The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will host Bemidji State University in the quarterfinal round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs beginning Friday at AMSOIL Arena. The best-of-three series is set for 2:07 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and if needed, Sunday. The winner will advance to next weekend's WCHA Final face-Off in Minneapolis, Minn. at Ridder Arena.
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs own a 72-18-4 all-time record against Bemidji State and went 3-1 against the Beavers over the regular season. The 94 games between the two programs marks the second-most head-to-head skates the Bulldogs have had with any other NCAA school.
Twice this season, the Bulldogs had five different players score goals against Bemidji State. The Bulldogs posted five goals on Jan. 12, after having posted UMD's six goals against the Beavers by five different players back on Oct. 19.
Naomi Rogge leads all UMD's players this season in points against BSU with a total of six -- four goals and two assists in three of four outings.
In their last meeting, the Bulldogs split on the weekend in Bemidji, Minn. against the Beavers, suffering a 3-1 loss on Jan. 11 before rebounding for a 5-2 win on Jan. 12.
In the first game, UMD fell behind 2-0 in the first period, and despite a power play goal in the second period by Ashton Bell, the Bulldogs were unable to draw even with the Beavers. BSU had a slight edge in shots in the game -- 32-30, and UMD goaltender Maddie Rooney had 28 saves in the outing.
In game two, each team posted a goal in the first two periods, and after 40 minutes, the game was knotted at 2-2. After UMD put twice as many shots on goal in the second period as BSU (12-6), the Bulldogs finally hit pay-dirt with their revived offensive effort at 8:12 of the third period. Sophomore Anna Klein started the onslaught, and beat Lauren Bench over her right shoulder on the far post for the 3-2 go-ahead tally. UMD doubled its lead when Anneke Linser connected with a puck skirting the crease 1:30 later.
Linser guaranteed the Bulldog blowout when the rookie forward forced a BSU defenseman into a turnover near the extended goal line. Linser fed Ashton Bell in the slot, and Bell buried her fourth goal of the season at 16:52 to seal UMD's 5-2 comeback triumph. Rookie goaltender Emma Soderberg had 23 saves in her third win of the season for the Bulldogs.
UMD AND BEMIDJI STATE IN POSTSEASON PLAY: Having squared off in three of the last four WCHA quarterfinals (where the road team has won each time), the Bulldogs and Beavers have met a total of 13 times in WCHA postseason play, where UMD owns a 9-4 overall record in those meetings.
The Bulldogs have clashed with the Beavers 12 times in five series in the quarterfinal round of the WCHA playoffs, and UMD is 8-4 in those skates. The two progams last tangled Feb. 23-25 in the WCHA first round, which resulted in the Beavers advancing to the semifinals on a 3-0 win over UMD on Feb. 25 at AMSOIL Arena. After dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker to BSU on Feb. 23, the Bulldogs came back and buried the Beavers 4-1 to even the series before suffering the 3-0 loss Sunday,
There are three currently rostered UMD players on the team in all three of Bulldog-Beaver quarterfinal games over the past four seasons -- senior blueliner Shelby Brossart, and forwards Emma Yanko and Reagan Haley.
UMD-BSU WCHA Postseason History--
Feb. 25, 2018 UMD 0, BSU 3
Feb. 24, 2018 UMD 4, BSU 1
Feb. 23, 2018 UMD 1, BSU 2
WCHA Quarterfinal
Feb. 28, 2016 UMD 2, BSU 1 (Away)
Feb, 27, 2016 UMD 5, BSU 1 (Away)
WCHA Quarterfinal
March 1, 2015 BSU 2, UMD 1 Overtime
Feb. 28, 2015 UMD 2, BSU 0
Feb. 27, 2015 BSU 3, UMD 2
WCHA Quarterfinal
UMD 7, BSU 3 March 6, 2010
WCHA Final Face-Off semifinals
UMD 5, BSU 1 March 1, 2008
UMD 6, BSU 0 Feb. 29, 2008
WCHA Quarterfinal
UMD 3, BSU 0 March 4, 2006
UMD 7, BSU 2 March 3, 2006
WCHA Quarterfinal
LAST TIME OUT: UMD settled for two ties and two shootout wins against Minnesota State in Mankato over the weekend by scores of 5-5 and 3-3.
In game one Friday, UMD surrendered two separate leads, including one by two goals to settle for the 5-5 tie. The Bulldogs, who had two goals from rookies Maggie Flaherty and one from Gabbie Hughes, earned the second league point in a eight-round shootout.
