IT'S 1 VS 2 WHEN TOP-RANKED WISCONSIN WILL HOST NO. 2 BULLDOGS SATURDAY

Women's Hockey 2/9/2017 2:46:00 PM

IT'S 1 VS 2 WHEN TOP-RANKED WISCONSIN WILL HOST NO. 2 BULLDOGS SATURDAY

The nation's top-two teams will face-off against each other this weekend in Madison, Wisc. when the No. 2 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey travels to an already sold out LaBahn Arena to take on the No. 1 University of Wisconsin. The Saturday-Sunday series will get underway Saturday at 2:07 p.m. and will wrap up Sunday at 12:07 p.m.

USCHO RANKING: UMD-- No. 2, Wisconsin-- No. 1
USA TODAY/USA HOCKEY MAG: UMD-- No. 2, Wisconsin-- No. 1

THE SERIES: UMD is now 30-40-12 all-time against the Badgers after each side picked up a win in November at AMSOIL Arena.

The Bulldogs snapped a 15-game winless streak with a 4-1 win on Nov. 18 before suffering a 4-1 setback on Nov. 19.

UMD had four different goal scorers in the 4-1 win, including Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Katerina Mrázová, Katherine McGovern and Michelle Lowenhielm. Rookie forward Sydney Brodt had a game-high two points on two assists. The win was the first by a UMD squad over a No. 1 team since Jan. 13, 2012, when the Bulldogs beat then No. 1 Minnesota 4-2. It also marked the first win by UMD over Wisconsin since Oct. 14, 2012.

Sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney made 45 saves on 46 shots, and helped hold UW scoreless in two power play attempts.

The following day, the Badgers snapped the Bulldogs then seven-game unbeaten streak with a 4-1 effort. Rooney made 43 stops in the skate. Overall, Rooney made 88 saves on 93 shots in the series for a saves percentage of .946 on the weekend.

While both UMD and Wisconsin each scored five goals in the series, the Badgers outshot the Bulldogs 93-50.

The Bulldogs are winless in LaBahn Arena since it opened in October of 2012.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE BADGERS: Wisconsin owns the nation's best overall record at 26-2-1 and sit in first place in the WCHA with a record of 21-2-1-1. Mark Johnson is in his 14th season at the helm of the Badgers with a 421-77-36 overall record, and his program has earned four NCAA titles under his charge (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011.)

The Badgers are 12-1-1 at home this season, and have outscored their opponents 58-11. Junior forward Annie Pankowski leads UW with 39 points on a team-high 18 goals and 21-assists. Senior forward Sarah Nurse has recorded 36 points o n17 goals and 19 assists. Ann-Renée Desbiens has manned the pipes in 24 games, recording an NCAA-best 11 shutouts, .956 saves percentage and 0.79 GAA.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD earned its seventh series sweep after downing the University of North Dakota 2-0 Friday and 2-1 Saturday at AMSOIL.

Friday, the Bulldogs earned their fifth shutout of the season, backstopped by the 24 saves of Maddie Rooney. Lara Stalder and Sidney Morin netted UMD's two goals and the Bulldogs outshot UND 35-24.

Saturday, Sydney Brodt scored UMD's first goal 3:46 into the first peroid. After the Fighting Hawks equalized 2:36 into the third period, Stalder scored her second game-winning goal of the series 1:10 later. Rooney made 28 saves for the Bulldogs, who were outshot 29-22 by North Dakota.

NOTES FROM THE NORTH DAKOTA SERIES: The Bulldogs were unbeaten against the Fighting Hawks over the regular season for the first time since the 2009-10 season. UMD went 3-0-1 against North Dakota this year.

--All-time, UMD improves to 38-15-16 against the Fighting Hawks and 4-4-2 in its last 10 games against North Dakota.

--The Bulldogs outshot the Fighting Hawks in the first game 35-24, but were outshot in the second game 29-22. That was the first game UMD has been outshot in seven games, dating back to Jan. 14, where Minnesota outshot UMD 32-26.

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 last Saturday.

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.

MISSING DOGS: UMD leading scorer Lara Stalder and Katerina Mrázová will both miss the Wisconsin series due to Olympic qualifying games.

Final qualification for Group C will take place in Arosa, Switzerland from Feb. 9-12. Stalder, who will suit up for Switzerland and Mrázová, who will skate for the Czech Republic, will face-off on Saturday. Stalder was awarded the Best Player of the Game Thursday after netting a hat trick and compiling five points in Switzerland's 6-1 win over Denmark.

BRYK BY BRYK: Senior forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk has now recorded a point in her last 19 games, dating back to Oct. 29, 2016. Over that span, Brykaliuk has paced UMD with 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points, the second-longest scoring streak ever by a Bulldog player. 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.

