The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will host St. Cloud State University this weekend in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at AMSOIL Arena. The Bulldogs will wear pink breast cancer awareness jerseys that can be bid on through the second period of Saturday's skate. The game worn jersey auction proceeds will go directly to the Essentia Health Foundation to support families of breast cancer patients and help with patient expenses. Game one of the series will get underway Friday at 7:07 p.m., while Saturday's puck will drop at 4:07 p.m.
THE SERIES: UMD is 65-13-6 all-time against the Huskies after splitting against SCSU back on Oct. 26-27 by scores of 2-1 and 2-3. In that series, UMD put 91 shots on goal compared to just 37 by SCSU over the series, but both teams netted four goals apiece.
The Bulldogs overpowered the Huskies with 41 shots on goal to SCSU's 16 in game one, and a 16-7 shot on goal advantage in the opening period translated into a 2-0 UMD lead. Sophomore forward Anna Klein gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead just 57 seconds in the action. UMD's second goal came on the power play, courtesy of rookie forward Anneke Linser at the 14:43 mark of the first period. Freshman goaltender Emma Soderberg made 15 saves in her official UMD debut.
Saturday the Bulldogs again put up season-high shots on goal -- 50 to be exact to SCSU 21, but the Huskies found the net when it mattered for the 3-2 upset.
Four of the five goals on the afternoon were tallied in the second period, including the game's lead-off goal by Hannah Potrykus 5:02 into the stanza for the SCSU 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs responded 3:35 later when Ryleigh Houston cashed in a power play to draw UMD even at 1-1.
The Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead at 13:44 on another power play goal, this time by sophomore forward Naomi Rogge, who had assisted Houston's score. The Huskies scored late in the second period and again in the third period to seal the upset.
SCSU, who got 39 stops from Janine Alder the first night, got even more from goaltender Emma Polusny in game two. Polusny had 48 saves for the Huskies, while UMD netminder Maddie Rooney had 18 for UMD.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD split on the road against No. 2 Minnesota last weekend with a 3-2 overtime win Saturday before a 3-5 setback Sunday.
The third overtime game of the season between the two sides, UMD's Naomi Rogge scored with 3:39 for the 3-2 triumph. Freshmen Kylie Hanley and Gabbie Hughes added goals for the Bulldogs, while goaltender Maddie Rooney made 42 stops against the Gophers, who outshot UMD 44-24 in the skate.
Sunday, the Gophers cashed in two power play goals and an open-net tally late to defeat the Bulldogs 3-5. UMD got a goal and two assists from Hughes, as well as goals from both Anneke Linser and Ryleigh Houston. Rooney again came up big, with 39 saves in the contest.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA SERIES: The Bulldogs and Gophers have now played three of their last five games into overtime, as well as five of their last 11 skates. The Bulldogs are 2-1-2 with two shootout wins in those extra time games. All-time, UMD is 28-58-9.
--Maddie Rooney turned away 39 shots Sunday for a total of 81 saves in the series, also an NCAA-high. Rooney now has six 40-plus save games against Minnesota over her career (and fell one short Sunday with 39). In six career appearances at Ridder, Rooney has also now averaged 44 saves a game.
--With four points, including two goals, Gabbie Hughes stretched her goal-streak against the Gophers to five with a goal Sunday, while the rookie also added two assists to lead all scorers with three points on the day and an NCAA-best four on the weekend.
--Hughes has also now recorded 19 points (10g, 9a) against 15 teams ranked in the top-10 so far this season
--UMD's regular season win against Minnesota at Ridder Arena was the first for the program since Jan. 23, 2009 (a 4-2 clip). While the Bulldogs had won an WCHA Final Face-Off semifinal contest on March 4, 2017, a WCHA Final Face-Off Championship on March 7, 2010 and an NCAA Frozen Four semifinal on March 19, 2010 all against Minnesota at Ridder Arena, they had not won a regular season conference game since Jan. 23, 2009 until last Saturday.
COMING UP HUGHES: Freshman Gabbie Hughes continues to leads the Bulldogs with 29 points in 26 games this season (15g, 14a), and ranks fourth in the NCAA for points per game by a rookie and first in the WCHA with a 1.12 PPG average. With a 1.12 PPG average, Hughes also ranks fifth among all WCHA scorers.
Hughes has also upped her offense in 2019 --the freshman has recorded points in eight of UMD's last 10 games. Over that span, Hughes has racked up eight goals and eight assists for 16 points.
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 29 points on 15 goals and 14 assists over 26 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 1.12 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 now has a team-high 29 points (15g, 14a) in 26 games. Hughes has now scored the most points by a rookie in eight seasons -- since Jenna McParland compiled 32 (21g, 11a) back in 2011-12.
McParland compiled those 32 points over 36 games, but still fell short of UMD's top-10 all-time rookie scorers list. 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.
UMD has not had a rookie net 40 or more points 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.
NOTABLES: UMD is 8-2-2 at AMSOIL Arena so far this season.
--The Bulldogs are 6-1-1 with a lead after the first period, and have scored 26 of their 69 goals in the first stanza.
--UMD is still unbeaten with a lead after two periods with a record of 8-0-2, but the Bulldogs have struggled to regain the lead if they don't have it after 40 minutes, having gone 1-8.
RANK AND FILE: UMD has played over half - 15 - of its 26 games against against top-10 teams so far this season, 13 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 0.5607 and a No. 1 rank, according to USCHO.com's Ratings Percentage Index.
For a full PDF version of this release, click here.
