The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will drop the puck on the 2021-22 season this weekend, less than seven months after returning to its first NCAA Frozen Four in over a decade.  UMD will face Minnesota State University, Mankato Friday night at 6:01 p.m. at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in Mankato, Minn.  The Western Collegiate Hockey Association series will wrap-up Saturday at  3:01 p.m.

THE SERIES: All-time, the Bulldogs are 73-7-9 against the Mavericks, and are unbeaten in their last 17 meetings.  UMD was 4-0 last season against MSU, outscoring the Mavericks 18-7 in those skates.

Three players rang up six or more points against MSU in 2020-21 -- Gabbie Hughes (3g, 4a), Anna Klein (3g, 3a) and and currently centralized Ashton Bell (1g, 5a).

The Bulldogs and Mavericks last tangled Feb. 18-19 at AMSOIL, a 2-1 and 4-2 series sweep for UMD.  The series came after 21 days between games for UMD, and in the opening skate, the Bulldogs fell behind early in the first period at 5:48, and MSU would hold that lead for almost 50 minutes.

Finally breaking through was Hughes to draw the Bulldogs even at 1-1 with the Mavericks at the 10:53 mark.

Less than five minutes later, UMD took its first -- and final -- lead of the game.  Maggie Flaherty found McKenzie Hewett on the doorstep for the game-winning goal.  Emma Soderberg picked up with win with 21 saves.

In the second game on Sunday, the Bulldogs pulled out a 4-3 win after Hughes punched in a rebound with three seconds remaining in the third period.  In a game with four lead changes, UMD came from behind for a second-straight afternoon on  two goals and an assist from Hughes.

A LOOK AT THE MAVERICKS: MSU swept Merrimack last weekend by scores of  3-0 and 9-3.  Junior defenseman Charlotte Akervik led all scorers with five points on a goal and four assists.  Four other Mavericks notche four points in the opening season-opening series.  Two MSU goaltenders split the series and each picked up a win -- junior Calle Frank, who earned a shutout, and sophomore Laren Barbro, who posted a 3.00 GAA.

SENIORITY RULES:  UMD has a record 12 seniors available and 13 overall rostered this season.  The experience advantage of the Bulldogs is amplified by the fact that three of those seniors are actually fifth-year players who have already suited up collegiately for four years -- senior captain Anna Klein, redshirt senior Naomi Rogge and graduate transfer Élizabeth Giguère.

BULLDOGS GET OFFENSIVE:  Of the 55 goals scored last season, UMD will return the scorers of all but five of them.

The returning Bulldogs, in addition to a strong freshman class and graduate transfer Élizabeth Giguère may pack the most firepower of head coach Maura Crowell's tenure yet.

UMD's top-two scorers, senior forwards Anna Klein and Gabbie Hughes, accounted for 21 of those 55 goals one season ago.  Klein led the Bulldogs overall in scoring with 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points, while Hughes landed 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points.  With just 19 games to skate in last season, UMD also got six tallies from Clara Van Wieren, and four each from Naomi Rogge and Taylor Anderson.

Klein posted the fourth most points in the WCHA and 11th in the NCAA one season ago.  The Edina, Minn. native had a 1.16 points per game average and led the NCAA with two shorthanded goals. The  All-WCHA Second Team member was tied for fourth in the WCHA with three game-winning goals, and additionally put up multiple point games eight times -- half of her skates.  For her offensive efforts, Klein was named a 20-2021 USCHO Third Team All-American selection.

Hughes was named to the All-WCHA Second Team for a second consecutive year last season, and finished fifth in scoring in the WCHA. UMD's leading scorer both her rookie and sophomore season's, she ranked fifth in the WCHA with a 1.11 points per game average, all the while leading the league with 298 face-off wins.

Giguère played in 19 games for Clarkson last season, compiling 14 goals and 14 assists for 23 points.  In 137 skates with the Golden Knights, Giguère rang up 99 goals and 134 assists for a whopping 233 points.

The Bulldogs as a squad finished the season with a 2.89 goals per game average --  the highest since the 2016-17 (2.97G/GM)  season and second highest since 2011-12 (3.16 G/GM).

DEFENSIVE DEPTH: UMD's experience extends to its backline, with seven players, including two rookies, featured in the blueline rotation.  While the Bulldogs will miss All-American Ashton Bell for the year, they return the services of seniors Lizi Norton, Maggie Flaherty and Kailee Skinner who have played 88, 89 and 90 career games respectively.

Sophomore Nina Jobst-Smith saw plenty of ice time with the German National Team in the summer and at the World Championships in August. Jobst-Smith notched an assist in six games while in Calgary with Germany.

Between the pipes, UMD's All-American netminder Emma Soderberg is back, and with her the pile of accomplishments she grabbed in her first full season backstopping the Bulldogs.  The WCHA's Goaltender of the Year was ranked in the top-two in the NCAA in at least three categories for almost the entire season, and finished the year with a 1.56 GAA and .944 saves percentage -- only one goaltender that played in more than 10 games had a higher saves percentage than the Jarved, Sweden product.  Tied for the second most shutouts in the nation (6), Soderberg cleaned up every WCHA honor available to her, ending with the WCHA Goaltender of the Year and All-WCHA First Team honors.

KLEIN'S DURABILITY CLIMB:  Senior winger Anna Klein has never, in her previous four years of college hockey, missed a game.  The soon-to-be fifth-year senior will enter the 2021-22 season with 125 consecutive games played -- which already ties her with Ashton Bell for the second-longest playing streak in program history.  Klein is chasing former standout defenseman Sidney Morin, who skated in 147 consecutive games between 2013-17.

BELL AND BETINOL WILL CENTRALIZE AHEAD OF THE 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS: Gone for the season but not forever, the Bulldogs will be without senior All-American defenseman Ashton Bell and junior forward Kassy Betinol this season.

Bell, who turned in a goal -- a game-winning goal at that -- and two assists for three points in her first official national team duty last month, helped Canada clinch a gold medal in the IIHF World Championship.  Over seven games, Bell went +4 from the blueline.

The product of Deloraine, Manitoba was named both a 2020-21 USCHO First Team All-American and a 2020-21 CCM/AHCA Second Team All-American. Bell finished the season as the seventh-highest scoring defenseman in the nation and second highest in the WCHA with 14 points on four goals and 10 assists.  The offensive blueliner was named the WCHA's Defenseman of the Year, as well as an All-WCHA First Team selection, and also turned in a plus/minus rating of +19 over the season.

Betinol will centralize with Team China, the host of the 2022 Olympics.  Betinol has played in 55 games for the Bulldogs over the past two seasons, recording three goals and four assists for seven points.