TOP DOGS: While Ashleigh Brykaliuk owns the teams longest current scoring streak, Lara Stalder has now recorded a point in her last nine outings. 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 currently ranks fourth in the NCAA with 45 total points in 28 games for a 1.61 ppg average. With the second most goals in the nation, Stalder ranks sixth for with a 0.68 goals per game average and eighth with 26 assists in those same 28 games for a 0.93 assist per game ratio. Stalder also leads the nation with seven game-winning goals.

With a .943 saves percentage in 28 games, Maddie Rooney ranks sixth in the NCAA. She also sits seventh in winning percentage at .786 with a record of 20-4-4, which ties her for the second most wins in the NCAA. Rooney, who has played a nation-high 1690:53 minutes, ranks eighth with a 1.53 goals against average.

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 28 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 137 games.

Blueliner Sidney Morin has moved into tie for eighth all-time among defensemen in scoring with 65 points (18g, 47a) in 138 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 138 consecutive games for the Bulldogs.

Goaltender Maddie Rooney now has the seventh most career saves with 1,195 in 47 appearances. Rooney also sits seventh with 25 career wins (overall record of 25-16-4), as well as 47 games played with 2710:01 minutes.

In a single season, Rooney currently has the third highest saves percentage of .943, and sits 10th most games in a minutes in a season (28) and 1690:53 minutes. Rooney is just three games and 19 minutes out of the ninth spot.

ROONEY COLLECTS THIRD WCHA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: After backstopping UMD to a series sweep over North Dakota over the weekend, Maddie Rooney was been named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week.

The sophomore goaltender helped guide the Bulldogs to a 2-0 shutout Friday night before a 2-1 win Saturday. The Andover, Minn. native made 24 saves Friday en route to her fifth shutout of the season and seventh of her career. Saturday, the Bulldogs were outshot by the Fighting Hawks 29-22, but Rooney made 28 saves to secure the Bulldog backline. North Dakota's goal at 2:36 of the second period broke a 207:11 shutout streak Rooney held entering the game, the longest of her collegiate career.

Over the weekend, Rooney led the WCHA with a 0.50 goals against average, which also led the nation among netminders that played two games. She also had a league-high .981 saves percentage (and again led the nation among goaltenders that played two games). Rooney has played an NCAA-high 1690:53 minutes, ranks eighth with a 1.53 GAA, sixth with a .943 saves percentage and seventh with a winning percentage of .786.

This marks Rooney's third weekly WCHA award this season and of her career. Rooney was named the league's Defensive Player of the Month this past December.

STALDER EARNS HISTORIC FIRST-EVER WHCA DIVISION I PLAYER OF THE MONTH AWARD: One day after the Women's Hockey Commissioners Association announced the creation of the WHCA National Monthly Awards -- given to the nation's top collegiate women's hockey player and rookie each month of the season beginning in this 2017 calendar year -- senior forward Lara Stalder earned the first ever honor. Stalder picked up the inaugural Women's Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division I Player of the Month, earning the historic award for January 2017 after registering an NCAA-best 2.67 points-per- game and +16 rating.

The Luzern, Switzerland native ranked among the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and NCAA leaders in several offensive categories last month, propelling the Bulldogs to an undefeated, 5-0-1 mark and a climb to No. 2 in the national polls – the program's highest ranking since October 2010. The 5-6 winger tied for the WCHA lead with 16 points, while she was tops nationally with eight goals and averages of 1.33 goals- and 7.83 shots-per- game. The WCHA Player of the Month for January, Stalder paced the league with an average of 1.33 assists-per-game and two game-winning goals.

A three-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week in January, Stalder tallied a point in all six games and factored in each of the Bulldogs' five-game winning goals (two goals and three assists). She opened the month with a six-point series (3g-3a) against then-No. 2 Minnesota, netting the game-winner in the series finale to lift UMD to its first sweep of the Gophers since Oct. 29-30, 2010. Against Bemidji State on Jan. 20, she potted a natural hat trick, including the game-winner, and added an assist in the Bulldogs' 6- 1 road win. Stalder closed the month with a one-goal, three-assist weekend as the Bulldogs swept visiting Ohio State.

BULLDOGS HAVE PROGRAM RECORD 10 WCHA SCHOLAR ATHLETES: UMD had a program-record 10 student athletes named 2016-17 WCHA Scholar Athletes Thursday.

The Bulldog award winners were Lynn Astrup (Warroad, Minn.), Catherine Daoust (Ille Bizard, Quebec), Reagan Haley (Red Wing, Minn.), Jessica Healey (Edmonton, Alberta), Linnea Hedin (Huddinge, Sweden), Michelle Lowenhielm (Sollentuna, Sweden), Katherine McGovern (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Sidney Morin (Minnetonka, Minn.), Morgan Morse (Lakeville, Minn.), and Lara Stalder (Luzern, Switzerland). UMD had four repeat award winners -- Astrup, Daoust, Hedin, and Stalder all earned the honor in 2015-16.