The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team, with a smaller, Olympic-reduced roster, will hit the road for the first time in 2014 when it heads to Madison, Wisc. to face the No. 2 University of Wisconsin. Both games will be played in LaBahn Arena (2,273), with Saturday's start time set for 2:07 p.m. and Sunday's slated for 3:07 p.m.
UMD VS WISCONSIN PDF NOTES
THE SERIES: UMD is 29-29-11 all-time against the Badgers, and over the course of those 69 games, the two programs have needed overtime 22 times in an attempt to find a winner. In fact, over the course of the previous 15 seasons, the Bulldogs and Badgers avoided extra time during the season only twice -- UMD's first year in 1999-00 and in 2011-12.
Earlier this season the Bulldogs picked up two WCHA points against then ranked No. 2 Wisconsin with a tie and a shootout win back on Nov. 29 before dropping a and a 1-0 on Nov. 30 at AMSOIL Arena.
UMD's two goals against Wisconsin on Nov. 29 came from rookie Demi Crossman, who had a tip to secure the first score of the game, and senior winger Jamie Kenyon, who netted her seventh goal of the season. Junior winger Meghan Huertas struck for the only score in the shootout and Kayla Black turned away all three Badgers shooters and had 35 saves on the evening to help pick up the two WCHA points.
On Nov. 30 the Bulldogs put 28 shots on net, including 10 in the third period, but could not solve either Wisconsin goaltender in the skate. Black made 31 saves in the loss and Huertas had a team-high five shots.Â
In the last eight games, UMD and UW have needed overtime three times, with the Badgers taking two of those overtime skates and the two sides staying knotted in November.
Junior winger Jenna McParland leads all current Bulldogs with five goals and three assists against the Badgers for eight points in 11 games.
ABOUT WISCONSIN: Typically thought of as an offensive powerhouse, the Badgers currently lead the nation with a scoring defense average of 1.04 goals per outing, certainly in a big part to senior netminder Alex Rigsby, who leads the NCAA with a 1.02 GAA. Junior forward Brittany Ammerman leads UW with 31 points on 16 goals and 15 asists in 24 games. Head coach Mark Johnson is in his 11th season at the helm of the Badgers, who are currently 19-3-2 overall. 15-3-2 in the WCHA and 320-59-30 over his tenure.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD tied both games in its series with Ohio State at AMSOIL over the weekend, winning the shootout Saturday but surrendering it Sunday. On Saturday (Jan. 18) both teams played to a 0-0 tie, the second 0-0 tie in UMD's history, despite outshooting the Buckeyes 34-21 in the game. Rookie forward Katerina Mrázová scored the only goal of the shootout for the Bulldogs, just nine days into her UMD career, to seal the extra league point. Sophomore goaltender Kayla Black had 21 saves for her eighth career shutout. Â
Sunday UMD finally broke the 87 minute scoreless stalemate when freshman center Ashleigh Brykaliuk scored her seventh goal of the season, but the Bulldogs surrendered the equalizer 47 seconds later. UMD junior forward Zoe Hickel netted her ninth goal at the 4:33 mark of the second to return the lead to UMD, but an errant play by the Bulldogs late in the third period resulted in OSU's second goal, and neither team would score again. The Buckeyes then secured their fourth third point on the weekend, just like UMD, with a shootout win.
NOTES FROM THE OHIO STATE SERIES:Â UMD is now 52-11-6 all-time against the Buckeyes, and finish the regular season unbeaten by OSU with a 2-0-2 record.
--The Bulldogs have not triumphed over the Buckeyes at AMSOIL Arena in their last six attempts, going 0-4-2 over that span. Â
UMD's last win home win against the Buckeyes was on Feb. 25, 2012, a 3-2 triumph that sent the Bulldogs into the semifinals of the WCHA Final Face-Off.
--Zoe Hickel's goal last Sunday was her fourth in as many games, but the scoreless tie Saturday brought to a halt two four-game scoring streaks by Jamie Kenyon (4g, 2a) and Jenna McParland (1g, 4a).
--UMD's 0-0 tie on Saturday was the second one in program history. The other was just last season against Boston University on Dec. 9, 2012, also at AMSOIL Arena.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD sits four points behind third place North Dakota in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association conference race. UND sits with 39 total points on a 12-4-2 record (two shootout wins) in conference play, while the Bulldogs own 35 points and a 9-6-5 (3 shootout wins) record in the WCHA.Â
--Rookie defenseman Lara Stalder had an assist on both goals Sunday, her sixth contest this season with two or more points. Stalder has now netted 21 points (4g, 17a) in 24 skates, the most points by a rookie defenseman since Jocelyne Larocque contributed 26 points (4g, 22a) during the 2007-08 season.
--With five ties so far this season, the Bulldogs set a program record, surpassing the previous high of four. Sunday was UMD's fifth WCHA shootout of the season, also a program record. The Bulldogs have won three of their five shootouts this year.
--McParland continues to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 25 points (9g, 16a) in 24 games. Kenyon sits second with 24 (11g, 13a) and Stalder third with 21. Stalder is ranked sixth among all rookies and seventh among all defenseman in the NCAA. Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Kenyon both have five power-play goals, tying them for third in the NCAA.
--One week after sophomore goaltender Kayla Black moved into the fourth slot for career saves and now owns 1,356, Black settled into the seventh spot for most saves in a season. With 581 stops in 23 games so far this year, Black sits seventh, and is just 58 shy of overtaking the sixth spot currently held by former All-American Riitta Schaublin, who made 638 stops in 2004-05.
--Both Stalder and junior defenseman Tea Villila will leave Wednesday meet up with their respective Olympic squads this week and are expected to miss the next eight UMD games.
THE BULLDOG OLYMPICS: 11 current and former UMD players and one former assistant coach will suit up in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Bulldogs have players on six of the eight teams competing and have UMD connections on the ice for seven of the eight teams.
Two alums, Caroline Ouellette (Canada) and Kim Martin (Sweden) will be making their fourth Olympic appearances. Ouellette is a three-time gold medalist, while Martin owns a silver and bronze medal.
Eight of UMD's 11 current or fomer players in the Olympics will be making at least their second appearance in the Games. Four of those players have earned medals -- Ouellette (three gold), Haley Irwin (Canada, gold), Martin (silver and bronze) and Pernilla Winberg (Sweden, silver).
Notably, UMD two-time All-American Ouellette will captain team Canada. In addition to Ouellette, the Bulldogs have two other former All-Americans in Sochi -- Canada defenseman Jocelyne Larocque (2010-11, 2008-09) and Swedish netminder Martin (2007-08).
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