The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will open the door on the 2019 portion of its season this Saturday when it faces the No. 2 Univeristy of Minnesota in the Minnesota Cup at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. The second semifinal game will get underway at 4:07 p.m. (St. Cloud State University and Minnesota State University, Mankato will play in the opening game at 1:07 p.m.) The Bulldogs will play at 1:07 p.m. Sunday at Ridder against either the Mavericks or Huskies, depending on Saturday's results.
 

ABOUT THE MINNESOTA CUP:  The WCHA introduced the new tournament as part of its 20th anniversary season in 2018-19 in late August, and Minnesota is set to host the inaugural Minnesota Cup this upcoming weekend. The two-day, four team event opens with a pair of semifinal games Saturday, Jan. 5, beginning at 1:07 p.m. when Minnesota State faces St. Cloud State. The Saturday nightcap pits Minnesota against UMD at 4:07 p.m. The Bulldogs will play the 1:07 p.m. game and the Gophers will play the 4:07 p.m. game on Sunday, Jan. 6; the match-ups will be determined by Saturday's semifinal results with the semifinal winners facing off for the Minnesota Cup championship.

As currently scheduled, future Minnesota Cup hosts include: UMD (2020), Minnesota State (2021), St. Cloud State (2022) and Bemidji State University (2023), with the WCHA's five Minnesota-based member schools rotating in participation each season.

THE SERIES: UMD is 27-56-9 all-time against the Gophers after recording both a 2-2 overtime tie with a shootout win and a 3-2 loss back on Oct. 5-6 at AMSOIL.  The Bulldogs have posted a shootout win in two of its last four games against Minnesota.

In their last meetings, the Bulldogs picked up two points against Minnesota at AMSOIL, suffering a 5-2 defeat Friday, Oct. 5, before earning a 2-2 tie and shootout win Saturday, Oct. 6.

Friday night, despite freshman Gabbie Hughes scoring the first goal of ther career just 1:07 into the game, the Gophers responded with three goals in less than four minutes, and netted a total of four in the opening stanza.  In all, six of the seven goals scored on the night were recorded in the opening 20 minutes of play (inlcuding a goal by freshman Taylor Anderson with 3:38 remaining in the first period).  UMD had 41 saves from junior goaltender Maddie Rooney, who made 27 of 28 shots faced in the final 40 minutes of the game.

Saturday Hughes started the scoring again 4:32 into the game.  Sophomore winger Anna Klein doubled the lead at 17:09 of the second period, but two goals by Minnesota, including a power play goal, drew the game to a 2-2 tie.

UMD proceeded to win the league shootout behind goals from Hughes and Ryleigh Houston, and two spectacular saves for Rooney.

Rooney ended the night with 37 saves (and 39 counting the shootout).  The Bulldogs were an impressive 2-of-5 with an extra skater, while Minnesota went 1-of-4 on its power play.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE GOPHERS:  Minnesota is in the midst of a 10-game winning streak after it swept Robert Morris at Ridder before the long holiday break. Senior forwards Nicole Schammel and Kelly Pannek rank first and third among all Gophers scorers, with Schammel recording six goals and 19 assists for 25 points and Pannek -- Maddie Rooney's Olympic teammate -- has registered 11 goals and eight assists.  Sophomore forward Grace Zumwinkle sits in second for Minnesota for points and leads the Gophers with 13 goals, and with 11 assists had 24 points.

Two goaltenders have split time for Minnesota -- sophomore Alex Guistene at 782:16 minutes for a 1.61 GAA and 13-0-0 record, and junior Sydney Scobee, who has posted 421:49 minutes for a 1.42 GAA and 4-2-1 record.

Gopher head coach Brad Frost has spent 12 seasons behind the bench, leading Minnesota to four NCAA titles and an overall record of 343-64-30 in that span.

LAST TIME OUT:  UMD pocketed five of a possible six WCHA points with a 2-1 win and 2-2 tie and shootout win against Minnesota State back on Dec. 7-8 at AMSOIL.

Rookie forward Anneke Linser led all scorers with a goal and two assists in the series, while sophomore Anna Klein added a goal and an assist.  Maddie Rooney and Emma Soderberg split the goaltending duties, with Rooney making 21 stops in the 2-2 tie before securing the shootout win, and Soderberg turning in a 32 save performance in the 2-1 win for her second win of her young career.

NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE SERIES:  UMD is now unbeaten in its last six games against the Mavericks, and owns a 67-7-5 all-time record against MSU.

--Maddie Rooney is 5-of-5 against shooters in WCHA shootouts so far this season, while Ryleigh Houston has now netted two shootout goals in two attempts.

CROWELL WILL LEAD USA U-18 SQUAD AT WORLDS:  UMD head coach Maura Crowell will be in Obihiro, Japan with her U-18 USA squad preparing to defend gold in the 2019 IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship that will run from Jan. 6-13.

While Crowell has won two world U-18 gold medals over the past three years as an associate coach and assistant coach, this will mark Crowell's first World Championship at the helm of the U.S. team.

In her absence, Bulldog assistant coach Laura Bellamy will assume head coaching responsibilities.  Bellamy is not new to stepping in as UMD's bench boss -- the Duluth native was 1-1 last season in the interim role.

Team USA will compete in Group A alongside Canada, Russia and Sweden. The U.S. will open the competition against Russia on Sunday, January 6 at 2:00 a.m. CT.

LINSER'S OFFENSIVE RISE:  Freshman forward Anneke Linser appears to be finding her groove as a Bulldog.  

The rookie from Lino Lakes, Minn. was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week back on Dec. 11 after recording a goal and two assists to help the Bulldogs take five points from MSU back on Dec. 7-8.

The rookie forward posted assists in both games over the weekend against the Mavericks before scoring the game-winning goal Saturday at 18:13 of the second period, her fourth goal of the season and third game-winning tally.  Linser led all WCHA rookies in conference play with her three points, and tied for third among all rookie scorers in the NCAA on the weekend.  Overall, Linser ranks 14th in the NCAA with 12 (4g, 8a) points in 16 games and seventh in the WCHA among all rookies.  Linser also now sits second for the Bulldogs in scoring and first with eight assists.

Currently on a team-best this season four-game scoring streak, Linser has compiled five points (2g, 3a) in those last four skates.

HUGHES TAKES THE BULLDOG SCORING REIGNS:  Freshman Gabbie Hughes leads UMD with 13 points on team-high seven goals and six assists through 16 games.  Hughes has notched five points (3g, 2a) in her last five games, and also ranks ninth in the NCAA and is second in the WCHA among rookie scorers with a 0.81 points per game average.

Freshman Anneke Linser -- Hughes' high school linemate at Centennial High School -- is now the Bulldogs second leading scorer with four goals and eight assists so far this season. Linser ranks 15th in the NCAA among all freshmen scorers.  

BULLDOGS OWN STRONGEST SCHEDULE:  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 0.5605 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 eight of its 14 skates against teams ranked fourth or higher.  All four of UMD's nonconference skates this season have also come against teams ranked in the top-4.

So far this season, the Bulldogs are 2-7-1 against those ranked foes.  UMD takes on another ranked team in No. 2 Minnesota Saturday.
 

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Video:  https://www.btn2go.com/game/um-duluth-at-minnesota-on-01052019

Live Stats: https://gophersports.com/sidearmstats/whockey/summary