The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will head back out on the road this weekend to Bemidji, Minn. to face-off against Bemidji State University in the Bulldogs first Western Collegiate Hockey Association action of 2019. The first game of the Friday-Saturday series will get underway at the Sanford Center at 3:07 p.m. Friday, while the series will wrap up at 1:07 p.m. Saturday.
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs as a program are 70-15-4 all-time against the Beavers.
The two sides last met back on Oct. 19-20, a series sweep for the Bulldogs by scores 6-2 and 2-0 at AMSOIL Arena.
UMD broke the Beavers with three third period goals on Oct. 19, as sophomore Naomi Rogge led the way with two goals and an assist for a game-high three points, but a total of six UMD players, including Rogge, turned in multiple-point performances. In all, UMD had five different scorers for six goals, and 10 different players on the scoresheet. Goaltender Maddie Rooney made 27 saves for the Bulldogs.
UMD shutout BSU 2-0 Oct. 20, getting two goals from Rogge. Sophomore forward Ashton Bell set up Rogge twice, chipping the puck from mid ice on both occasions to free her linemate up. Bell -- who had three assists on Rogge goals against BSU in the series -- found Rogge at the blueline for the game's first score at 3:42 of the first period. Then, with just 1:07 remaining in the same frame, Bell again chipped the puck up to Rogge, who collected it from the redline, skate into the zone and beat BSU goaltender Lauren Bench just over the pad for the 2-0 lead.
Two goals were more than enough for the Bulldogs, who got solid goaltending from Rooney in her first collegiate shutout since Feb. 23, 2017 (a 6-0 win over St. Cloud State University WCHA quarterfinals). Rooney -- who had her first career assist on UMD's second goal -- stopped all 24 shots she faced.
UMD's 6-1 win on Oct. 19 was the largest scoring outburst by a Bulldog squad since UMD netted six against St. Cloud State for a 6-2 win in the first round of the WCHA playoffs back on Feb. 24, 2017.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE BEAVERS: The Beavers have stacked six home wins in a row for a new school record, and are 6-0-1 in their last seven home contests dating to Oct. 27. BSU is 7-13-1 overall, and 4-7-1 in league action. The Beavers swept Union College last weekend in Bemidji, Minn. by scores of 3-0 Friday and 6-2 on Saturday.
Head coach Jim Scanlon is in his fifth year at the BSU helm, and has gone 75-80-11 over that tenure. Sophomore forward Clair DeGeorge (6g, 5a) and senior forward Emily Bergland (4g, 7a) lead the Beavers in scoring.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD finished in third in the Minnesota Cup after suffering a 4-3 overtime loss against No. 2 Minnesota Saturday at Ridder Arena before a come-from-behind win 5-3 triumph over Minnesota State Sunday.
Three different players netted goals for UMD against Minnesota, including rookie Gabbie Hughes, who netted a goal and an assist in the skate. The Bulldogs outshot the Gophers 36-21, and suffered their first overtime loss of the season --UMD is now 0-1-2 in extra time this season.
Sunday, the Bulldogs exploded for four goals in the third period to complete their biggest comeback of the season, a 5-3 win over Minnesota State. Hughes again led UMD with two goals and an assist, and the Bulldogs again spread the scoring wealth with four different scorers in the game. UMD is unbeaten in their last seven games against the Mavericks.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA CUP: Freshman forward Gabbie Hughes was named to the Minnesota Cup All-Tournament Team Sunday after leading the entire field with three goals and two assists for five points.
--UMD's eight goal weekend was the second time the Bulldogs have scored eight goals in a series (the other was against BSU on Oct. 19-20).
--UMD held the Gophers to 21 shots Saturday -- the same stranglehold the Bulldogs had on Minnesota on Oct. 21, 2017 (a 2-1 win by the Gophers). The Bulldogs are no strangers to holding Minnesota from its shots on goal average -- the Gophers currently average 39.1 SOG a game. In their last six head-to-head meetings over the past two seasons, UMD has held Minnesota to an average of 26.3 SOG -- far under its season average output so far in 2018-19, and still under the 30.1 it averaged in 2017-18.
----UMD's scoring output of three and five goals, respectively, was just the third and fourth time this season the Bulldogs have scored three of more goals in a game. UMD is 3-1 in games they post at least three goals in an outing.
--The Bulldogs comeback win on Sunday was more than just an impressive show of will -- it was the first time this season the Bulldogs have won a game after trailing in either the first or second periods. While UMD is unbeaten with either a first period (4-0-1) or second period (5-0-2) lead, after Sunday's win, the Bulldogs are now 1-5 after trailing in the first period and 1-7 after 40 minutes of play.