Game two, UMD again had two leads, including a two-goal lead, and again got a goal from Flaherty. UMD won the three-round shootout with a shootout goal from Taylor Anderson, who also had the shootout winner Friday night.
UMD had 10 shootout saves from Maddie Rooney on the weekend, Rooney has had all four shootout wins. Rooney had a total of 53 saves on the weekend, including 35 Saturday in the 3-3 tie Saturday.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE SERIES: The Bulldogs finished 1-0-3-3 against the Mavericks this season, and are now 67-7-7 all-time against MSU. With two ties last weekend, UMD extended its unbeaten streak against the Mavericks to eight games -- a streak that dates back to Nov. 17, 2017.
--UMD ends the regular season 4-0 in WCHA shootouts, with Maddie Rooney backstopping the Bulldogs in all four shootouts. Rooney stopped 16 of the 17 shots she faced.
--Three of the Bulldogs eight games in February have gone into overtime -- UMD was 1-0-2-2 in those three skates.
--MSU outshot UMD in both games in the series by a combined 73-61 margin. UMD has been outshot in its last four games -- over that span, the Bulldogs are winless (0-2-2).
FLAHERTY NAMED WCHA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Maggie Flaherty not only led the UMD in scoring last weekend from the blueline -- she also led the entire WCHA.
For her efforts, Flaherty was named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week after compiling four points on three goals and one assist against Minnesota State University, Mankato, helping the Bulldogs secure four league points in their last regular season series.
The native of Lakeville, Minn. also had both a league rookie and defensemen-best four points, and ranked second among all defensemen in scoring in the NCAA, as well as third among all NCAA rookie scorers. Flaherty's three goals led the nation for a blueliner, and ranked her second nationally among rookie scorers. With a NCAA plus/minus rating of +5, Flaherty also had a league-best two power play goals, and a league-high nine blocks, which also was the third most blocks by a rookie in the nation last weekend. With two goals and an assist in Friday night's game, Flaherty posted a career-high in both points and goals per game. Flaherty leads all UMD blueliners this season with 16 points on four goals and 12 assists.
HUGHES EYES HISTORY: Gabbie Hughes is on track to become just the third UMD freshman in program history to lead a Bulldog squad in scoring as a rookie. Currently, Hughes has a team-high 33 points on 16 goals and 17 assists over 30 games.
Hughes teammate, Naomi Rogge, was the last UMD freshman to lead a team in scoring after registering 24 points last season (16g, 8a) over 35 games. In addition to Rogge, the only other rookie to have led a Bulldog side in scoring is three-time Olympian Haley Irwin, who put up 23 goals and 37 assists for a whopping 60 points in 37 games during UMD's 2007-08 NCAA championship season.
With a 1.10 PPG average, Hughes is also nearing another unique catergory -- 12 former Bulldog rookies have averaged more than a point a game over their first collegiate seasons, including seven that have averaged 1.10 PPG or more.
Hughes has now amassed the most points by a rookie since Katie Wilson scored 17 goals and added 26 assists for 43 points in 41 games, a 1.04 PPG average during the 2009-10 championship season. Wilson was also the last UMD rookie to average over a point a game at 1.04 PPG.
To get into the Bulldog record books, Hughes will need to hit the 40 point mark -- Saara Tuominen currently holds down the No. 10 spot with 12 goals and 28 assists for 40 points in 39 games, a mark the Finnish Olympian reached over the 2005-06 season.
ROONEY'S CHART RISE: Junior goaltender Maddie Rooney has made 890 saves so far this season -- the fifth most stops by a goaltender in UMD history. Just seven saves out of the fourth spot, Rooney already owns the second spot -- then a sophomore, Rooney had 985 saves in 2016-17.
Rooney has also moved into a tie with the fourth most saves in program history with 2,386 -- Jennifer Harss made 2,386 stops in three seasons and 89 games as a Bulldog.
ROARING ROOKIES: UMD currently has five of the top-15 scoring rookies in the WCHA, the most in the league. The Bulldogs have Gabbie Hughes in third (16-17=33), Anneke Linser at sixth (8-14=22), Maggie Flaherty in 11th (4-12=16), and Lizi Norton (3-7=10) and Kailee Skinner (2-8=10) tied in the 15th slot.
RANK AND FILE: UMD has played half - 17 - of its 32 games against against top-10 teams so far this season, 15 of which have come against a top-five opponent.
UMD has led the rest of the NCAA in terms of its strength of schedule for the entire season, and is leading the nation with a 0.5495 and a No. 1 rank, according to USCHO.com's Ratings Percentage Index.
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