The No. 3 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will put its league-leading four-game winning streak on the line this weekend when it closes out 2016 in Mankato, Minn. The Bulldogs will face Minnesota State University, Mankato at the Verizon Wireless Center Friday night at 7:07 p.m., before wrapping up the series at 3:07 p.m. Saturday.
USCHO RANKING: UMD-- No. 3, Minnesota State-- N/R
USA TODAY/USA HOCKEY MAG: UMD-- No. 3, Minnesota State-- N/R
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are 61-6-4 all-time against the Mavericks, and won 15-straight games against MSU dating back to the 2012-13 season.
The Bulldogs swept the Mavericks back on Oct. 7-8 in Duluth, Minn. in their first WCHA action of the season by scores of 4-0 and 5-1.
Three players had two points in the Oct. 7 shutout, including senior winger Lara Stalder (2a), freshman defenseman Jalyn Elmes (1g, 1a) and junior forward Katerina Mrázová (1g, 1a). UMD sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney turned away 22 saves en route to her third career shutout.
The following night (Oct. 8), Stalder recorded her second Bulldog hat-trick, as well as added an assist to figure in four of the five UMD goals on the afternoon. Senior forward Katherine McGovern added a goal and two assists, while Stalder's linemate senior winger Ashleigh Brykaliuk registered two assists in the win.
LAST TIME OUT: No. 3 UMD swept St. Cloud State in St. Cloud over the weekend by scores of 3-0 and 3-2 to run its unbeaten streak to four games. The Bulldogs, who are unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 games, currently have the sixth-longest winning streak in the NCAA, as well as the longest streak in the WCHA.
Friday night, UMD picked up its third shutout of the season, blanking the Huskies 3-0 behind three different goal scorers, including Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Maria Lindh and Demi Crossman. Seven players in all recorded a point, while sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney earned her second shutout of the season and fourth of her career.
--Saturday afternoon, SCSU scored first before UMD netted three unanswered goals by Brooklynn Schugel, Brykaliuk and Lindh to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win. Eight players had a hand in UMD's three tallies.
NOTES FROM THE ST. CLOUD STATE SERIES: The Bulldogs outshot the Huskies 50-34 in the series, while both teams were held scoreless on their power play (UMD 0-of-7, SCSU 0-of-4). All-time, UMD is now 58-11-5 against St. Cloud.
--UMD is 3-1-1 when its opponent scores first, as the Huskies did Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs are 5-1-2 with the lead after the first period and a dominant 9-1-2 with it after two periods.
--Maddie Rooney's shutout Friday was the Bulldogs third of the season. Rooney, who has two shutouts so far this season, split a cleansheet with Catherine Johnson against Ohio State University on Oct. 28. Rooney has four over her UMD career.
PEAK STREAKS: Ashleigh Brykaliuk now has compiled six goals and six assists for 12 points over her last nine games. Brykaliuk is just two games shy of her career-high scoring streak of 11 games, set last season. Senior defenseman Sidney Morin is currently in the midst of her career-best scoring streak of five games, and has recorded two goals and three assists over that span. Lara Stalder, on a four game, eight assist streak in her own right, has now registered eight games with two or more points.
FOLLOW THE LEADERS: Lara Stalder, who had a team-high three points on three assists against SCSU, leads all UMD scorers with 26 points on eight goals and 18 assists in 18 games. Stalder ranks fourth in the NCAA with 18 assists and a 1.00 A/GM average. Overall, Stalder's 1.44 points per game average sits her No. 13 in the NCAA for points per game. Stalder also ranks fifth with three game-winning goals.
Rookie forward Sydney Brodt ranks eighth in the NCAA with 15 points with three goals and 12 assists in 18 skates.
Maddie Rooney is seventh among the nation's goaltenders with a .940 saves percentage, ninth with a .750 winning percentage and 11th with a 1.71 goals against average. Rooney has played the third most minutes in the NCAA at 1087:29.
Sidney Morin sits 15th in the nation among scoring defensemen with four goals and eight assists with 12 goals. With her assist Saturday, Morin takes over with the ninth most career assists by a defenseman at UMD. Morin, who has a total of 58 career points, is just three points shy of cracking the top-10 points by a defenseman
RANK AND FILE: In both the weekly USCHO.com and USA TODAY/USA Hockey Magazine national polls, the Bulldogs are ranked third.
UMD has played 10 of its first 18 games against teams ranked in the top-10. Over that span, the Bulldogs have gone 4-3-3, including toppling the No. 1 Wisconsin 4-1 on Nov. 18.
Ashleigh Brykaliuk leads all scorers against ranked opponents, with six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 10 games. Lara Stalder has posted four goals and seven assists for 11 points in those same 10 games. Brykaliuk has recorded points in nine of UMD's 10 games against teams ranked in the top-10.
BULLDOG NOTES: Senior forward Katherine McGovern who leads the Bulldogs with a plus/minus rating of +21, has compiled more points so far this season in 18 games than she registered in all three of her previous seasons at UMD. McGovern has 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points so far this season. In her previous three years, McGovern compiled eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 104 games.
--The Bulldogs currently has three players with 20 or more points through 18 games: Lara Stalder (26), Ashleigh Brykaliuk (22), and McGovern (20).
--UMD has six of the top 14 scorers in the WCHA, starting with Stalder (4), Brykaliuk (6), McGovern (7), Sydney Brodt (8), and Katerina Mrázová and Sidney Morin (14).
ROONEY SELECTED TO WINTER CAMP: Goaltender Maddie Rooney is one of 37 players that have been invited to the USA Hockey Women's Winter Training Camp.
The sophomore from Andover, Minn., along with four other netminders, was asked to participate in the Dec. 12-15 camp that will take place in USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich. Rooney currently owns the NCAA's seventh-highest saves percentage (.940), ninth best winning percentage (.750) and 11th goals against average 1.71 and is the reigning WCHA's Defensive Player of the Month.
UMD alum Zoe Hickel is also on the roster. Hickel currently plays for the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League.
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