The No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team hit the ice for the first time in almost a month Saturday afternoon in its 5-2 exhibition loss against the Minnesota Whitecaps.

The Bulldogs — who last skated against an opponent back on Dec. 10 — were without six rostered players in the line-up.  Five of those players — including leading scorer senior forward Lara Stalder — were in Fussen, Germany for the The Nations Cup that ran from Wednesday, Jan. 4 through Saturday Jan. 7. 

UMD outshot the Whitecaps in the first and third stanzas, but after a scoreless first period, the Bulldogs surrendered two goals in the opening 7:18 of the second period.  Overall, the Bulldogs trailed 3-0 after 40 minutes of play and 4-0 after Kendall Coyne scored just 47 seconds into the final stanza.

Rookie forward Sydney Brodt finished off a breakaway from Ashleigh Brykaliuk at the 7:03 mark of the third period to put UMD on the board, but Coyne scored her fifth point of the game at 12:48 to give the Whitecaps a 4-1 advantage.  Senior forward Demi Crossman buried the puck off a face-off play with two seconds remaining in regulation to record UMD's second — and only other goal — in the skate.

Brykaliuk (2a) and Brodt (1g, 1a) each led the Bulldogs with two points, while seven players recorded four shots.  UMD outshot the Whitecaps 37-26 in the game, including 14-6 in the third period.  

Both goaltenders manned the pipes for the Bulldogs, with Maddie Rooney having posted 10 saves in 29:50 of action and Catherine Johnson stopping 11 shots in 30:08 minutes.

UMD will welcome the No. 2 University of Minnesota next weekend in its first Western Collegiate Hockey Association action of 2017.  The Friday-Saturday series will get underway at 3 p.m. both days.

BULLDOG NOTES:  UMD was without Lara Stalder (Switzerland), Michelle Lowenhielm, Maria Lindh, Linnea Hedin (Sweden) and Katerina Mrázová (Czech Republic) … All five players skated in The Nations Cup … two former Bulldogs skated for the Whitecaps — former All-American Jenny Potter and defenseman Emma Stauber.