The No. 3 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will open its two-game series with the No. 1 University of Wisconsin Friday night at AMSOIL Arena. Friday night's game will get underway at 7:07 p.m., and will also double as Military Appreciation Night. The Bulldogs will warm-up in special camouflage jerseys Friday that will be auctioned off over the weekend with all proceeds going to Operation One Voice. Saturday's game, slated for a 4:07 p.m. start, will be the Bulldogs fifth annual "Safety Patrol Day", and the first 250 fans at AMSOIL will get a puck courtsey of UMD Stores.
USCHO RANKING: UMD-- No. 3, Wisconsin-- No. 1
USA TODAY/USA HOCKEY MAG: UMD-- No. 3, Wisconsin-- No. 1
THE SERIES: UMD was 0-5 against the Badgers one season ago and is 29-39-12 all-time against UW, with 23 of those contests overtime games. The Bulldogs last defeated the Badgers back on Oct. 14, 2012 by a score of 1-0 in Duluth and last swept Wisconsin over Oct. 13-14, 2012. Since then, the Bulldogs are 0-13-2 in head-to-head showdowns.
The two programs last met on March 5, 2016 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. in the semifinals of the WCHA's Final Faceoff. The Badgers used four, second period goals to overcome the Bulldogs 5-0. Wisconsin also outshot UMD 43-17 in the skate.
LAST TIME OUT: No. 3 UMD stayed unbeaten in its last six games with a win and tie against No. 9 North Dakota over the weekend in Grand Forks, N.D.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period Saturday on a goal and assist from Lara Stalder just 34 seconds apart at the 7:32 and 8:06 marks. UMD won the game 2-1 behind 24 saves from goaltender Maddie Rooney.
Sunday the Bulldogs again jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a goal by Katherine McGovern in the first period and a power play goal from Sidney Morin at 3:47 of the second period. But UMD ended up settling for a 2-2 overtime tie before losing the WCHA's extra point shootout. Rooney made 30 saves in Sunday's skate.
Stalder led the Bulldogs with a goal and two assists in the series for three points, while Ashleigh Brykaliuk extended her current scoring streak to three games, now having compiled a goal and four assists for five points over that span.
NOTES FROM THE NORTH DAKOTA SERIES: The Bulldogs are now 38-15-16 all-time against North Dakota. Last weekend marked the first series UMD didn't suffer a setback against UND since Oct. 29-30, 2011, when UMD handed North Dakota a 6-1 loss and 2-2 tie, repectively.
--While North Dakota outshot UMD 57-43 in the series, Maddie Rooney made 54 stops between the pipes for the Bulldogs.
-- Sidney Morin's power play goal in the second period Sunday broke a 0-for-16, six-game scoreless streak with an extra skater for UMD.
--UMD has now played four of its 12 games into overtime. The Bulldogs are 0-1-3 in those games and 1-1 in WCHA shootouts.
--With the win and tie, UMD (7-2-3, 6-2-2) has its best record through 12 games since the 2010-11 season where the Bulldogs were 9-3-0 overall and 7-3-0 in the WCHA.
???????STALDER AND ROONEY NAMED WCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Lara Stalder was named the WCHA's Offensive Player of the Week for a second time this season, while Maddie Rooney was named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week this past Tuesday.
Stalder, a product Luzern, Switzerland, played a role in three of the Bulldogs four goals over the weekend, helping UMD to a win and tie over the No. 9 North Dakota. The senior forward scored the first game of the series 7:32 into the opening period Saturday before adding what would be the game-winning assist just 34 seconds later. On Sunday, Stalder had the primary assist on UMD's second goal at 3:47 of the second period, and had nine shots total on the weekend. This also marks the fifth weekly award for Stalder of her career.
Rooney, a sophomore goaltender, was the only unbeaten WCHA goaltender in conference games last weekend with a winning percentage of .750, and she posted 54 saves on 57 shots for a .947 saves percentage in the series. The native of Andover, Minn. also posted a league-low goals against average of 1.44.
RANK AND FILE: The Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 in both the USCHO.com and USA TODAY/USA Hockey Magazine's national polls for a third-consecutive week. Wisconsin will enter AMSOIL this weekend ranked No. 1 in both the same two national polls.
The Bulldogs are also now 3-2-3 against teams ranked in the top-10. Ashleigh Brykaliuk leads all scorers against ranked opponents, with five goals and six assists for 11 points in eight games. Lara Stalder has posted four goals and six assists for 10 points in those same eight games. Both Brykaliuk and Stalder have recorded points in seven of UMD's eight games against teams ranked in the top-10.
BULLDOG NOTES: Lara Stalder leads the Bulldogs with 17 points on eight goals and nine assists in 12 games for a 1.42 points per game average. She ranks fourth in the WCHA in points per game (1.42), goals and assists. She leads the WCHA with six power play assists and sits fourth in the NCAA with three game-winning goals. Ashleigh Brykaliuk and fellow senior forward Katherine McGovern both have 15 points, Brykaliuk with six goals and nine assists, and McGovern with seven goals and eight assists. Stalder, Brykaliuk and McGovern are all averaging more than a point a game, with Stalder at 1.42 ppg, and Brykaliuk and McGovern at 1.25 ppg.
--Four Bulldogs -- a WCHA-high, rank in the top-15 in scoring, including Stalder at fourth (1.42ppg), McGovern and Brykaliuk in sixth (1.25ppg), and Katerina Mrázová in 13th (0.90 ppg).
--UMD also owns four of the top-eight goals scorers in the WCHA in Stalder (fourth, eight goals), McGovern (fifth, seven goals), Brykaliuk (seventh, six goals) and Mrázová ( eighth, five goals).
--UMD is ranked 11th in the NCAA with an average of 3.33 goals a game and third in the WCHA. The Bulldogs own the ninth rated power play and second in the WCHA at 18.6.
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