Both the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team and Bemidji State University will be looking to get back in the Western Collegiate Hockey Assocation race this weekend in Bemidji, Minn. With six league points up for grabs, the Bulldogs and Beavers will battle at the Sanfor Center Friday and Saturday afternoon. The puck will drop at 3:07 p.m. both days.
THE SERIES: UMD is 66-12-4 against the Beavers all-time, and went 2-0-2 against BSU last season. The Bulldogs are unbeaten in their last six games against the Beavers, dating back to the first round of the WCHA playoff in March of 2016.
Senior forward Katerina Mrázová leads all Bulldogs in scoring against BSU with four goals and three assists for seven points in 13 games.
In their last head-to-head series, UMD beat BSU 5-1 on Jan. 20 before tying the Beavers 2-2 in overtime on Jan. 21. In the Jan. 20 win, UMD put on an offensive showcase by then senior forward Lara Stalder, who had a natural hat trick and tacked on an assist to lead the Bulldogs to a 5-1 win over the Beavers. Ashleigh Brykaliuk also added three assists for UMD, who also got goals from Katherine McGovern and Linnea Hedin.
Saturday, Jan. 21, despite a Stalder goal that set a Bulldog program record for the fastest goal scored to start a game, UMD settled for a 2-2 tie with the Beavers. UMD gave up the game-tying goal at 15:32 of the third period and eventually dropped the shootout, settling for four points over the weekend. Stalder led the Bulldogs with a goal and an assist, while Brykaliuk added UMD's other goal.
The Bulldogs outscored BSU 12-7 last season in four games.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE BEAVERS: BSU has won just one game in eight outings (1-6-1), with its last triumph back on Sept. 30 against Syracuse (5-0). Like the Bullodgs, the Beavers are in search of their first WCHA win, and own a record of 0-4-0 in league play. BSU was swept by No. 1 Wisconsin in Madison by a score of 1-5 both last Friday and Saturday.
Freshman forward Clair DeGeorge leads BSU with five points on a goal and four assists, while sophomore forward Jacqueline Kaasa has a team-high three goals (3g, 1a) in eight skates. The Beavers have split time in the pipes between senior Erin Deters (0-3-1, 2.35 GAA) and freshman Lauren Bench (1-3-0, 3.51 GAA).
The Beavers are led by Jim Scanlan, who in his fourth season, is 56-54-8 overall.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs were swept by then No. 7 Minnesota on the weekend at home by scores of 4-1 and 2-1, despite outshooting the Gophers 63-44 in the series.
Friday, UMD outshot Minnesota by a 2-to-1 margin, but surrendered two third period goals in the 4-1 setback. The Bulldogs posted 36 shots to the Gophers 23 in the contest, and senior Jessica Healey scored the lone UMD goal on the power play.
Saturday, UMD struck first on a power play tally by Ashton Bell 13:36 into the first period, but Minnesota again scored two goals in the third period hand UMD its sixth-straight loss. The Bulldogs outshot the Gophers 27-21.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA SERIES: With the losses, the Bulldogs are now 27-54-7 all-time against Minnesota, and 3-7 in their last 10 games. UMD went 3-3 against the Gophers last season.
--Minnesota's sweep over the Bulldogs at home was the first time an opponent took two games from UMD in Duluth since the Gophers did just that on Feb. 12-13, 2016.
--UMD hit four pipes in its Saturday game against Minnesota, but still remain scoreless in their second stanzas to date. The Bulldogs have netted six goals in the first period and seven in the third through their first eight games.
POWERED PLAY: The Bulldogs own the second-best power play in the WCHA at 24.1 percent and sits tenth in the NCAA with seven power play goals in 29 attempts. UMD's special teams net is +2, which also ranks the Bullodgs second among all WCHA foes.
RANK AND FILE: The Bulldogs are receiving votes in both the USCHO.com and USA TODAY/USA Hockey Magazine's national polls. It marks the first time UMD was not ranked in the top-10 polls since Sept. 27, 2016.
SCHEDULED STRENGTH: UMD has played three of its first four series against teams ranked in the top-10. So far, UMD is 0-6 against top-10 teams.
TOP DOGS: Freshmen forwards Ashton Bell and Naomi Rogge are in a tie with a team-high three goals. Rogge and sophomore Sydney Brodt lead all scorers with six points -- Rogge with three goals and three assists, Brodt with two goals and four assists.
Rogge currently is tied for sixth among all WCHA rookies in scoring with (0.75 PPG), while Bell ranks tenth (.50 PPG).
Sophomore defenseman Jalyn Elmes ranks fifth among league blueliners with a PPG average of. 0.62 on two goals and three assists in eight games. Elmes leads all WCHA defenseman with three power play points, a power play goal and two game-winning tallies.
DISCIPLINED DOGS: UMD has the fewest penalty minutes per game of any WCHA team so far this season. The Bullodgs are averaging just 4.5 penalty minutes a skate. UMD will face the second lowest ranked team for penalty minutes in BSU this weekend -- the Beavers are averaging just 5.2 minutes in the box a game.
OFF THE MARK: The Bulldogs are averaging a hefty 32.4 shots per game, but so far have only averaged 1.68 goals a skate.
UMD outshot Minnesota 63-44 in the series last weekend, but was outscored 6-2 . UMD has outshot its opponent in every game this season (259-180), but has been outscored 20-13. The Bulldogs 13 tallies is the second fewest among its WCHA peers through the first six games.
NINE BULLDOGS NAMED AHCA ALL-AMERICAN SCHOLARS: UMD had nine players that were honored as All-American Scholars by the American Hockey Coaches Association for the 2016-17 season.
Current seniors Lynn Astrup (Warroad, Minn.), Catherine Daoust (Ile Bizard, PQ), Jessica Healey (Edmonton, Alberta), Linnea Hedin (Huddinge, Sweden), and Michelle Lowenhielm (Sollentuna, Sweden) joined current sophomore Sydney Brodt (North Oaks, Minn.), graduate Lara Stalder (Luzern, Switzerland) and former Bulldog Morgan Morse as the nine Bulldog representatives from last year's squad.
The new initiative of the AHCA recognizes varsity ice hockey players who averaged a 3.6 GPA and participated in 40% of their school's game during the 2016-17 season. A total of 220 Division I-II women's players were recognized for this achievement with the new honor.
NATIONAL TEAM UPDATES: UMD junior Maddie Rooney made 23 of 25 shots in the U.S. National Teams 5-2 win over Canada last Sunday in Quebec City.
Former Bulldog defenseman Brigette Lacquette had an assist for Canada, and is one of three UMD alums on the squad -- defenseman and Olympic gold medalists Jocleyne Larocque and forward Haley Irwin are also on the roster.
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