With one week remaining in the 2017 portion of the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey 2017-18 game schedule, the Bulldogs will face the No. 6 University of Minnesota this weekend at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association series will get underway Friday at 7:07 p.m., and will wrap-up on Saturday at 4:07 p.m.
HOME-LESS: The Bulldogs have played just eight of their 19 games at home in the confines of AMSOIL Arena. Currently in the midst of a season-long three week road stand, after this weekend, UMD will have played a whopping 13 games away from Duluth, Minn. The Bulldogs are 3-8 away from home, but 6-2 at AMSOIL.
RANKED RIVALS: Minnesota will mark the third-straight weekend UMD will face an opponent ranked in the latest top-10 national polls. The Bulldogs, who travel to the No. 6 Gophers this weekend, played at the No. 1 University of Wisconsin last weekend after knocking off then No. 2 Colgate University in the Windjammer Classic the week before. UMD owns the fifth strongest schedule in the nation, according the most recent KRACH rankings.
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are now 27-54-7 all-time against Minnesota, after the Gophers swept UMD at AMSOIL back on Oct. 13-14. UMD went 3-3 against the Gophers last season.
UMD was swept by then No. 7 Minnesota at home by scores of 4-1 and 2-1, despite outshooting the Gophers 63-44 in the series on Oct. 20-21.
On Friday, Oct. 20, 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, Oct. 21, 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. The Bulldogs outshot the Gophers 27-21.
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.
LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers snapped UMD's four-game winning streak last Friday with a 5-1 win at LaBahn Arena over the Bulldogs. The Badgers used two goals scored just 17 seconds apart in the first period to open up an early 2-0 lead on the Bulldogs. Wisconsin added to that advantage in the second period, with a tally 1:36 into play and then again at the 12:52 mark.
After recording two goals in each of the first two periods, the Badgers scored a fluke of a goal 9:56 into the final period. The Bulldogs squashed Wisconsin's bid for a shutout when rookie forward Anna Klein buried the puck with just three seconds remaining in regulation for her first goal of the season and UMD's only offensive success.
The Bulldogs outshot the Badgers in two of the three periods, but Wisconsin finished the game with a minimal 31-29 shot advantage on UMD overall. Bulldog goaltender Jessica Convery had 26 saves in the contest, but despite four power play attempts in the outing, UMD was scoreless with the extra skater.
Saturday, the Bulldogs surrendered two goals to Wisconsin less than four minutes into the first period, creating a hole that ended up just too deep for UMD to climb out in the Badgers 3-1 win and series sweep. The Bulldogs held the typically highly offensive Badgers to just three goals Saturday, and kept Wisconsin, who had four power play attempts, unsuccessful with an extra skater.
Wisconsin got out to a roaring start, with a goal 2:04 into action, followed almost immediately by a tally at the 3:40 mark of the first period.
Outshot 26-11 in the first 40 minutes, UMD was dealt another defensive blow when Wisconsin took a 3-0 lead at 8:03 of the third period. But just 49 seconds later, UMD answered in the form of — who else —rookie forward Naomi Rogge, who netted her 10th goal of the season with Catherine Daoust and Sydney Brodt on the assists.
NOTES FROM THE WISCONSIN SERIES: UMD fell to 30-44-13 all-time against the Badgers. Besides outscoring the Bulldogs 8-2, Wisconsin outshot UMD 72-46 in the series.
--The Bulldogs gave up a season-high five goals to the Badgers on Saturday. It was the most goals an opponent has netted on UMD since then No .1 Wisconsin dialed up eight on Feb. 12, 2017 last season in Madison in an 8-0 win over UMD.
--UMD also had a season-low shots on goal Saturday -- 17.
--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.)
--Senior goaltender Jessica Convery had the second most saves of her Bulldog career last Saturday -- 38. Her high is 43 against Bemidj State University back on Oct. 27 in Bemidji, Minn.
BULLDOG NOTABLES: Rookie forward Naomi Rogge continues to lead UMD in scoring with a team-high 10goals and six assists for 16 points in 19 games. Rogge ranks 14th among all NCAA freshmen with a 0.84 points per game average, and owns the fifth most points by a rookie in NCAA.
--Freshman Ashton Bell ranks seventh in the NCAA with four power play goals in 19 games.
--The Bulldogs own the second-lowest penalty minutes per game average in the nation at 4.9, and lowest among teams that have played 14 or more games.
--UMD also has the nation's 14th ranked penalty kill at 86.4 after having killed off 38-of-44 so far this season. The Bulldogs held the Badgers scoreless in sixth power play attempts on last weekend.
A QUICK GLANCE AT THE GOPHERS: Minnesota split at home against Bemidji State last weekend, picking up a 3-2 overtime win on Friday before surrendering a 2-4 loss to the Beavers on Saturday.
The Gophers are 14-5-1 overall and 9-4-1 in the WCHA, and led by freshman sensation Grace Zumwinkle, who is averaging a blistering 1.00 points per game average on nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 20 games.
Averaging 3.35 goals per game, Minnesota has seven players who have notched 15 or more points so far this season. (in comparison, UMD has just one with one less game played).
Senior goaltender Sidney Peters and freshman Alex Gulstene have split duties between the pipes, with Peters posting an overall record of 8-4 and a 2.09 GAA, while Gulstene is 6-1-1 with a 2.18 GAA. Peters manned the pipes for both of Minnesota's games against BSU last weekend.
Head coach Brad Frost is in his 11th season at the helm of the Gophers, where he is 333-58-28 overall. Under his tenure, Minnesota has won four NCAA titles, with the most recent title won in the 2015-16 season.
UMD REPRESENTED AT U.S-CANADA TUNE UP: The U.S. Women's National Team fell to Canada in overtime, 2-1, before a crowd of 9,098 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, as part of The Time is Now Tour, presented by Toyota last Sunday (Dec. 2).
Current junior redshirt Bulldog goaltender Maddie Rooney played all 60:37 minutes for the U.S., and posted 24 saves in the setback. 2017 UMD graduate and All-American defenseman Sidney Morin also made her U.S. National Team debut.
Bulldog All-American Jocelyne Larocque joined former UMD teammates Haley Irwin on the Canadian side.
For a full PDF version of this release, click here.
Friday
Stats: http://www.gophersports.com/gametracker/launch/gt_whockey.html?event=1549425&school=minn&sport=whockey&camefrom=&startschool=&
Audio: http://www.gophersports.com/collegesportslive/?media=561382
BTN Plus Video: https://www.btn2go.com/refer/minn121
Saturday
Stats: http://www.gophersports.com/gametracker/launch/gt_whockey.html?event=1549426&school=minn&sport=whockey&camefrom=&startschool=&
Audio: http://www.gophersports.com/collegesportslive/?media=561384
BTN Plus Video: https://www.btn2go.com/refer/minn122
