The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will take part in its first-ever Hockey Day Minnesota Saturday, one day after facing St. Cloud State University in a conference showdown Friday at 3:07 p.m. at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Saturday, the Bulldogs and Huskies will hit the outdoor ice of Eastman Park on Lake George in a nonconference battle that is part of the Hockey Day Minnesota docket. Game-time Saturday is set for 1:00 p.m.
Saturday's event will be televised regionally on FOX Sports North, FOX Sports North PLUS and via the FOX Sports GO app, a free app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content through programming distributors. The three outdoor games will also be made available nationwide, exclusively through FOX Sports GO.
THE SERIES: UMD is 64-11-5 all-time against the Huskies and has won eight-straight games against SCSU in the past two seasons after the Bulldogs swept St. Cloud back on Nov. 3-4.
UMD swept the Huskies with a 3-2 overtime win and a 4-2 triumph at AMSOIL Arena.
On the night of Nov. 3, Bulldog rookie Ashton Bell scored just 3:21 into the first period. The Huskies answered and then went up 2-1 at 12:10 of the second period off a UMD deflection. Senior Michelle Lowenhielm, who manned the blueline in the series, netted the game-tying goal at 14:36.
The third period was scoreless despite an onslaught of offense by the Bulldogs, who outshot the Huskies 14-4 in the final stanza. UMD's reward for outshooting SCSU 35-23 in the contest would come at 2:40 of extra time on a wrist shot from senior forward Katernina Mrázová.
The Bulldogs owned a 3-0 lead Nov. 4 on SCUS by the end of the second period. UMD got goals from Emma Yanko, Bell and Jessica Healey. By 10:20 of the third period, the Huskie had closed the deficit to 3-2. With 2:06 left in skate, SCSU pulled its goaltender, but it was the Bulldogs that benefited from the empty net. With 37 seconds remaining, Naomi Rogge found the net from just past the blueline for her sixth goal of year.
Rogge led all scorers with a goal and an assist and had a team-high six shots on goal. UMD outshot SCSU 31-24 overall, but the Huskies tipped the third period with a 13-8 shots on goal advantage.
In their last series, six of UMD's seven goals against St. Cloud came from different goal scorers. Only Ashton Bell recorded two goals in the series -- one in each skate. UMD also outshot the Huskies in both games by a 66-47 margin.
A QUICK LOOK AT ST. CLOUD STATE: The Huskies are led by freshman Laura Kluge, who has 16 points on five goals and 11 assists in 19 games. Two goaltenders have split time this season almost equally -- sophomore Janine Alder (1-9-1, 2.44 GAA, .931) and freshman Emma Polusny (4-6-1, 2.00 GAA, .938).
St. Cloud is coming off an exhibition win against the Minnesota Whitecaps last Saturday by the score of 7-2. The Huskies last saw action before that against Minnesota in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The Gophers defeated SCSU 2-1 in a nonconference skate.
The Huskies are led by fourth-year head coach Eric Rudd who owns an overall record of 35-84-11 over his tenure. Like the Bulldogs, SCSU is in the midst of an youth movement with nine freshman (by comparison, UMD has eight currently rostered rookies but started the season with 10.)
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs split with Bemidji State at AMSOIL with a 5-3 loss Friday before snagging a 3-2 win from the Beavers Saturday afternoon.
UMD built a 2-1 lead after two periods on Friday, thanks to Ryleigh Houston's first goal as a Bulldog at 12:23 of the first period and a power play goal by Jessica Healey at 17:29 of the second period. But the Beavers ran off four unaswered goals, including three in a matter of just under six minutes in the third period. Healey stopped BSU's offensive onslaught with her second goal of the night — and second on the power play — at 13:17, but it was not enough for the Beavers, who added an empty net score with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.
Saturday, the Bulldogs scored three power play goals to upend BSU 3-2. Those three power play goals — two courtesy of Ashton Bell — came in just four extra skater opportunities.
UMD drew even just 2:14 later on the first of Bell's two goals. After scoring the first goal of her UMD career Friday night, Ryleigh Houston followed her scoring debut with her second at 8:01 of the first period to push the Bulldogs lead to 2-1. Houston's scrappy effort not only marked her second goal of the weekend, but fourth point overall — the sophomore forward figured in four of UMD's six goals in the series.
