Seven points separate the No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth and the University of North Dakota in the current Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings, and that will make this weekend at AMSOIL Arena all the more crucial. The Bulldogs will host UND Friday and Saturday night at 6:07 p.m., with Friday night slated as fifth annual "Cram the Am". Advanced tickets purchased at the UMD Athlletic Ticket Office for Friday's game will only be $1, while $3 tickets will be available on game day at AMSOIL. Saturday is Girl Scout NIght and National Girl and Women In Sports Recognition, and will also have an opportunity to bid on game-worn Bulldog jerseys at the silent auction tables throughout the whole series.
USCHO RANKING: UMD-- 6th, North Dakota-- R/V
USA TODAY/USA HOCKEY MAG: UMD-- 6th, North Dakota-- R/V
PAIRWISE RANKING: UMD-- 6th, North Dakota-- 11th THE SERIES: UMD is 36-11-4 all-time against North Dakota, with four overtime games in their last eight skates. The win on Oct. 18 broke a nine game unbeaten streak UND held against the Bulldogs, though UMD had two shootout victories, three ties and five overtime games during that span. The Bulldogs previous win over North Dakota prior to Saturday afternoon's shutout was a 5-1 win in Grand Forks on Dec. 11, 2011.
In their last series earlier this year, the Bulldogs split with UND back on Oct. 17-18 in Grand Forks, with a 2-1 overtime loss and 1-0 win.
UMD scored first Oct. 17, 3:56 into the second period but surrendered the tying goal 13:20 into the third period. North Dakota netted the game-winner just 1:46 into extra time to pick up the 2-1 win. It was the fourth overtime contest between the two programs in their last six skates.
Saturday, Oct. 18, UMD bullied North Dakota netminder Shelby Amsley-Benzie all afternoon, outshooting UND 12-7 in the first period and 8-5 in the second. It was more of the same in the third period when senior winger
Meghan Huertas broke the tie at the 12:58 mark on the power play. Junior goaltender
Kayla Black was again outstanding in the goal, and the Bulldogs not only scored the only goal of the contest, they outshot UND 31-16.
The Bulldogs held North Dakota scoreless in all six power play attempts in the series.
WHERE THEY STAND: The Bulldogs are currently in third place in the WCHA with a 12-6-2-2 record and 40 points, seven points in front of North Dakota in fourth. UND -- 10-8-2-1 in the WCHA with 33 points is coming off a series sweep of Bemidji State University in Grand Forks, with wins of 4-1 and 5-1.
LAST TIME OUT: No. 6 UMD (17-6-3, 12-6-2-2) earned its sixth series sweep of the season and second consecutive by beating Minnesota State by combined scores of 16-0 in Mankato last weekend.
Friday night, the Bulldogs scored the most goals in a game --12 -- since 2002, blowing open the game with five, second period goals. Five players recorded three or more points, including three (
Brigette Lacquette (3g, 1a)
Lara Stalder (2g, 2a) Katerina Mrázovå (4a) who notched four points. 14 players total got on the scoresheet for UMD, while six had two or more points.
UMD's five power play goals Friday night was the most by a Bulldog squad since UMD netted five against St. Cloud State on Feb. 19, 2011 en route to a 9-0 victory. UMD's record for power play goals scored in a game is six, set against Ohio State back on Dec. 9, 2009.
Saturday UMD blanked the Mavericks 4-0 behind goals from Stalder,
Zoe Hickel,
Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Mrázová. With the shutout on Saturday, goaltender
Kayla Black took over of the single-season shutout record with her eighth on the year.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE SERIES: UMD now owns eight-straight wins against MSU, dating back to the 2012-13 season and is 57-6-4 all-time against the Mavericks.
In all, five players registered four or more points in the series, including four that recorded five (Hickel 2g, 3a, Stalder 3g, 2a, Mrázovå 1g, 4a and Lacquette 3g, 2a).
--Friday's blowout marked the second time this season UMD has had 13 or more players record a point in the a single game. While 14 players logged a point last Friday, 13 got on the scoresheet on Nov. 21 in the Bulldogs 7-2 win over Cornell.
--With three power play goals Friday night,
Brigette Lacquette tied a UMD record for most power play goals in a game. Both Jenny Potter and Caroline Ouellette both netted three power play goals in their careers.
--UMD's five power play goals Friday night was the most by a Bulldog squad since netted five against St. Cloud State on Feb. 19, 2011 en route to a 9-0 victory. UMD's record for power play goals scored in a game is six, set against Ohio State back on Dec. 9, 2009.
--The nine shots allowed Friday night ties a Bulldog record for fewest shots allowed in a game. UMD also held UConn to nine shots back on Oct. 23, 2010.
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Kayla Black also contributed an assist Saturday on
Ashleigh Brykaliuk's second period goal. That marked Black's fifth career assist -- she already owned that UMD record -- and first since Oct. 4, 2013.
