The No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluh women's hockey team will hit the ice this weekend against Minnesota State University, Mankato for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. The Friday-Saturday series will get underway at 3:01 p.m. on both days.
BULLDOG QUICK HITS
KLEIN TO SET CONSECUTIVE GAMES PLAYED GAME ON FRIDAY Fifth year senior Anna Klein will set the UMD consecutive games played record Friday, having never missed a game over her five-year career. Klein is now at 147 consecutive games played -- and in a tie with former standout defenseman Sidney Morin, who skated in 147 consecutive games between 2013-17. Klein will own the record with 148 straight-games once she hits the ice Friday.
Notably, graduate transfer Élizabeth Giguère has also never missed a collegiate game over her career for a total of 159 consecutive skates. Giguere skated in 137 consecutive games in four season at Clarkson University.
HUGHES HEADS TOWARDS 150 CAREER POINTS: Gabbie Hughes will enter the weekend with 149 career points (63g, 86a) in just 109 games. Already the 11th highest scorer in program history, Hughes is on track to become the seventh fastest Bulldog to reach the 150 career point mark. With 86 career assists, Hughes is now tied with Jocelyne Larocque for the 10 most helpers in program history.
HUGHES CONTINUES TO LEAD NATION IN POINTS PER GAME -- Senior center Gabbie Hughes leads the nation with a 1.82 points per game average through 22 games. Senior forward Élizabeth Giguère sits third with a 1.68 ppg average, while Anna Klein ranks 10th at 1.50. Giguere also owns the top-spot in assists per game with Hughes, who both are averaging 1.18 assists per game clip. Klein ranks third in the NCAA with a 0.73 goals per game average, while Hughes is tenth with a 0.64.
THE GREAT GIGUERE -- Giguère is currently first among all active players in the NCAA for career assists (159) and second in points (269). Giguère also ranks second in points per game (1.69), tied for first in assists per game (1.00), second in goals (110) and first in game-winning goals (25).
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are 74-8-9 all-time against the Mavericks and have lost just twice in program history at home against MSU. The two sides met in earlier this season in Mankato to the tune of a series split on Oct. 1-2 by scores of 7-0 and 2-4.
In the first game back on Oct. 1 -- UMD's first skate of the season -- UMD offensively erupted on the Mavericks 7-0. UMD scored early and often, kicked off by Naomi Rogge's goal at 6:30 in the first period. From there, the Bulldogs scored seven unanswered goals, with Rogge and Gabbie Hughes netting two tallies, and four players contributing three or more points (Rogge 2g, 2a, Hughes 2g, 1a, Anna Klein 1g, 2a and Élizabeth Giguère 3a. In all, the Bulldogs cashed in two of the seven power plays they were awarded. Emma Soderberg shutout in the win, stopping all 14 shots she faced.
In the second game, the Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead at 12:04 of the first period, but the Mavericks scored power play goals at 6:21 and 6:57 of the second frame to take the lead and never looked back. In all, MSU was 3-of05 with the extra skater. Giguère did pull UMD within one goal at 14:56 of the third, but MSU netted an empty net with five seconds remaining to ice the game. Soderberg had 17 stops in the loss.
ADDITIONAL MSU NOTES: UMD was led by Naomi Rogge in their last series with the Mavericks. Rogge had two goals and three assists for a team-high five points. Four players in all had four or more points: Rogge, Gabbie Hughes (2g, 2a), Elizabeth Giguere (1g, 3a) and Anna Klein (1g, 3a).
--UMD outshot MSU 67-35 in the series, and outscored the Mavericks 9-4 but split the series.
--The Mavericks went 3-of-6 on the power play -- scoring three of their four games in the series with an extra skater for a 50.0 conversation rate. UMD went 2-of-9 for a 22.2 rate.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD earned a split against then No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus with a 1-0 win last Friday before a 1-3 loss Saturday.
On Friday, senior defenseman Kylie Hanley rang her fourth goal of the season from the blueline with just ovwer 31 seconds remaining in the game to knock off the previously unbeaten at hom Buckeyes 1-0. UMD outshot OSU 28-27, but the real story was sophomore goaltender Jojo Chobak, who shutdown the high-scoring Buckeyes with a shutout in her first collegiate start.
In game two Saturday, McKenzie Hewett was the lone Bulldog to get on the board, but UMD suffered a 3-1 setback for the series split. Chobak made 38 saves in the game in her second career start. OSU outshot UMD 41-19 in the contest.
NOTES FROM THE OSU STATE SERIES:--UMD is 73-22-8 all-time against the Buckeyes and 6-5-1 over their last 10 meetings.
--The Buckeyes led the nation with a 5.45 goals per game average prior to the series. UMD held them to just a 1.50 goals per game weekend.
--UMD played its first game without a penalty since Jan. 26, 2019. Neither team had a penalty in Saturday's skate.
--Jojo Chobak's shutout in her first career start was just the second time a UMD goaltender has managed that feet in program history. (Joanna Ellison was the other, a 1-0 shutout posted on Oct. 14, 2007 in her first Bulldog action.)