BSU again tied up the Bulldogs 5:51 into the second period, cashing in on a UMD turnover. But Bell struck again at 11:28, smacking home a rebound on the doorstep for her second goal of the game, and more importantly, the first game-winning tally of her young career.
NOTES FROM THE BEMIDJI STATE SERIES:
--UMD netted a total of five power goals on just six power plays in the series — a whopping, and Beaver-besting, 83.3 success rate.
--Ryleigh Houston figured in four of UMD's six goals in the series, including two (and the game-winner) Saturday.
--Five players notched two or more points in the series -- Houston (2g, 2a), Ashton Bell (2g, 1a), Michelle Lowenhielm (3a), Jessica Healey (2g), and Catherine Daoust (2a).
--UMD goaltender Jessica Convery posted 65 saves on the weekend after stopping 32 shots Friday and 33 shots Saturday.
--The Bulldogs are now 2-3 against BSU this season and 68-15-5 all-time.
--Assistant coach Laura Bellamy picked up her first win at the helm as an intern head coach for the Bulldogs Saturday. Bellamy filled in for head coach Maura Crowell, who won a gold medal with the U-18 U.S. National Team at the 2018 World Championships in Russia.
BELL RINGS IN WCHA ROOKIE OF THE ACCOLADE: One week after suiting up for the Canadian Women's Development Team in Fussen, Germany in the Nations Cup, Ashton Bell returned to the Bulldogs in top form last weekend.
The WCHA agreed, and named Bell its Rookie of the Week Tuesday for her two goal, one assist effort against Bemidji State over the weekend. Bell's effort was crucial in UMD's 3-2 win Saturday night, helping the Bulldogs stay within three points of the Beavers in the league standings.
Bell led all WCHA rookies in conference play with three points in UMD's series split with BSU. Bell, from Deloraine, Manitoba had the first assist on Ryleigh Houston's series-opening goal Friday night before scoring two power play goals -- including the game-winner -- Saturday. Bell struck at 4:15 of the first period and then again at 11:28 of the second period to give UMD its first win of the 2018 portion of the season.
In addition to a league-best three points, Bell had a league-high two power play goals, a game-winner and 13 shots in the series. Bell now leads UMD in scoring with 18 points on a team-high 11 goals and seven assists in 23 games.
Bell leads the WCHA with seven power play goals, ranks fourth among all rookies with 11 goals (0.48 gpg), and fifth with a 0.78 points per game average among rookies.
YOUNG PUPS: One look at UMD's stat sheet and one thing is apparent -- the Bulldog underclassmen are starting to get offensive.
UMD lost its top four scorers from its NCAA tournament squad of a year ago in forwards Lara Stalder (23-33=56), Ashleigh Brykaliuk (17-28=45), Katherine McGovern (17-17=34) and defenseman Sidney Morin (8-16=24). Ironically, the Bulldogs top-two scorers currently were in high school during that UMD run.
Four of UMD's five leading scorers right now are underclassmen, let by rookie forwards Ashton Bell (11-7-18) and Naomi Rogge (10-7-17) over 23 games. Sophomore defenseman Jalyn Elmes is third with 14 points on four goals and 10 assists, while the lone upperclassmen of the group, Katerina Mrázová has 12 points (3g, 9a) and is tied for fourth with sophomore transfer Ryleigh Houston (2g, 10a).
POWERED PLAY: UMD currently owns the second most productive power play in the WCHA with a 22.4 success rate. The Bulldogs were five-of-six extra skater attempts last weekend against BSU.
In fact, 15 of UMD's 48 goals have come on its power play so far this season.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD leads the NCAA with the fewest penalty minutes per game at just 5.0 PIM. The Bulldogs have spent all but one week this season in the top spot.
--UMD has yet to win a game when it has trailed after the first period, going 0-7-1 in those skates. The Bulldogs have struggled even more when they have fallen behind after the second period, and are a lowly 0-10-1 when chasing a deficit after the first 40 minutes of play.
In that same vein, UMD has been outscored in all three periods, but has struggled more in the first period, having scored just 16 goals compared to having surrendered 21.
--While the Bulldogs have been outscored overall (48-59), they have outshot their opponents 663-627 in their first 23 games of the season.
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