LACQUETTE SCORES WCHA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Currently off at Team Canada camp, it make take
Brigette Lacquette longer than usual to find out the Western Collegiate Hockey Association has named her the Defensive Player of the Week.
The senior defenseman had a five-point weekend for the No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team, including a hat trick of power play goals Friday night to help the Bulldogs sweep MSU by scores of 12-0 and 4-0 in the series.
The product of Mallard, Manitoba had a power play goal in each period, including a blast from the point at the 18:20 mark of the first period to make the game 2-0. Lacquette's three power play goals Friday tied a UMD record for most power play goals in a game, and along with her hat trick, Lacquette also had an assist for her fourth point. Lacquette was +1 Friday night and had seven shots, and notched an assist Saturday night in addition to two shots. She went +2 Saturday and was part of the defense that not only helped secured two shutouts for the Bulldogs, it only allowed nine shots on goal on Friday night total. Lacquette also anchored the penalty kill unit that kept the Mavericks scoreless in six power play attempts.
Currently with Team Canada until Friday, Lacquette ranks 8th in the NCAA in power play goals with five, 8th among scoring defensemen with 19 points (6g, 13 assists in 24 games).
Lacquette's busy weekend on the scoresheet catapulted her into a tie for fourth for career goals by a defenseman (19), sole possession of eighth place in blueliner assists (44) and seventh among all scoring defensemen with 63 career points.
BLACK'S BOOK: With the shutout in Saturday's 4-0 win, junior goaltender
Kayla Black took over sole possession of the single-season shutout record at UMD with her eighth on the year. She also is now tied with Riitta Schaublin with 17 career shutouts. Black now sits No. 10th all-time in the UMD record books with her 567 current single-season saves. WIth 2216 career saves at UMD in 91 games, Black has the fourth most stops by a netminder in program history.
Black is quickly approaching yet another record, having manned the pipes for 91 games in her three year career. Schaublin owns the Bulldog record for most games played by a UMD goaltender with 104, while her All-American cohort Kim Martin played in 99 over her storied career.
Black ranks second in the NCAA with eight shutouts and 13th in both GAA (1.67) and saves percentage (.936). Of players in the top-15 in the nation, only one goaltender has recorded more saves than Black has (567).
WIth 16 win this season after the weekend, Black jumps into a tie for the 8th most wins in a season by a UMD netminder. It is also a career season-high for Black.
SCORING STREAKERS: Zoe Hickel extended her scoring streak to seven games, her second longest scoring spree this season. (Hickel had a 10-game scoring streak between Oct. 26 and Nov. 22). Hickel has now compiled four goals and six assists for 10 points over those last seven outings.
Lara Stalder has a four game scoring streak intact, with an impressive five goals and two assists for seven points in her last seven skates. Both Katerina Mrázová and
Ashleigh Brykaliuk will enter the weekend on three game scoring sprees (Mrázová 1g, 5a, Brykaliuk 3g, 1a).
BULLDOG NOTES: Ashleigh Brykaliuk continues to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 27 points on 13 goals and 14 assists in 26 games.
Zoe Hickel sits second with 26 points and a team-high 15 goals.
Lara Stalder ranks third with 25 points with a team-best 16 assists.
--With 15 goals, Hickel has surpassed a career-high set last year and has tied her career-best season output of 27 points.
--The Bulldogs are currently on the nation's fifth-longest winning streak with five games. UMD owns the ninth ranked scoring offense (3.15 gpg) and the ninth ranked scoring margin (1.42). The Bulldogs have the NCAA's fifth most dangerous power play at 22.2% (24/108) and the nation's seventh-best winning percentage at .712 with a record of 17-6-3.
--UMD has yet to lose with a lead after the first period of play (8-0-1) and has suffered just one setback when holding on to a lead after two periods (15-1-1). Ironically enough, the Bulldogs have scored just 17 goals in the first period, while now having netted 33 second and 32 third period goals.
LACQUETTE AND SCHULER AT CANADIAN NATIONAL TEAM CAMP THIS WEEK: Brigette Lacquette and assistant coach
Laura Schuler are currently at Canada's National Women's Team training camp that runs from Jan. 26-30.
Lacquette is one of 24 players that have been invited, including one of just nine defensemen. She will join former Bulldogs Caroline Ouellette, Jocelyne Lacrocque, Haley Irwin and Jessica Wong, who have also been invited. Ouellette, Lacrocque and Irwin won gold medals with Team Canada in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia (Ouellette owns four gold medals, Irwin owns two Olympic gold medals total) and Wong won a gold medal with Canada's National Women's Development Team at the 2015 Nations Cup in Fussen, Germany.
In addition to the 24 camp attendees, Schuler will serve as one of three assistant coaches to head coach Doug Derraugh. The evaluations will assist the coaching and scouting staffs in selecting the team that will represent Canada at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship in Malmo, Sweden from March 28 to April 4.
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