The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will host the No. 2 University of Wisconsin this weekend at AMSOIL Arena in the Bulldogs last home series of the regular season. Both games will be featured on My9, with Friday's contest -- 'Cram the Am' - to feature $1 tickets or free admission with a donation to food shelf. The first 250 fans will also receive a Champ Bobblehead, and the first 750 fans will receive a UMD Stores souvenir puck. Friday's game is set to get underway at 7:07 p.m., while the Bulldogs will drop the puck on Senior Day, Saturday, at 4:07 p.m. The first 250 fans will also receive a Champ Bobblehead. All seven UMD seniors will be honored in a post game on ice ceremony.
THE SERIES: UMD is 30-44-13 all-time against the Badgers, including 0-2 so far this season against UW. Besides outscoring the Bulldogs 8-2, Wisconsin outshot UMD 72-46 in their last series back on Dec. 1-2 in Madison, Wisc.
The Bulldogs gave up a season-high five goals to the Badgers on Dec. 2 (5-1). 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. The Bulldogs lost 3-1 the previous day on Dec. 1.
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 in the first game (Dec.1), a 5-1 loss. 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.
The following day, Dec. 2, 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, with Catherine Daoust and Sydney Brodt on the assists.
Since the Badgers swept the Bulldogs, UMD has gone 2-1-1 against ranked teams.
The Bulldogs and Badgers own two of the most storied programs in all of NCAA Division I women's hockey. With five NCAA titles won in six NCAA national title games, UMD won one title over the Badgers in 2008 (4-0, in Duluth, Minn.) after losing to Wisconsin the year before (2007, 1-4) in the championship. The Badgers have won four NCAA titles in their own right.
A QUICK LOOK AT WISCONSIN: The Badgers were swept over the weekend by No. 5 Ohio State University in Columbus by scores of
1-0 Friday and 3-1 Saturday. Ironically, UMD swept the Buckeyes just one week prior, beating OSU at AMSOIL by scores of 4-1 and 2-1 on Jan. 19-20.
The Badgers are led by sophomore forward Abby Roque, who has 31 points (9g, 22a) in 30 games. Senior forward Claudia Kepler leads all UW skaters with a team-high 17 goals.
UW has relied exclusively on sophomore Kristen Campbell between the pipes. Campbell has played all 1800:34 minutes for the Badgers, and owns a 1.10 GAA and .945 GAA.
Mark Johnson is in his 15th season at the helm of the Badgers, and currently sits with the third most wins in NCAA history. UW has won four NCAA titles over his tenure.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs did play an exhibition against the Minnesota Whitecaps last Saturday that ended in a 1-1 tie for the Bulldogs and Whitecaps.
In its last action that actually counts in the record books, UMD stretched its current unbeaten streak to four games after settling for a 1-1 tie with St. Cloud State in St. Cloud, Minn. last Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs are 2-0-2 in their last four games, but two of those ties have come on the road against the Huskies. UMD did grab the mandatory Western Collegiate Hockey Association shootout point on senior defenseman Michelle Lowenhielm's lone backhand goal that opened the shootout.
For a third-straight game against SCSU, the Bulldogs fell behind Huskies. This time, Alyssa Erickson gave St. Cloud a 1-0 at 15:14 of the second period, despite UMD having outshot SCSU 12-9 in that stanza.
UMD used its power play brilliance to even the score when rookie forward Naomi Rogge buried her fourth goal in her last five games to draw the Bulldogs and Huskies into a 1-1 tie. The Bulldogs turned up the heat late in the period, but it was too little, too late for UMD, who has now outshot SCSU in four of five meetings this year, and did so again by a 34-26 margin.
Lowenhielm opened in the shootout and was the only player of six from the two teams that managed to beat the goaltender. UMD again got strong goaltending from Jessica Convery, who turned away all three shootout shots she faced after making 25 saves in the skate.
NOTES FROM THE ST. CLOUD STATE GAME: UMD finished out the regular season against the Huskies at 2-1-2, and now own a 64-12-6 all-time record against SCSU.
--The Bulldogs settled for two ties in their last two skates against St. Cloud, both 1-1 draws. While the Hockey Day Minnesota contest on Jan. 20 was a non-conference game, the Bulldogs did win the shootout last Wednesday for the extra WCHA point when it mattered.
-UMD outshot the Huskies 182-116 in their five regular season battles, but only outscored SCSU 11-9.
POWERED PLAY: UMD currently owns the second most productive power play in the WCHA with a 21.2 success rate, as well as the No. 9th power play in the NCAA.
In fact, 17 of UMD's 58 goals have come on its power play so far this season.
On the flip side, UMD has the fewest penalty minutes in the nation at 4.9 a game.
BULLDOG NOTES: Freshman Naomi Rogge continues to lead UMD in scoring with 21 points on 14 goals and seven assists. Rogge's 14 goals are the second most by a rookie in the WCHA and the fifth most (tie) in the NCAA. Rogge has also scored four goals in her last five games, and compiled a 1.00 points per game average over that span.
--Rogge's 14 goals are the most by a UMD freshman since Jenna McParland dropped 21 goals in 36 games in 2011-12. By comparison, Rogge has compiled 14 goals in 28 games so far this season.
--UMD has outshot its opponents 832-769 but has been outscored 66-58.
--UMD is still winless when they trail after the first period (0-8-2)
--UMD is 5-6-1 in games where it has been outshot this season.
SENIOR SALUTE: UMD will honor seven seniors this Saturday following its game against Wisconsin. Forwards Katerina Mrázová, Lynn Astrup, defensmen Jessica Healey, Catherine Daoust, Linnea Hedin and Michelle Lowenhielm, and goaltender Jessica Convery.
As a class, they have gone 72-53-14 overall, with two 20-plus seasons (25-7-5 in 2016-17) and 20-12-5 in 2014-15). They also have one home NCAA tournament appearance (2017), as well as a WCHA Final Face-Off championship game appearance (2017).
With 12 WCHA All-Academic Team members, (Astrup twice, Daoust twice, Healey twice, Hedin twice, Mrázová three times), the Bulldog senior class also has had eight heralded WCHA Scholar Athlete recepients (Astrup twice, Daoust twice, Healey, and Hedin twice, as well as and five 2016-17 AHCA All-American Scholars (Astrup, Daoust, Healey, and Lowenhielm).
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