--Between Chobak and Emma Soderberg, the Bulldogs have now earned six shutouts this season, which ties the number of clean sheets UMD posted a season ago. The last time the Bulldogs had more than six shutouts in a season was over the 2016-17 season, when UMD, led by Maddie Rooney, posted seven.
RANK AND FILE: UMD's move up to fifth in both national polls this week was the Bulldogs biggest jump of the year. It also marks their highest ranking since the begining of the season. UMD began the 2021-22 ranked fifth in both national polls.
CHOBAK GLOVES WCHA GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK: After arguably the best first career start by a goaltender in UMD history, Jojo Chobak was been named the WCHA's Goaltender of the Week on Tuesday.
The sophomore from Chicago, Ill. did more than just fill in for Swedish Olympian Emma Soderberg -- Chobak shutdown the nation's top-offense last weekend, helping the Bulldogs split their series with then No. 2 OSU. In her starting debut Friday night, Chobak turned away all 27 shots she faced to pick up her first career shutout. The following afternoon, Chobak tallied a career-best 38 saves in UMD's setback to OSU. In 118:16 of action, Chobak posted a 1.52 GAA and an impressive .956 saves percentage. In all, Chobak made 65 saves on the 68 shots in her first complete series.
KLEIN EYES CONSECUTIVE GAME MARK THIS WEEKEND: Senior winger Anna Klein is now in sixth place for the most games played over a UMD career (147), but more impressively, in her previous four and a half seasons of college hockey, Klein has never missed a game. The fifth-year senior is now at 147 consecutive games played and is in a tie with former standout defenseman Sidney Morin, who skated in 147 consecutive games between 2013-17. Klein will set the record with her first shift Friday night.
Notably, graduate transfer Elizabeth Giguere has also never missed a collegiate game over her career for a total of 159 consecutive skates. Giguere skated in 137 consecutive games over her four year playing career at Clarkson University.
**While the NCAA does not track a career games played record, UMD's record is 157, currently held by Jaime Rasmussen, who skated in 157 games between 2006-2010.
The WCHA does, however, track games played, and Klein right now is in a tie for 25th most-ever. No word on how the WCHA will manage the extra Covid seasons by league players.
HUGHES NOMINATED FOR HOCKEY HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Gabbie Hughes was one of 11 nominations for the 2022 Hockey Humanitarian Award, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation announced Tuesday. The award, which is celebrating its 27th season, is presented annually to college hockey's finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.
Hughes was nominated for her involvement with Sophie's Squad, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the mental health of athletes from the youth level to college by raising awareness of mental health issues and removing the stigma associated with getting help. The Lino Lakes, Minn. native was one of the founders of the organization, and is committed as a board/committee member who attends most meetings, runs all the social media accounts and works to promote the organization. Hughes , who recently helped coordinate the Sophie's Squad, Hockey Hits Back game for the Bulldogs on Jan. 15 is involved in the organization in many different ways. Hughes does everything from help pack bags for game participants to lending her her presence at games behind the tables, driving all over Minnesota to support the organization.
HIGHLY OFFENSIVE BULLDOGS: UMD has had an abundance of offense so far this season, having now compiled 81 goals through its first 22 games. While their 81 goals are the sixth most scored this season in the NCAA (and note, all but one team ahead of them have played at least two most games than UMD), the Bulldogs rank seventh nationally with a 3.68 goals per game average --which only ranks them fourth in the WCHA.
COMING UP HUGHES: Gabbie Hughes has had 14 multiple point games out of 22, including six skates with three or more points. The Bulldogs leading scorer with 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points in just 22 games, Hughes continues to lead the NCAA and WCHA with a 1.82 points per game average. Against teams ranked in the top-10, Hughes has scored 18 points (8g, 10a) in just 12 games for a 1.50 ppg average.
Hughes, who is already tied for 10th all-time in assists with Jocelyne Larocque 86, ranks 11th in UMD program history currently with 149 points on 63 goals and 86 assists in just 109 games. Hughes owns a 1.36 career points per game mark, good for the fourth most among all active NCAA players already. Hughes' 149 points also ranks the senior fifth among all active NCAA players.
A TRIO OF OFFENSIVE TROUBLE: UMD's line of Gabbie Hughes, Elizabeth Giguère, and Anna Klein, with three of the top-10 scorers in the nation, is the second-most offensively prolific line in the nation. The trio is averaging 1.86 points per game -- UMD as a whole is averaging 3.68 goals per game. Only Wisconsin's first line of Daryl Watts, Casey O'Brien and Makenna Webster is averaging more goals a game.
FAST START, BEST START: UMD is 10-2 overall when it scores first and 6-3 with a lead after the first period. The Bulldogs are almost untouchable with a lead after two periods of play -- UMD is 11-1 in those games so far this season.
POWERED PLAY: The Bulldogs rank sixth in the NCAA with a 26.2 conversion rate on 16-of-61 attempts. Ohio State owns the nations highest power play conversation heading into the weekend with a 35.6 rate on 21-of-59 attempts.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The Bulldogs are 10-4 this season outside the confines of AMSOIL Arena, and just 4-4 on home ice.
Six of the Bulldogs eight home games have been against teams ranked in the top-five, while four games have come against the No. 1 or No. 2 teams in the country.
