After leading the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team to it's best defensive effort in program history, two key players of that Bulldog core earned some very big honors Thursday.
Senior defenseman Ashton Bell was named the 2020-21 Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Defenseman of the Year, while junior goaltender Emma Soderberg was named the 2020-21 WCHA Goaltender of the Year.  The pair played a huge part in UMD's WCHA-low 1.44 goals against average, and were also named All-WCHA FIrst Team members on Wednesday.
Bell joins Sidney Morin, who earned the heralded honor over the 2016-17 season and Jocelyne Larocque, selected in 2010-11, as just the third defenseman in program history to be selected the league's Defenseman of the Year.   The Deloraine, Manitoba native -- in just her second season anchoring the Bulldog blueline, has emerged as one of the best in not only the WCHA but the entire NCAA. Bell ranked second among all defenseman in the WCHA with a 0.75 points per game average after registering three goals and nine assists for 12 points in 16 regular season skates, which also ranked her seventh in the NCAA. The senior team captain owns the highest plus/minus rating among her peers at +19, which also ranked second among all positions in the league. Bell is now just two goals shy of cracking UMD's top-10 list of goals scored by a defensemen with 14 in two seasons -- the No. 10 spot, currently held by Satu Kiipeli, is 16 goals. Bell was twice named the WCHA's Defenseman of the Week this season.
Soderberg becomes UMD's first-ever WCHA Goaltender of the Year selection -- the award was introduced in the 2017-18 season. Already buried in league and national honors, Soderberg's current grasp on the WCHA's Goaltender of the Month honor extends back to December. The Jarved, Sweden product was a three-time WCHA Goaltender of the Month, as well as a three-time WCHA Goaltender of the Week, and was already named the WCHA's 2020-21 Goaltending Champion earlier this week -- just the second UMD netminder to win the statistical title (Kim Martin 2010-11 and Amanda Tapp 1999-00 each earned it once).  The junior goaltender blossomed in her first season as the Bulldogs starter, and finished the regular season with the WCHA's lowest goals against -- a 1.34, which if she held on to, would rank her with the third lowest single-season goals against mark in UMD history. That goals against average currently ranks her second in the NCAA, and her league-best .951 saves percentage also sets her at third in the NCAA and first in UMD program single-season history. Soderberg has made 404 saves, and has twice made more than 40 saves, including a career-best of 45 against Wisconsin in the regular season title game last Saturday and a career series best of 77 against Ohio State University back on Jan. 15-16. With five shutouts this season, Soderberg is also tied for the WCHA lead and ranks second in the NCAA.  Soderberg is currently a Top-8 finalist for the National Goaltender of the Year, which will be announced the weekend of the NCAA Frozen Four.
Bell and Soderberg will help anchor the backline for the No. 5 Bulldogs this Saturday when UMD clashes with No. 3 Ohio State University in the second WCHA Final Face-Off semifinal set to get underway at Ridder Arena at 5:07 p.m.
