For the first time in over a month, the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will play an official two-game series when it welcomes Bemidji State Univeristy to AMSOIL Arena. The Beavers are currently in fourth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association -- just three points in front of the Bulldogs who are in fifth. The first game gets underway at 7:07 p.m. Friday night, while the second game will begin at 4:07 p.m.
Both games will be on television, with My9 covering Friday's game, and FSN Plus (Fox Sports North Plus) putting UMD on the its bill Saturday.
The Bulldogs will host Youth Hockey Weekend this weekend, and any youth player under 12 with a jersey on will receive free admission. UMD will be available for post game autographs Saturday in the concourse behind Section 124.
THE SERIES: UMD is now 67-14-4 all-time against the Beavers, and 1-2 after facing BSU in a nonconference game back on Nov. 6.
Isanti County Arena in Cambridge, Minn. provided the perfect authentic hockey backdrop for the U.S Hockey Hall of Fame Game, where a capacity crowd watched BSU sneak by the Bulldogs 3-2 in a non-conference game. Though the game didn't garner the Beavers any extra WCHA points, it was a big test for a UMD squad that hit the ice just 48 hours after completing a home series sweep of St. Cloud State University.
BSU struck first, but the Bulldogs equalized off a BSU turnover at the 17:17 mark of the first period, courtesy of Catherine Daoust.
After the Beavers took another lead in the second period, rookie forward Monique Aanenson's scored first career goal through traffic at 7:52. The Bulldogs outshot the Beavers 11-8 in the stanza, but BSU doused UMD's second period spark when the Beavers scored at 17:57.
BSU outshot UMD 34-25 in the game and has outshot UMD in all three games this season by a margin of 109-87. UMD's Jessica Convery had 31 saves for the Bulldogs, who are now 1-2 against the Beavers so far this season.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD enjoyed an offensive exhibition game weekend, defeating the Korean National Team 3-0 Friday night before handing the Minnesota Whitecaps a 7-2 setback Saturday.
The Bulldogs were without head coach Maura Crowell (Under-18 World Championships), and senior defenseman Jessica Healey and freshman forward Ashton Bell, who were with the Canadian Development Team.
Friday night, UMD netted a goal in each period to shake off the Korean National Team and former Bulldog and Korean National Team head coach Sarah Murray. Anna Klein, Emma Yanko and Mallorie Iozzo all registered tallies in the skate. UMD outshot Korean 39-16, including 20-4 in the first period.
The Bulldogs used three first period goals Saturday to blow open their game against the Whitecaps, including back-to-back strikes by Katerina Mrázová at 2:49 of the first period and Linnea Hedin just 44 seconds later.
In all, four players had two or more points Saturday, including five from Mrázová (2g, 3a), Yanko (2g), and Sydney Brodt and Naomi Rogge, who each had two assists.
BULLDOG NOTES: Freshman Naomi Rogge continues to lead UMD with 16 points in 21 games on a team-high 10 goals and six assists. She is followed by fellow rookie Ashton Bell, who has 15 points (9g, 15a) in those same 21 games.
--Rogge ranks fifth in the WCHA among all first-year players with a 0.76 points per game average, while Bell sits in sixth with a 0.71 ppg average.
--Rogge owned a team-best seven game scoring streak between Oct. 27 through Nov. 17, 2017, registering four goals and three assists for seven points over those six games. Rogge has notched at least a point in 13 games, and has picked two or more twice.
--Sophomore defenseman Jalyn Elmes sits third and first among all blueliners with 13 points (4g, 9a) in 21 outings. Elmes ranks fourth in the league among other defenseman in scoring with a 0.62 ppg statline, and third among all players in her position with four goals. Elmes is tied for first with two gam-winning tallies.
--UMD owns the fifth ranked offense in the WCHA (2.00 gpg), and the sixth ranked scoring defense (2.48 gpg).
--While the Bulldogs have netted 17 of their 42 goals in the third period, they have allowed 20 of their 52 goals against in the first period. UMD has the third fewest goals against in the league.
--The Bulldogs continue to be not only the most disclipined team in the conference, but also the NCAA, averaging a nation-low five penalty minutes a game.
--Five of UMD's six games before the holiday break were against teams ranked sixth or higher in the nation, including three against top-two teams. The Bulldogs went 2-3-1 over that span.
CROWELL, FURTURE BULLDOGS CHASING GOLD AT UNDER-18 WORLDS: UMD head coach Maura Crowell is currently serving as the associate coach of the U.S.Under-18 Women's World Championship Team that will play Friday in the semifinals at 6:30 a.m. CT in Dmitrov, Russia.
Crowell is joined by two future Bulldogs that arecommitted to UMD -- Maggie Flaherty of Lakeville, Minn. and Lizi Norton of Orono, Minn.
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