The No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will host the No. 3 University of Minnesota this weekend at AMSOIL Arena. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association series will get underway Friday night at 6:07 pm. and concluded Saturday at 3:07 p.m. There will be limited spots available for media, but at this time, there will be no fans admitted into AMSOIL.
For complete PDF of this release, click here.
THE SERIES: After going 1-2-1-1 against Minnesota during the 2019-20 season, the Bulldogs are 29-60-10 all-time against the Gophers.
UMD junior center Gabbie Hughes has had immense success against Minnesota, and has notched seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in 10 career skates against the Gophers.
The Bulldogs and Gophers have gone to overtime in four of the last 10 games they've played in. In those four skates with extra time, UMD is 1-1-2 officially (with a WCHA double overtime win and shootout win filed under official ties).
In the last series showdown between the two programs on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 of 2020, UMD both shutout and was shutout by the then No. 1 University of Minnesota at Ridder Arena.
On Jan. 31, Minnesota, used three goals by Amy Potomak in the first period to push past UMD 5-0. The Bulldogs, heavily outshot 50-17 in the contest, suffered their lone shutout of the season in the loss.
Maddie Rooney had 45 saves for the Bulldogs, a season-high and the eighth time the then senior goaltender had stopped 40 or more saves against Minnesota over her career. UMD went 0-of-2 on its power play while the Gophers were 2-of-6. The 50 shots allowed in the game was a season-high for a Bulldog opponent.
The Bulldogs flipped the script on the Gophers the following afternoon (Feb. 1), shutting out Minnesota 2-0 behind 35 saves from Rooney, who ended up with a total of 80 on the weekend. Then senior forward Sydney Brodt led all scorers with a goal and an assist, while Hughes netted the first goal of the game 1:28 into the contest.
The rest was up to the Bulldogs defense that helped Rooney by blocking 17 shots in the game and held the Gophers scoreless on five power play attempts. Rooney made all 35 stops on the Gophers she faced, which doubled as the program's first road shutout since Feb, 16, 2018 and second over a ranked squad last season.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD opened the 2020-21 season in grand fashion last weekend, sweeping Minnesota State University, Mankato by scores of 5-0 and 7-3.
In Friday night's shutout, senior defenseman Ashton Bell led all scorers with a power play goal and two assists. All told, five different players scored goals and three players posted multiple point games, including Bell with three points (1g, 2a), Anna Klein (1g, 1a) and Gabbie Hughes (2a). Clara Van Wieren also netted the first goal of her brand new career.
Not to be outdone, junior goaltender Emma Soderberg calmly earned the first shutout of her career with 22 saves, and was a big reason UMD held the Mavericks scoreless on six power-play attempts.
In a matinee skate Saturday, UMD scored an overwhelming seven goals against the Mavericks, en route to a 7-3 win in the first completed WCHA series of the season. The Bulldogs were led by junior winger Anneke Linser's four points on two goals and two assists, as well as two goals each for junior Kylie Hanley (who also added an assist) and Klein. All told, six players had multiple-point outings and UMD put up the most goals in a regular-season game in six seasons.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE SERIES: All-time, the Bulldogs are now 72-7-9 against the Mavericks, and are unbeaten in their last 15 outings.
--11 players registered at least a point in the series, including seven that recorded three or more. Senior defenseman Ashton Bell led all scorers in the NCAA over the weekend with five points on a goal and four assists. Senior winger Anna Klein had a team-high three goals to go with an assist, and Anneke Linser recorded four points (2g, 2a) in Saturday's skate, a weekend single-game high among UMD players.
--UMD's seven goals Saturday as the most it has put up since Jan. 23, 2015, when the Bulldogs scored 12 goals against MSU in Mankato. It was also the most goals scored in a series (12), also from the same weekend -- UMD scored 16 on Jan. 23-24, 2015 (where UMD registered scores of 12-0 and 4-0, respectively).
--The weekend sweep was the first road series sweep for UMD since the 2017-18 season when the Bulldogs swept MSU in Mankato on Feb. 16-17, 2018 by scores of 2-0 and 3-2.
--Junior goaltender Emma Soderberg secured her first collegiate shutout with 22 saves on Friday night in UMD's 5-0 win. Soderberg had a total of 44 saves in the series -- the first ever series completed by the three-year netminder.
