If the storyline appear familar, it's because it is.  For a third time in three seasons, the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will host Ohio State University at AMSOIL Arena for the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.  The Bulldogs and Buckeyes will fight for their playoff lives on Friday and Saturday night at 6:07 p.m., and if needed, Sunday, which would also be a 6:07 p.m. game.

UMD VS OHIO STATE FULL PDF VERSION

THE SERIES:  All-time the Bulldogs are 56-11-2 against Ohio State, a squad they have already played 16 times since the start of the 2011-12 season.  UMD was unbeaten against the Buckeyes this season, going 2-0-2 in their four skates.  UMD has not defeated OSU at home, however, since it closed out the WCHA first round on Feb. 25, 2012, a 3-2 overtime thriller in favor of the Bulldogs.  Since then, UMD is 4-2-2 against the Buckeyes with an additional shootout win.

UMD tied both games in its last series with OSU at AMSOIL on Jan. 18-19, winning the shootout Saturday but surrendering it Sunday.  On 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.  

On Jan. 19 UMD finally broke the 87 minute scoreless stalemate when freshman center Ashleigh Brykaliuk scored, but the Bulldogs surrendered the equalizer 47 seconds later.  UMD junior forward Zoe Hickel netted a 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.

Ironically, in the two wins UMD picked up in Columbus earlier in the season (Nov. 15-16), OSU outshot the Bulldogs in the series 67-47.  UMD did outshoot the Buckeyes later in the Jan. 18-19 series 65-42, but still ended up with two ties with OSU.

ABOUT OHIO STATE:  The fifth-place Buckeyes finished behind the Bulldogs in the WCHA standings by nine points (UMD 43, OSU 34), with UMD owning a .500 record of 11-11-6 in league play compared to OSU's 9-14-5.  The Buckeyes have what UMD has not been able to lock down however -- wins against top-10 teams.  The Buckeyes own three, including a sweep last weekend of then No. 7 North Dakota in Columbus by socres of 2-0 and 3-1.  Senior forward Ally Tarr leads OSU with 30 points on 10 goals and 20 assists.

LAST TIME OUT:  UMD was swept by No. 1 Minnesota last weekend at RIdder Arena by identical scores of 6-0 on Friday and Saturday night.

The Bulldogs were out-shot 75-26 in the series and six of the 12 goals allowed came on the power-play.  In all, UMD was called for 45 minutes worth of penalities, while Minnesota served 35 minutes.

UMD retained junior blueliner and Olympian  Tea Villila in the series, but VIllia arrived just 16 hours prior to the Bulldogs first game with Minnesota.  Rookie defenseman Lara Stalder missed both games last weekend.

NOTES FROM THE MiNNESOTA SERIES:  All-time the Bulldogs are 24-40-6 against the Gophers now and have not registered a win over Minnesota since Jan. 13, 2012 (4-2 triumph).  The Gophers remain the lone NCAA program that UMD remains sub .500 against.

--The four power-play goals UMD surrendered to Minnesota last Saturday set a new record for opponent power-play goals allowed in a game.  The previous record of three had been twice been reached.

UMD WCHA PLAYOFF HISTORY:  Since the WCHA went to a quarterfinal game (2005) or series (2006), UMD had advanced every time until last season.  From the 2005-06 season until present, the Bulldogs have been at home for ever quarterfinal series possible.  (The 2005 quarterfinal game against North Dakota was held in Minneapolis, Minn.)

UMD owns five WCHA Playoff crowns, with the last one won in 2010.  (The others were won in 2008, 2003, 2001 and 2000.)  The Bulldogs own an overall record of 29-11 in the WCHA postseason, which includes a dominant quarterfinal record of 15-3.  Until last season against OSU, the Bulldogs had won 11-straight quarterfinal games dating back to Feb. 24, 2007.

BULLDOG NOTES: Newly minted Olympic bronze medalist Lara Stalder returned to Duluth Monday and will skate with the Bulldogs, along with fellow Olympian Tea Villila, for the first time since Jan. 19.  Stalder missed UMD's last eight games, while Villia missed six.  Villila played last weekend against Minnesota 16 hours after arriving back from Sochi.The rookie blueliner Stalder -- UMD's third leading scorer when she left for Olympic duty eight games ago -- still ranks No. 3 in the nation among all rookie scorers with 21 points (4g, 17a) in 24 skates.  

--The Bulldogs are still led by junior forward Jenna McParland and her 31 points on 10 goals and 21 assists.  Senior forward Jamie Kenyon sits second with 27 points on a team-high 14 goals and 13 assists, while junior forward Zoe Hickel now has 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists.

--UMD continues to win games when they score first, having gone 9-1-3 when they strike first and just 4-12-2 when they havent.

--McParland now sits at 91 career points with 42 goals and 49 assists, just nine points shy of UMD's 100-point club.  In fifteen seasons of the program, the Bulldogs own a whopping 18 players who reached the 100-point mark, including six (all current or former Olympians), who compiled 200 or more in their UMD career.

--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) in 39 games during the 2007-08 season.

--Kayla Black is securely in the fourth slot for career saves and now owns 1,554 in 62 games. Black settled into the fifth spot for most saves in a season with 779 stops in 31 games so far this year.  Black also owns the sixth slot after making 775 in 2012-13 as a freshman.

FIVE BULLDGS NAMED WCHA SCHOLAR ATHLETES:  Five members of the current UMD squad were named WCHA Scholar-Athletes last week, including senior Brienna Gillanders (Kyle, Saskatchewan) and sophomores Alivia Del Basso (Perth Australia), Sofia Carlstrom (Danderyd, Sweden), Marie Delarbe (Fuessen, Germany) and Jordan Krause (Kelowna, British Columbia).

This group of five Bulldogs marks the most WCHA Scholar-Athletes for UMD since the 2007-08 season.  Gillanders is a two-time
All-WCHA Academic Team Selection, while Del Basso, Carlstrom, Delarbe and Krause all have gained the honor in their first year of elgibilty.

All five players will be honored on the ice following the game Friday at AMSOIL.

MEDAL-WORTHY:  Current rookie defenseman Lara Stalder was pivotal in helping Switzerland defeat Sweden (and three former Bulldogs) 4-3 in the bronze medal game in Sochi.
Stalder had an assist on Switzerland's go ahead goal and literally appeared everywhere for the Swiss at times as the Swiss mounted a four-goal third period to earn their first-ever medal.

In addition to Stalder, three UMD alums claimed gold with Canada's 3-2 overtime thriller against the U.S.  It was a record fourth-gold medal for Canada captain Caroline Ouellette, and fellow Bulldog alum Haley Irwin picked up her second gold medal in the triumph.  Rookie Olympian defenseman Jocelyne Larocque, who like Ouellette was a two-time All-American at UMD, also played the fourth most minutes of any Canada player in the gold medal game.  Larocque took 31 shifts for 25:14 of ice time, just out of third spot by 23 seconds to Canadian legend Hayley Wickenheiser.

Former Bulldog assistant coach Julie Chu picked up her third silver medal with the U.S. side.

THE BULLDOG OLYMPICS:  In all, 11 current and former UMD players and one former assistant coach suited up in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.  The Bulldogs had players on six of the eight teams competing and had UMD connections on the ice for seven of the eight teams.

Eight of UMD's 11 current or fomer players in the Olympics made at least their second appearance in the Games.  Four of those players had already earned medals prior to Sochi -- Caroline Ouellette (three gold), Haley Irwin (Canada, gold), Kim Martin (silver and bronze) and Pernilla Winberg (Sweden, silver).

For full recap of UMD's presence in the 2014 Winter Olympics, click here.

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