One week after knocking of the nation's No. 2 team, the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will get a series against the No. 1 University of Wisconsin. The Bulldogs will travel to Madison, Wisc. to face the top-ranked Badgers in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play at LaBahn Arena. Game-times have been moved to 5:07 p.m. Friday night and 12:07 p.m. Satuday afternoon.
THE SERIES: UMD went 1-2-2 last season against the Badgers, and are 30-42-13 all-time against Wisconsin. The two programs last met in the WCHA Final Face-Off Championship on March 5, a 4-1 defeat for a fatigued Bulldog squad.
After knocking off Minnesota 2-1 in double-overtime, the Bulldogs turned around 19 hours later to face the rested top-ranked Badgers at Ridder Arena. The result was a 1-1 game until the third period. Wisconsin scored three goals in the third period to defeat UMD 4-1, despite 50 saves from then sophomore Maddie Rooney. Defenseman Sidney Morin had the Bulldogs lone goal in the game, assisted by Lara Stalder and Katerina Mrázová.
While the Bulldogs earned a win and two ties against the Badgers in five games last season, UMD has not picked up a win in Madison since the Bulldogs defeated UW 3-1 on November 28, 2010. UMD did tie the Badgers 1-1 on Feb. 12 last year, and before that earned a 0-0 draw on Feb. 6, 2015.
The Bulldogs and Badgers own two of the most storied programs in all of NCAA Division I women's hockey. With five NCAA titles won in six NCAA national title games, UMD won one title over the Badgers in 2008 (4-0, in Duluth, Minn.) after losing to Wisconsin the year before (2007, 1-4) in the championship. The Badgers have won four NCAA titles in their own right.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs won the Windjammer Classic in Burlington, Vermont, hosted by the University of Vermont over the weekend. UMD knocked off No. 2 Colgate 4-1 before besting Vermont 2-1 in the championship.
UMD used four different goal scorers to stun the No. 2 Raiders 4-1 Friday night. With goals from Naomi Rogge, Sydney Brodt, Ashton Bell, and Lynn Astrup, the Bulldogs also outshot Colgate 32-25 and 24 saves from goaltender Jessica Convery.
Saturday, UMD got a first period goal from Rogge, and then a game-winning power play tally from Emma Yanko with just 1:38 remaining to break a 1-1 tie.
Yanko was named the Windjammer Classic Player of the Tournament, while Rogge, Convery and of course, Yanko, were named to the All-Tournament Team.
NOTES FROM THE WINNDERJAMMER CLASSIC: UMD is now 1-0 against both Colgate and Vermont after the Bulldogs played against each program for the first time in its history last weekend.
--The Bulldogs are now 34-11-4 against the Eastern College Athletic Conference all-time (the league the Raiders play in), and 4-1 over the three-year Maura Crowell era.
--UMD improved to 7-6-1 against Hockey East opponents after defeating Vermont Saturday night.
--UMD's win over No. 2 Colgate was the first win over a No. 2 team or higher since the Bulldogs trounced the then No. 2 University of Minnesota 5-3 on Jan. 14, 2017.
BULLDOG NOTABLES: UMD has allowed the second-fewest goals in the WCHA at 36. The Bulldogs once again have the fewest penalties in the league and country at 4.7 a game.
--UMD has the third-longest winning streak in the NCAA with four wins in four games, and have won six of its last seven skates.
--Rookie forward Rogge continues to lead UMD in scoring with a team-high nine goals and six assists for 15 points in 17 games. Rogge ranks seventh among all WCHA freshman scorers with a 0.88 points per game average.
--Convery ranks 13th in the nation with a GAA of 1.88. and second in the WCHA with a .927 saves percentage. With the second most goaltender wins in the league with nine, Convery also has the second most minutes among all league netminders with 1022:40.
--Sophomore defenseman Jalyn Elmes sits sixth in the WCHA among all scoring blueliners with 11 points, and her four goals ranks her fourth in the league and 10th in the NCAA.
EMMA YANKO'S EMMINENT THREAT: Emma Yanko has become a scoring threat. The junior, who was without a goal in her first two seasons as a Bulldog, has notched three goals in her last three games, including two against Minnesota State on Nov. 18. With a total of four goals so far this season, two of those goals (and two of her last three) have been game-winning tallies. Not only is Yanko getting to the net, she's getting there when it matters most for UMD and delivering.
One of only three Bulldog players with two game-winning goals this season, Yanko also worked her way on to UMD's top-line last weekend and rewarded the Bulldogs with a game-winning goal with 1:38 remaining in UMD's 2-1 win against Vermont.
CONVERY NAMED WCHA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK AND THE NCAA'S FIRST STAR OF THE WEEK: It was a good week for Jessica Convery.
The senior goaltender was named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week Powered by GoodWood Hockey after already picking up the NCAA's First Star of the Week. Convery backstopped Bulldogs to the Winderjammer Classic title in Burlington, Vermont over the weekend, and led all WCHA goaltenders with a .961 saves percentage. Not only did Convery, help the Bulldogs to the title, but a 4-1 upset over No. 2 Colgate University Friday and a 2-1 win over the University of Vermont Saturday. One of only three goaltenders in the country with two wins last week, she faced a Colgate team that entered the game ranked fourth among D-I schools by averaging 3.86 goals per game. Convery turned aside 25-of-26 shots and pitched a shutout for the first 59:37 of a 4-1, UMD victory. The product of Commerce Township, Mich. allowed just two goals in 51 shots -- 49 saves for a 1.00 goals against average. For her efforts, Convery was named the Winderjammer Classic All-Tournament Team.
Convery, who now owns an overall record of 9-6-0 overall and four straight wins, also has a 1.88 goals against average and a saves percentage .927.
A QUICK GLANCE AT THE BADGERS: The top-ranked Badgers are 17-1-0 overall and 8-0 in WCHA play. Wisconsin's one and only loss happened last Friday in Arlington, Va., a 2-3 setback against Northeastern University.
Like the Bulldogs, Wisconsin youth movement is providing some series offense for the Badgers. Wisconsin's top-three scorers -- Abby Roque (22 points), Presley Norby (18 points), Alexis Mauermann (16 points) are all sophomore forwards. The top-goal scorer for the Badgers is senior Claudia Kepler, who has 10 goals in 18 games.
Sophomore goaltender Kristen Campbell has played all 1075:54 minutes for Wisconsin between the pipes, and has posted a 1.12 GAA.
Head coach Mark Johnson is in his 15th season behind the Badgers bench, and in addition to four NCAA titles, has an overall record of 445-79-39.
MORIN WILL TRAIN WITH U.S. NATIONAL TEAM: Sidney Morin has been added to the 24 players currently in consideration for a spot on the final 2018 U.S. Olympic Women's Hockey Team roster, USA Hockey announced on Monday.
Morin, a defenseman who graduated from UMD in May of 2017, was the 2017 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Defensive Player of the Year, and left the Bulldogs as its seventh-highest scoring defenseman with 19 goals and 51 assists for 70 points in 147 games. Morin's 19 goals ranks her fifth among all UMD blueliners and she sits sixth all-time with 51 assists. Morin was also named a 2017 WCHA Scholar Athlete last season. Morin has skated in 21 games for MODO Hockey of the Swedish Women's Hockey League this season, where the defenseman has compiled 10 goals and 22 assists.
Morin will join Bulldog redshirt junior goaltender Maddie Rooney, who has been centralize with the U.S. National Team this fall in Tampa Bay, Florida.
USA Hockey will announce its 2018 Olympic Team on Jan. 1, 2018.
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