, had the assist on Blais' goal against the Badgers at 17:20 of the first period. The assist was No. 49 of her career, while her 100 points came in just 100 career games. Fridfinnson -- who currently is the Bulldogs' second leading scorer this season with 24 points (9g, 15a) -- is the No. 9 all-time goal scorer in UMD history with 51 tallies.
The junior forward is the sixth Bulldog in the past two seasons to notch 100 points over a career. She is also the third player in that group to reach 100 during her junior season (Tuominen and Elin Holmlov did it last year.) Fridfinnson's clasmmate, Haley Irwin, recorded her 100th point as a sophomore late last season.
BULLDOG NOTES: This weekend will be a battle for sole possession of second place in the WCHA...Both UMD and Wisconsin have collected 21 points in the league prior to this series...The Bulldogs have not swept the Badgers since the 2007-08 season when UMD handed UW to setbacks on Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2007...Rookie netminder Jennifer Harss leads the NCAA with 623 saves, while senior forward Emmanuelle Blas continues to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 30 points in her first 22 games of the season, ranking her 10th in the NCAA with an average of 1.36 points per game...Junior forward Laura Fridfinnson is ranked No. 19 in the NCAA with a 1.20 points per game average, and freshman forward Katie Wilson, UMD's third-leading scorer, is the No. 3 rookie scorer in the nation with 22 points....The Bulldogs are averaging 3.05 goals a game compared to 2.82 for the Badgers...Of the 48 goals UMD has allowed this season, 23 have been scored in the second period...With the17 skaters the Bulldogs have had in their first 22 games, 15 have recorded at least a point, with eight earning 10 or more points, and three scoring 20 or more.
A GLIMPSE OF THE BADGERS: After the Bulldogs, no team has been altered more due to the 2010 Winter Olympics than the Badgers have. Wisconsin is missing head coach Mark Johnson, 2008-09 NCAA leading scorer junior Hilary Knight, and junior forward Meghan Duggan, all of whom are with Team USA.
In their wake, sophomore forward Brooke Ammerman has picked up 25 points (15g, 10 a), and junior forward Mallory Deluce has added 16 (9g, 7a).
Filling in the void left by graduated goaltender Jessie Vetter is senior Alannah McCready and rookie Becca Ruegsegger, both of whom have split time between the pipes for the Badgers this season.
Wisconsin owns the second-worst power-play in the WCHA, scoring just eight times on 76 attempts. However, two of UW's eight power-play goals came against UMD in their series back on Dec.4 and Dec. 6.
ON THE AIR: Fans can listen to the Bulldogs on KDAL 610 AM Saturday and Sunday with Tom Hansen, who is in his tenth season covering play-by-play duties for the Maroon and Gold. Pre-game will begin 15 minutes before the puck drops. Bulldog fans can also catch the action online with B2tv Networks at http://www.b2tv.com.
