After two weeks on the road, the No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team is coming home to AMSOIL Arena to host No. 5 Ohio State University this weekend.  The matinee Friday-Saturday series will get underway at 3:07 p.m. on both days.

 

THE SERIES:  UMD is 69-20-14 all-time against the Buckeyes after taking a tie and a loss against OSU in Columbus back on Nov. 15-16.

Bulldogs suffered a 3-1 setback in game one after OSU outshot UMD 41-34, but only found the net twice against Maddie Rooney.  Gabbie Hughes had the lone Bulldog goal 8:47 into the third period which tied the game 1-1, but the Buckeyes went ahead on a power play goal and then netted an empty net goal with five seconds remaining in the skate.  Rooney had 38 saves on the night.

In game two, UMD picked up a 1-1 tie, though the two sides closely mirrored each other in the 1-1 tie and each posted 31 shots on goal.  Anna Klein had UMD's goal in the game, while Rooney had 30 stops against OSU.

Senior forward Sydney Brodt leads all currently rostered Bulldogs in scoring against the Buckeyes, having recorded eight goals and seven assists for a whopping 15 points in 12 career games against OSU.

Hughes and Klein both have logged seven points against the Buckeyes over their careers -- Klein has five goals and two assists for seven points in 10 games, while Hughes has three goals and four assists for seven points in six career games.

LAST TIME OUT:  UMD both shutout and was shutout by the then No. 1 University of Minnesota at Ridder last weekend. 

On Friday, 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 first shutout of the season in the loss.

Maddie Rooney had 45 saves for the Bulldogs, a season-high and the eighth time the senior goaltender has 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 Saturday afternoon, shutting out the Minnesota 2-0 behind 35 saves from Rooney, who ended up with a total of 80 on the weekend.  Senior forward Sydney Brodt led all scorers with a goal and an assist, while Gabbie 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,  her fourth shutout of the season and 13th of her career. It was also the program's first road shutout since Feb, 16, 2018 and second over a ranked squad this year.

NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA SERIES: UMD improved to 1-2-1-1 against Minnesota this season and is now 29-60-10 all-time against the Gophers.

--UMD has now had wins in two of its last four regular season appearances at Ridder.

--With a goal Saturday, Gabbie Hughes has seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in 10 career skates against the Gophers.

--Maddie Rooney has now had eight games against Minnesota over her career where she has posted 40 or more saves after stopping 45 Friday night. 

--UMD's five shutouts so far this season is the most since the 2016-17 season, when the Bulldogs had seven.

--Last Friday's shutout was the only time this season UMD has been held scoreless.  It also produced just 17 shots on goal for a second time so far this season. (the other time was against Wisconsin on Dec. 7 in Madison).

THE OFFENSIVE BELL-WETHER:  How good of a season is junior defensive convert Ashton Bell having?  It's taken her just 26 games to crack into a UMD single-season top-10 list for goals by a defenseman, where with 10 tallies currently, Bell is already tied for the fifth most in a season by a defenseman.  Bell has already matched Jessica Wong's 10 goal season of 2011-12 --the last time a UMD defenseman scored 10 goals-- and the last time a Bulldog blueliner had 30 points (Bell is sitting at 26, while Wong had 30 in 36 games that year). 

Outside of the Bulldog program, Bell has been hardly matched this season, and continues to lead WCHA defensemen with 10 goals, a 1.00 points per game average, six power play goals and four game-winning goals. With two games in hand, Bell sits second with overall points (26), and seventh in the NCAA. 

Bell also has a team-best plus/minus rating of +22 so far thise season.

COMING UP HUGHES:  Sophomore center Gabbie Hughes continues to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points.  She currently sits fifth in the WCHA for points per game at 1.48 ppg.

With her 37 points, she has tied her rookie mark, and surpassed her assist mark from a year ago. As a freshman, Hughes led UMD in scoring with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in 33 games -- just the third freshman to lead the Bulldogs in scoring in program history. 

In the 25 games Hughes has skated in for the Bulldogs this so far this season, the sophomore center has notched points in all but three.  

BRODT'S BEST FOR LAST:  Senior forward Sydney Brodt is having the best offensive season of her Bulldog career, having put up a UMD second-best 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in 26 games played.  With 10 points (3g, 7a) in her last seven skates, Brodt has also recorded two or more points in 10 games so far this season.  

Brodt is also now inching up closer to the 100 career point, currently sitting with 86 points on 33 goals and 53 assists over 131 games.

ROONEY SETS UMD CAREER SAVES RECORD:  Senior goaltender Maddie Rooney set UMD's all-time career saves leader on Jab. 17 in the Bulldogs 4-0 win over BSU.  The native of Andover, Minn. had 30 saves and picked up her 12th career shutout as she took over the career spot in the third period.  Rooney now has 3,134 career stops -- so far -- in 112 games.  Rooney climbed past Kayla Black for the record, who posted 2998 stops in 121 games during her time as a Bulldog

Rooney owns two of the program's top-three single-season saves record -- she ranks third with 989 saves over 31 GP  in 2018-19, and second in 2016-17 with 1013 stops in 37 games, only the second UMD goaltender ever to make more than 1000 saves in a season.  Rooney already has 649 saves so far this season in 25 games.

Rooney has also climbed into sole possession of the second most minutes/games played by a Bulldog netminder over a career.  With 6,587:40 minutes in 112 games, Rooney sits second behind Black, who in 121 games logged 6,928:56 minutes.  With 13 shutouts, Rooney also sits with the fourth most in program history.  Only Black (20), Riitta Schaublin (17), and Kim Martin (16) have had more.

BULLDOG NOTES:  With 42 career assists in 127 games, senior defenseman Jalyn Elmes has now cracked the program's all-time list for helpers by a defenseman...Elmes is currently tied for 10th... Sydney Brodt and Gabbie Hughes continue to find success against ranked opponents -- Brodt has 13 points (5g, 8a) in 10 games, while Hughes has 12 points (5g, 7a) in those same 10 skates...UMD's fourth tie this season makes it the fourth-straight season the Bulldogs have had at least four draws in a season ... The Bulldogs had five ties back in the 2016-17 NCAA tournament season...UMD is 9-3-4 when it scores the first goal, and is unbeaten at 11-0-1 when it leads after two periods...Outshot in last weekend's series, the Bulldogs are now 4-6-1 with fewer shots on the board than their opponents.

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