--With the win sunday, UMD improves to 67-7-5 all-time against the Mavericks and unbeaten in their last seven skates. The Bulldogs also now are 27-57-9 all-time against Minnesota.
CROWELL LEADS USA U-18 SQUAD AT WORLDS: UMD head coach Maura Crowell is in Obihiro, Japan with her U-18 USA squad attempting to defend gold in the 2019 IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship, that will run from Jan. 6-13.
So far, Crowell is 3-0 with 3-2 wins over Russia and Canada, and a 2-0 triumph over Sweden on Wednesday. Crowell's squad will suit up for the semifinals on Saturday, Jan. 12.
While Crowell has won two world U-18 gold medals over the past three years as an associate coach and assistant coach, this marks Crowell's first World Championship at the helm of the U.S. team.
In her absence, Bulldog assistant coach Laura Bellamy will step in to take the reigns. Bellamy is not new to stepping in as UMD's bench boss -- the Duluth native is 2-2 over the past two seasons in the interim role.
REPRIEVE FROM THE RANKED: Saturday's game against No. 2 Minnesota marked the 11th game UMD has played against a top-10 team, and the ninth game the Bulldogs have skated against a top-four opponent. In fact, the BSU series will mark just the third series UMD has played all season against an unranked team.
UMD is towering over the rest of the NCAA in terms of its strength of schedule so far this season, leading the nation with a 0.5655 and a No. 1 rank, according to USCHO.com's Ratings Percentage Index. Six of the eight series that the Bulldogs have skated in have come against teams ranked in the top-seven, including four series and nine of its 16 skates against teams ranked fourth or higher. All four of UMD's nonconference series skates this season have also come against teams ranked in the top-4.
HUGHES HAULS IN WCHA FORWARD OF THE WEEK HONOR: With one of the best offensive performances in the nation last weekend, freshman Gabbie Hughes has been named the WCHA's Forward of the Week.
The native of Lino Lakes, Minn. compiled three goals and two assists for five points in a 4-3 overtime loss to the No. 2 Minnesota Saturday and a 5-3 win over MSU on Sunday in the Minnesota Cup.
Hughes kicked off her scoring with an unassisted power play goal in the third period Saturday against the Gophers to tie the game after picking up the first assist 53 seconds into the game. Sunday, Hughes scored UMD's first two goals -- both tallies cut MSU leads to one -- with the first one coming at 7:14 of the second period and the second just 23 seconds into the third period. Hughes also added the first assist on UMD's insurance goal with just seconds left in regulation, which also gave the rookie her collegiate high of three points in a single game.
With a tournament-high five points, Hughes was named to the Minnesota Cup All-Tournament Team. In addition to having posted the most goals by any WCHA player on the weekend, and tied for first for points among all league skaters, Hughes is tied for fifth in the NCAA on the weekend for points and is tied for second among all rookie scorers nationally. (2.50 PPG)
HUGHES' HOT HAND CONTINUES TO LEAD BULLDOGS IN SCORING: Gabbie Hughes continue to lead the Bulldogs in both points (18) and goals (10), and is currently on a three-game six point scoring spree on a four-goal, two assist span. Even more impressively, Hughes has scored five goals in her last six games.
With 18 points on 10 goals and eight assists in 18 games, Hughes leads all Bulldog scorers with a 1.00 PPG average. Hughes ranks first among all WCHA rookies and fourth among all NCAA rookies with her 1.00 PPG average, and sits sixth overall in the WCHA in PPG.
AMSOIL HOMEBODIES: The Bulldogs have played 10 of their 18 games so far on the road, where the Bulldogs are currently just 2-8. At AMSOIL, however, UMD is an impressive 5-1-2, and luckily for the Bulldogs, eight of the their next 14 skates are on their home rink.
YOUNG GUNS: After freshmen defensemen Maggie Flaherty and Kailee Skinner netted their first collegiate goals Sunday against MSU, six of UMD's seven rookies have now registered goals. In fact, all seven newcomers have recorded at least an assist, while two of the Bulldogs top-three scorers are freshmen. Gabbie Hughes sits at the top of UMD's scoring chart, while her high school linemate at Centennial High School Anneke Linser owns the third most points (13) and a team-high 13 assists.
STREAKING BULLDOGS: Sophomore forward Anna Klein is inthe midst of a eam-best four-game scoring streak, having netted three goals and three assists for six points over since Dec. 7.
Both Gabbie Hughes and Kailee Skinner are on three-game scoring sprees -- Hughes on a six point (4g, 2a) streak and Skinner on a one goal, two assists run.
Anneke Linser owns the longest scoring streak of the season -- the freshman forward ran up a team-long streak of five-games and recorded five points on two goals and three assists from Nov. 23 through Jan. 5.
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