The No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will play Ohio State University this weekend in Columbus, Ohio to put the wraps on the 2014 portion of the current season. The Bulldogs, winners in 10 of their last 11 games, will hit the ice with the Buckeyes at 5:07 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday night.
THE SERIES: All-time, UMD is 58-12-2 against Ohio State. The Bulldogs finished up last season 4-1-2 overall head-to-head with the Buckeyes.
The two programs last met in the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association on Feb. 28, March 1 and March 2 at AMSOIL Arena. The Bulldogs and Ohio State met for the third straight season in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and the Bulldogs took two of three games, winning 1-0, losing 3-2 and then advancing on a 5-1 triumph.
Then senior center Jamie Kenyon netted the first of her three goals in the series against the Buckeyes the first night (Feb. 28), netting the lone goal of the entire game, a 1-0 Bulldog win.
The following day (March 1) UMD outplayed and outshot OSU 34-16, but the goals were hard to come by in its first loss to the Buckeyes on the season, a 3-2 game that set-up the third and final game. Ashleigh Brykaliuk had an assist on both goals in the skate.
The Sunday, March 2 contest was all UMD, as the Bulldogs struck first 9:24 in the first period and never looked back, earning the 5-1 win. Four players had two or more points Sunday, led by Zoe Hickel's two goal, one assist outing. Kenyon had a goal and an assist, while both Meghan Huertas and Tea Vililla each had two assists. In all, nine players ended up with points.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD (11-5-2, 6-5-1) saw its nine-game winning streak come to an end last Friday night before salvaging a series split with No. 9 Bemidji State Saturday.
Friday night the Bulldogs struck first 6:30 into the game on a Bridgette Lacquette goal, but the Beavers responded with four unanswered goals, including an open net tally to beat UMD 4-1. It was the Bulldogs first loss since Oct. 17 and only the fifth ever loss for UMD against BSU in 67 meetings. The Bulldogs outshot BSU 13-4 in the third period and 32-25 in the game.
Saturday, UMD again scored first, this time 2:23 into the contest, thanks to senior winger
Zoe Hickel. That goal would stand as the eventual game-winner, though
Meghan Huertas added an open net tally with 58 seconds left to ice the contest for the Bulldogs. Bemidji outshot UMD 32-29 in the skate, including 19-4 in the second period, but goaltender
Kayla Black earned her sixth shutout of the season. UMD was a perfect 4-of-4 on the penalty kill.
NOTES FROM THE BEMIDJI STATE SERIES: UMD is now 60-5-2 all-time against the Beavers, including 5-1 over the past two seasons. Two of those Bulldog wins were shutouts credited to current UMD goaltender
Kayla Black.
--The loss last Friday ended UMD's winning streak at nine games, one short of the 10 game-winning streak the 2010-11 UMD squad put together between Jan. 28 through Feb. 26, 2011.
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Ashleigh Brykaliuk and
Jenna McParland both saw their scorings streaks halted, with Brykaliuk ending on eight games with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) and McParland at seven games, with three goals and six helpers for nine points.
BLACK GLOVES WCHA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: After stonewalling No. 9 Bemidji State University last Saturday, Kayla Black is the newest Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Defensive Player of the Week.The junior goaltender from Blythe, Ontario had 52 saves over the weekend against the Beavers and helped the No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team earn a 2-0 win Saturday by shutting down all 32 of BSU's shots on goal. UMD was also a perfect 4-of-4 on the power play.Black earned her sixth shutout on the season Saturday, making her the first UMD goaltender in a decade to post more than five shutouts. The last and only Bulldog netminder ever to do so was All-American Riitta Schaublin, who collected seven during the 2004-05 season, which stands as a UMD record to this day. Black also now has 15 career shutouts, one behind All-American Kim Martin (16) and two behind UMD shutout leader Schaublin (17).WIth a current goals against average of 1.76 (15th in the NCAA) and a saves percentage of .934 (16th in the NCAA), Black has made the fifth most saves in the NCAA with 398 and has played the third most minutes of any goaltender at 987:56.