--Freshmen forward Clara Van Wieren had a goal in both of her first two collegiate games -- she is the first rookie since Laura Fridfinnson during the 2007-08 season to score goals in her first two UMD games.
--After being helped off the ice at about the five minute mark of Saturday's contest, Gabbie Hughes is listed day-to-day ahead of the Minnesota series.
BELL AND VAN WIEREN EARN WCHA WEEKLY AWARDS: Senior defenseman Ashton Bell and freshman forward Clara Van Wieren picked up weekly WCHA hardware Tuesday after the Bulldogs swept MSU last weekend. Bell picked up WCHA Defenseman of the Week honors, while Van Wieren reeled in a WCHA Rookie of Week nod.
Bell led all NCAA players from all positions in scoring with national-high of five points on one goal and four assists. A product of Deloraine, Manitoba, Bell turned in a goal and two assists Friday night before dishing out an additional two assists Saturday. Bell was an NCAA-best +7 to go with two power play points, including a power play goal and assist. The senior caption also led the nation in assists with four on the weekend, and recorded the most points per game (2.50) of any defenseman in the NCAA.
Van Wieren led all WCHA rookies and finished second among NCAA freshmen with two goals and an assist against the Mavericks. The Okemos, Michigan product scored in her first game as a Bulldog Friday night before registering a game-winning tally and assist in Saturday's 7-3 blowout. Van Wieren is the first UMD rookie since the 2007-08 season to score in her first two collegiate skates.
STAT LINES: The Bulldogs have seven of the top eight scorers in the nation one week into the 2020-21 season. Blueliner Ashton Bell leads all scorers with five points (1g, 4a), while both Anna Klein and Anneke Linser occupy the second spot with four points each. Klein has an NCAA-best three goals and one assist, while Linser has two goals and two assists.
Notably Kylie Hanley, Clara Van Wieren, Naomi Rogge and Gabbie Hughes are in a five-way tie with Minnesota's Gracie Zumwinkle in the fourth-spot with three points.
Bell leads the nation with a 2.50 points per game average, is tied with Hughes with two power play points (1g, 1a), 2.00 assist per game average and a plus/minus rating of +7.
Klein is one of two players in the country that scored three goals last weekend and is tied for first with a 1.50 goals per game average. Klein is one of only two players who notched shorthanded tallies on the opening weekend -- Linser is the other.
As a team, the Bulldogs lead the country in scoring with a whopping 6.00 goals per game average. Of the 12 teams in action last weekend, only Boston College came a close second with a 5.00 G/GP average. UMD doubled the next closest WCHA Team -- Minnesota is averaging 2.50 G/GP.
OFFENSE OPTIONS: When UMD's leading scorer of the past two seasons left the game Saturday early in the second period, the Bulldogs responded with a goal explosion no UMD team has unleashed since the 2014-15 season.
If Saturday didn't make it clear enough, the Bulldogs have options, and lots of them, at offense this year. It's true UMD returned four of its top-five scorers from a season ago, in Gabbie Hughes, Ashton Bell (11g, 22a), Anna Klein (13g, 14a) and Kylie Hanley (7g, 11a). The quartet accounted for more than half of UMD's goals -- or 51 of the Bulldogs 99 goals in 2019-20.
UMD also has back at its service redshirt junior Naomi Rogge, who scored her own impressive goal Friday night before adding two more assists on the weekend, one of seven players who posted three or more points in the series. Rogge ranked third in scoring in 2018-19 with 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points. As a rookie in 2017-18, Rogge led UMD with 24 points on 16 goals and eight assists.
Not to be outdone by experience, Clara Van Wieren did something no UMD rookie has done since the 2007-08 season -- she netted a goal in each of her first two games as a Bulldog.
HUGHES CLIMBS TOWARDS CAREER MARK: With three assists in just over four periods of action last weekend, it's clear Gabbie Hughes picked right up where she left off from a season ago. The junior center enters this weekend with 91 career points on 39 goals and 52 assists over 70 games. Hughes is looking to become the first player since Lara Stalder hit the mark on on Oct. 8, 2016. If Hughes hits the mark this year, she will become the first junior since current UMD assistant coach Ashleigh Brykaliuk to get to the Brykaliuk reached 100 points on Feb. 27, 2016 of her junior campaign.
