The No. 2 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will put the wraps on the 2016-17 regular season this weekend when it hosts Western Collegiate Hockey Association foe St. Cloud State University at AMSOIL Arena.  The Bulldogs will drop the puck on the series Friday night at 7:07 p.m., with game two scheduled for 4:07 p.m. on Saturday.  UMD will honor its six seniors -- Lara Stalder, Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Sidney Morin, Katherine McGovern, Demi Crossman and Maria Lindh on ice following Saturday's contest.

USCHO RANKING:  UMD-- No. 2, St. Cloud State-- N/R
USA TODAY/USA HOCKEY MAG: UMD-- No. 2, St. Cloud State- N/R

THE SERIES:  All-time, UMD is 58-11-5 against the Huskies after sweeping SCSU back on Dec. 2-3 in St. Cloud, Minn. by scores of 3-0 and 3-2. 

On Dec. 2, the Bulldogs blanked the Huskies 3-0 behind three different goal scorers, including Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Maria Lindh and Demi Crossman.  Seven players in all recorded a point, while sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney earned the shutout.

The next afternoon, SCSU scored first before UMD netted three unanswered goals by Brooklynn Schugel, Brykaliuk and Lindh to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win. Eight players had a hand in UMD's three tallies.

UMD outshot the Huskies 50-34 in the series, but neither team scored on its power play (UMD 0-of-7, SCSU 0-of-4).

A QUICK LOOK AT THE HUSKIES:  SCSU split last weekend with Bemidji State in St. Cloud by scores of 5-2 and 1-3.  Led by third-year coach Eric Rud, who owns an overall record of 21-46-5 behind the bench, the Huskies are currently in fifth place in the WCHA wth a record of 9-19-4 and 7-16-3 in league play.  

The Huskies top-three point getters are all underclassmen, led by sophomore forward Julia Tylke who has a team-high 19 points on 11 goals and eight assists.  Sophmore netminder Janine Alder has played in 79.7% of SCSU's games, and has posted a 7-12-3 record and 2.34 goals against average.

LAST TIME OUT: Missing five positional players for the entire series -- including leading scorer Lara Stalder (19-26-45), forward Katerina Mrázová, and defensemen Jesica Healey and Jalyn Elmes -- UMD earned a 1-1 tie Saturday behind 43 saves from sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney.  The Badgers went ahead 1-0 midway through the third period before Sidney Brodt equalized at 14:38.  Wisconsin grabbed the extra point after a UMD program-record 12 round shootout (and the second longest in WCHA history).

--After UMD was outshot 44-22 Saturday, the Badgers onslaught shots advantage of 45-15 was too much Sunday.  The weary Bulldogs surrendered a 8-0 loss, their first in 2017 and first 10 games.  The setback ended UMD's unbeaten streak that dated back to Jan. 13, and the first loss since Dec. 10, 2016.

NOTES FROM THE WISCONSIN SERIES:  The Bulldogs are now 1-1-2 against the top-ranked Badgers this season, and 6-4-4 against ranked teams .  UMD is also now 3-4-1 against teams ranked No. 1 or No. 2. All-time, the Bulldogs are now 30-41-13.  UMD owns more ties and more overtime games with the Badgers than any other program in the NCAA.

--UMD's loss Sunday was the biggest Bulldog setback deficit since UMD lost 8-0 to Minnesota back on Nov. 11, 2000, tying the most goals scored against in a game.

--Maddie Rooney has made 42 or more saves on four occasions this season, and all four times have come against the nation's No. 1 or No. 2 team.

--Ashleigh Brykaliuk's 19-game scoring streak came to an end Saturday, leaving the senior forward with an incredible 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points over that span, the second-longest in UMD history.  Only Hanne Sikio has recorded a longer scoring spree as Bulldog.  Sikio set her record during the 1999-00 season, a 23-game streak where the Finnish Olympian tallied 17 goals and 31 assists for 48 points.

STALDER PUNCHES OLYMPIC TICKET: Lara Stalder became the first currently rostered Bulldog to punch her ticket to the 2018 Winter Olympics when Stalder and Switzerland defeated Katerina Mrázová and the Czech Republic 4-1 last Sunday in Olympic qualifying.

In three qualifying games, Stalder led Group C after she scored eight goals (including two hat-tricks and added four assists for 12 points -- a four-point per game average.  Mrázová had three assists in three games for the Czech Republic.

Stalder was a bronze medalist with Switzerland in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

PLENTY OF TWENTY:  For the 15th time in the program's 18 year history, the Bulldogs have hit the 20-game win mark.  UMD reached the milestone in their 2-1 win against North Dakota on Feb. 4,

The Bulldogs have surpassed the 20 win mark in all but two of those 15 seasons, and have earned 24 or more wins nine of those years.

UMD has had three seasons reach the 30 or more win rung.

TOP DOGS: Lara Stalder missed last weekend's series, and will enter St. Cloud State games with a nine-game scoring streak intact. Stalder has 11 goals and eight assists over that span for 19 points — and has turned in multiple-point games in six of those seven skates. Stalder ranks fourth in the NCAA in points per game at 1.63, sixth in goals per game with 19 in 28 games, and ninth in assists per game with 26 in 28 skates.  The senior forward also owns the nation's most game-winning goals (7), and ranks second in the WCHA for points (45), goals (20) and third in the league with 29 assists.

