In a Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown with all sorts of ramifications, the No. 8/9 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will face No. 9/10 Bemidji State University the day after Thanksgiving. The Bulldogs are curently sitting in third place in the WCHA, while the Beavers have played two less games and are in sixth. Both Friday and Saturday's contests are slated to get underway at 2:07 p.m.
THE SERIES: All-time, UMD is 59-4-2 against the Beavers and went 3-1-0 against BSU last season, outscoring the Beavers 10-5. BSU will be the fourth top-10 squad the Bulldogs have faced so far this season, with six of their first 16 games against teams ranked in the top-eight.
UMD last tangled with Bemidji State back on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, a sweep for the Bulldogs by scores of 5-3 and 2-1 in Bemidji, Minn.
UMD built up a 3-0 lead over the Beavers with two first period goals on Jan. 31, including a power-play tally by then defenseman convert Jenna McParland and Meghan Huertas in less than 13 minutes. Ashleigh Brykaliuk made it a three goal game 7:40 into the second period, and after the Bulldogs allowed a power play goal a little under two minutes later, Brykaliuk netted a short-handed score to give UMD a 4-1 advantage into the second intermission. BSU scored two unanswered third period goals before Huertas recorded the empty-netter with just 36 seconds remaining to seal the UMD triumph.
On Feb. 1, UMD was outshot 18-12 in the first two periods and 27-22 in the game but still managed to secure a 2-1 win over the Beavers. Brykaliuk opened the games limited scoring with just 2:01 left in the second period, while Zoe Hickel netted a power-play goal and eventual game-winner 11:17 into the third stanza.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs earned their fourth-straight sweep and extended their current winning streak to nine games with a sweep over Cornell University at AMSOIL Arena. Friday night UMD used four third period goals to blow open the game en route to a 7-2 triumph. 13 players recorded at least a point for the first since Feb. 22, 2012 and seven had two or more. Sophomore blueliner Sidney Morin led the Bulldogs with a goal and two assists for a team-high three points, while senior winger Zoe Hickel added two goals. UMD was 50% on the power play, going 3-of-6.
Saturday night, the Bulldogs scored twice in the first six minutes of the second period to secure their ninth-straight victory. Sophomore forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk had a short handed goal at 1:04 of the second stanza, while Hickel added her third tally of the series at 5:49. Kayla Black earned her fifth shutout of the season.
NOTES FROM THE CORNELL SERIES: The two wins keeps the Bulldogs perfect all-time against Cornell at 3-0 and now 30-10-4 all-time against the ECAC.
--UMD was a perfect 11-of-11 on its power play against Cornell and is now ranked 10th in the NCAA with 88.5 penalty kill success rate on 54-of-61 attempts, with two shorthanded goals.
--The Bulldogs own the nation's No. 9 power play at 22.5 and tallied four goals with an extra skater against Cornell.
--The Bulldogs have now won nine straight games, the most victories in a row by a Bulldog squad since the 2010-11 season. That 10-game streak began on Jan. 28, 2010 and lasted until Feb. 26, 2010, and included six shutouts. UMD currently has recorded four shutouts in its last nine wins.
BLACKOUT: Junior netminder Kayla Black tied her own single-season best of five shutouts on a season last Saturday when she picked up her fifth shutout. Black is tied for second in the NCAA for clean sheets.
Black also now owns 14 career shutouts to her name, just two behind former UMD All-Americans Kim Martin (16) and the Bulldogs' all-time shutout leader Riitta Schaublin (17).
SCORING STREAKERS: Both Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Jenna McParland and Zoe Hickel extended their scoring streaks last weekend. Brykaliuk stretched her career-long string to eight games with seven goals and seven assists for 14 points over that span. Brykaliuk is averaging 1.75 points a game over her current streak and the Bulldogs are 8-0 over that time. McParland is now at seven games with three goals and six helpers for nine points over that time, while Hickel has scored in her last six games, including seven goals and three assists for 10 points.
In all, besides the three players with six or more game scoring streaks, three other players have picked up points in their past two games (Sidney Morin, Meghan Huertas and Lara Stalder).
BULLDOG NOTES: Currently, UMD owns the second-longest winning streak in the NCAA and the longest in the WCHA.
--Ashleigh Brykaliuk leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points on nine goals and nine assists, and trails her rookie total by just five points now (11-12=23). Zoe Hickel and Jenna McParland are tied for second with 15 points each; Hickel with a team-high 10 goals and five assists and McParland with six goals and nine assists. In all, six players are already into double digits in points.
--Both Hickel and Brykaliuk are averaging at least a point a game, with Hickel at 1.00 ppg and Brykaliuk at 1.12 ppg. McParland is just under at 0.93 ppg.
--McParland leads UMD with a +10 rating, followed by Brykaliuk at +9.
CHART TOPPERS: Now with 108 career points (49g, 59a), Jenna McParland has taken over sole possession as the 16th all-time leading scorer in Bulldog history. She is now tied for the No. 15 slot and short of the No. 14 mark by three points. In that same vein, senior blueliner Brigette Lacquette now ranks as the 10th all-time scoring defenseman, sits ninth in goals scored (15) and is now tied for 10th spot for assists by a blueliner.
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