Fresh off the first series sweep of the season, the No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to face No. 3 Boston College. The Thursday-Friday series will get underway in the Conte Forum at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, and will wrap-up Friday at 1:00 p.m. Both games will be on ESPN3 -- click here for Thursday's link, and here for Friday's.
THE SERIES: UMD is 6-4-1 all-time against the Eagles, and against Hockey East opponents, the Bulldogs are 31-12-5. UMD earned a 3-3 overtime time tie and 5-2 win last season against the Eagles on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.
On Sept. 30, 2016, the Bulldogs found themselves trailing the Eagles on three separate occassions, and each time, senior forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk found the equalizer for UMD. Brykaliuk's third goal came with 5:01 remaining in regulation, and drew the game even at 3-3, a score that remainined despite overtime.
Saturday, UMD blew the doors off AMSOIL with a four-goal second period, including three goals over an eight minute span. The 5-0 second intermission lead was too much for the Eagles, who scored two power play goals in the third period but could get no closer. Senior blueliner Sidney Morin had assists on the first three goals.
Brykaliuk compiled a total of five points on the weekend, picking up an assist Saturday to go with her four goals, while four players recorded three or more points in the series, including Brykaliuk, Morin (four assists), Lara Stalder one goal, two assists), and Katerina Mrázová (three assists). Six players in all had two or more points.
SERIES HIGHLIGHT: March 16, 2007: UMD and BC have one playoff meeting between them, and both schools first encounter with each other was a historic one. The skate happened in Lake Placid, NY in the 2007 NCAA Frozen Four before 3,225 college hockey fans. The Eagles scored two goals in the first period to gain a 2-1 edge and after the Bulldogs tied the game 2-2 52 seconds into the second period, BC responded with a power-play tally 1:04 later. The game would stand at 3-2 in favor of the Eagles until Michaela Lanzl netted the game-tying goal with 4:20 remaining in regulation.
Two overtimes and a total of three hours and 42 minutes later, senior forward Jessica Kozumi scored her second goal of the game at 14:19 to knock off the Eagles and send the Bulldogs to the NCAA championship game. Senior goaltender Riitta Schaublin made 29 saves in the contest for UMD, including 12 in the overtimes. BC netminder Molly Schaus was outstanding, stopping 47 Bulldog shots.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs swept Penn State in the programs first-ever meeting by scores of 1-0 and 3-0 last Friday and Saturday. The No. 5 Bulldogs swept Penn State in the programs first-ever meeting by scores of 1-0 and 3-0.
Sophomore defenseman Jalyn Elmes had two game-winning goals in the series, including the lone goal 1:22 into play Friday night. Elmes tacked on the game-winning goal Saturday 7:55 into the third period, a power play goal from the blueline. Elmes two goals ties her entire goal output from her rookie season (two goals), and marks her first-ever game-winning goals at UMD.
Senior goaltender Jessica Convery shut out the Nittany Lions with 22 saves Friday night and 12 on Saturday. The clean sheets were the third and fourth of Convery's college career -- she posted two in three years at Mercyhurst College.
In all, seven players notch points on the weekend, including three with two -- Elmes, Katrina Mrázová (2a) and Sydney Brodt (1g, 1a). Four players registered their first-ever points as a Bulldog -- Mallorie Iozzo (1g), Ashton Bell (1a), Naomi Rogge (1a) and Ryleigh Houston (1a).
NOTES FROM THE PENN STATE SERIES: The Bulldogs are now 15-3-1 all-time on their opening game of the season, and 26-10-2 in season-opening series. UMD is also now 11-2-1 all-time against teams in the CHA, and of course, 2-0 against PSU.
--UMD did not give up a single power play Saturday, the first game without an infraction since Dec. 9, 2016 of last season against Minnesota State.
It was the first time UMD has shutout out an opponent back-to-back in a series since the Bulldogs blanked Minnesota State 12-0 on Jan. 23, 2015 and 4-0 on Jan. 24, 2015.
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Boston College will see its first action of the new season against the Bulldogs on Thursday. The Eagles are coming off a 28-6-5 season, that ended with a 0-1 loss to Wisconsin in the 2017 NCAA Frozen Four.
Head coach Katie Crowley is 248-80-44 as she begins her 11 season at the Helm of the Eagles. Like UMD, BC is missing players to the U.S National Team -- Kali Flanagan and All-American defenseman Megan Keller, but return a three-year starter between the pipes in Katie Burt. Junior forward Makenna Newkirk recorded a BC second-best 39 points (15g, 24a) in 36 skates last season.
CONVERY GLOVES WCHA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: It appears Jessica Convery is fitting in just fine as a new Bulldog.
The senior goaltender team earned the WCHA's first Defensive Player of the Week, Powered by GoodWood Hockey, after backstopping the Bulldogs to two shutouts and a series sweep over Penn State University last weekend.
A product of Commerce Township, Mich. who transferred from Mercyhurst College, Convery made 22 saves Friday night in UMD's 1-0 victory. Saturday, Convery posted 12 saves, bringing her series total to 34 saves on 34 shots in 120:00 minutes of action. Convery's GAA for the weekend was 0.00, with a saves percentage of 1.000 -- the only player in the WCHA to play every minute of two games without surrendering a goal.
For a full PDF version of this release, click here.