Maddie Rooney sits sixth in the NCAA with a .938 saves percentage and tenth with a .750 winning percentage.  No other goaltender in the nation has logged more minutes than Rooney, who in 30 games has logged 1799:56 minutes.

CAREER CLIMBERS:  With 45 points this season, Lara Stalder joins Katherine McGovern with career-best offensive seasons.  Stalder's 19 goals, 26 assists surpasses her junior output of 17 goals and 24 assists for 41 points.

McGovern has almost doubled her entire previous three-years offensive production this season along, having recorded 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 30 games.  Over her four-year career, McGovern has compiled 47 points on 23 goals and 24 assists.

BY THE BOOK:  In the Bulldog record books, Lara Stalder now ranks as the 13th highest scorer out of UMD program history (and one points out of 12th) with 137 points (50g, 87a) in 127 games.  While Stalder also ranks No. 9 all-time for assists in a career,   Ashleigh Brykaliuk sits 14th in total points with 136 points with 60 goals and 76 assists in 139 games.  

Blueliner Sidney Morin has moved into tie for eighth all-time among defensemen in scoring with 66 points (18g, 48a) in 140 games.  Morin, who has never missed a game in her collegiate career, also now owns UMD's consecutive games-played record.  The senior blueliner has played in a program-best 140 consecutive games for the Bulldogs.

Goaltender Maddie Rooney now has the seventh most career saves with 1,272 in 49 appearances.  Rooney also sits seventh with 25 career wins (overall record of 25-17-5), as well as 49 games played with 2819:04 minutes.

In a single season, Rooney currently has the ninth most minutes (1799:56) and the tenth most games (30). 

THE 2016-17 BULLDOG SENIOR CLASS:  

Five UMD seniors and one junior will play their last regular season game at AMSOIL Arena on Saturday -- Lara Stalder, Ashleigh Brykaliuk,  Sidney Morin, Katherine McGovern, Demi Crossman and Maria Lindh.  A closer look at UMD's 2016-17 senior class:

Morin (Minnetonka, Minn.) has climbed into the UMD record book over the past four seasons, and has now played in 140 consecutive games.  She sits eighth among all Bulldog defenseman in total career points with 66, as well as eighth for career goals by a defenseman with 18.  Ranked eighth all-time among UMD defenseman with 48 assists, Morin currently ranks third in the WCHA and 13th in the NCAA in blueliner scoring with 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists.  A 2016-17 WCHA Scholar Athlete, she was also a 2015-16 WCHA All-Academic Team member, as well as a two-year Bulldog team captain. 

A two-year UMD team captain, Brykaliuk (Brandon, Manitoba) currently ranks 14th on the program's all-time career point list with 136 points.  One of just 20 players ever to reach the 100-point milestone, she has compiled 60 goals and 74 assists in 139 games over her career.  Named the to the 2015-16 All-WCHA Second Team, she was also a 2015-16 WCHA All-Academic Team member.  Brykaliuk has three-times been the WCHA's Offensive Player of the Week, including on Oct. 5, and paced the Bulldogs this season with the program's second longest point-scoring streak ever -- a 19 game, 26 point run that lasted from Oct. 29, 2016 through Feb. 11, 2017.  She ranks seventh in the WCHA in total points with 36, and fifth in the league with 21 assists.   

Currently in the midst of the most prolific offensive season of her career, McGovern (Scottsdale, Ariz.) is tenth in the NCAA with four game-winning goals.  Tied for seventh for goals scored in the WCHA with 15 in 32 games, she also ranks ninth in the league with 30 points.  A 2016-17 WCHA Scholar Athlete, McGovern was also a 2015-16 WCHA All-Academic Team member.  UMD's third-leading scorer this season, she has 23 goals and 24 assists in her career for 47 points.  McGovern is the the first-ever Arizona native in the Bulldog program.

Stalder currently ranks 13th in career scoring with 137 points and ninth all-time among UMD players with 87 assists in 127 games.   She currently ranks fourth in the NCAA in points per game at 1.63, sixth in goals per game with 19 in 30 games, and ninth in assists per game with 26 skates, and owns the most game-winning goals in the nation with seven.  Stalder earned the first-ever Women's Hockey Association Player of the Month for January 2017, and was also named the WCHA's Offensive Player of the Month for January 2017 and December 2015.  A six-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honoree -- including four times this season  -- she was a 2015-16 All-WCHA Third Team selection, as well as a 2012-13 All-WCHA Rookie award winner.  She has twice been a WCHA Scholar Athlete, in 2016-17 and 2015-16, and was a WCHA  All-Academic Team member in 2015-16.  A current member of the Swiss National team, she earned a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. 

Crossman, has played in 137 games in her UMD career, registering eight goals and 19 assists for 27 points.  With 10 points on three goals and seven assists this season, she has matched a career-high in all three categories -- goals, assists and points in a season.  

Lindh has played in 81 games over her three-year UMD career.  Currently enjoying the most offensively productive season of her career, she has recorded five goals -- including one game-winner, and seven assists for 12 points in 32 games.  Overall, she has netted 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points as a Bulldog.  A current member of the Swedish National team and member of the 2014 Swedish Olympic Team, she recorded 2 assists in 6 contests.

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