The No. 5/6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will forge ahead in the midst of one of the toughest schedules in all of college hockey when the Bulldogs welcome the No. 3 University of Wisconsin to AMSOIL Arena this weekend for an afternoon Friday-Saturday series that will get underway at 3:00 p.m. each day.
Date: October 28-29, 2022, 3:00 pm Friday & Saturday
     Site: AMSOIL Arena (6,600), Duluth, Minn.
     UMD: 6-2-0 (2-2-0)
     Wisc: 9-1-0 (6-0-0)
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WELCOME, WISCONSIN: For the seventh and eighth time in their last 12 meetings, the Bulldogs will host the Badgers at AMSOIL this weekend. In fact, UMD has traveled to Madison just once for two games -- last season -- since Dec. 6, 2019. Since then, the two sides have met nine times -- six skates at AMSOIL and once at Ridder in WCHA Final Face-Off semifinal game.
MAKING A CAREER OF IT: UMD senior center Gabbie Hughes currently ranks in the top-five among all active NCAA players over a career for points, points per game, goals, assists, assists per game and game-winning goals.
Hughes ranks second among all current NCAA players with 180 career points, third in points per game (1.33 ppg), third in assists (107), third in game-winning goals (17), fourth in assists per game (0.79), and fifth in goals (73). Among all WCHA players, Hughes ranks first in points, first in points per game and game-winning goals, second in assists and assists per game and third in goals.
Hughes isn't the only current Bulldog on the career NCAA charts. Ashton Bell ranks fourth overall and second in the WCHA with 19 power play goals, while senior goaltender Emma Soderberg owns the fourth best saves percentage and tops in the WCHA at .933, while also ranked fourth in shutouts (and second in the WCHA). Soderberg also owns the WCHA's current most career wins and fifth in the NCAA with 39.
DON'T OVERLOOK THE DEFENSE:Â UMD and Wisconsin are currently the two hardest teams to score on in the WCHA, and for that matter, the nation. While the Badgers have allowed nine goals against them, UMD has allowed 10. The Badgers own an NCAA fourth-best 0.90 goals against average, while the Bulldogs sit eighth with a 1.25, which also ranks them first and second in the WCHA.
ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR: The Bulldogs and Badgers have faced just one common opponent so far this season - Penn State University. Wisconson played PSU, its lone ranked opponent, on the road at University Park, Pa. to start the season on Sept. 22-23 with a series split -- a 4-1 loss and a 9-1 win. UMD played them the following weekend (Sept. 30) in Canton, New York, and defeated the Nittany Lions 4-0.
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THE SERIES: There are 104 all-time meetings between the Bulldogs and Badgers, but Wisconsin remains one of only two teams in the NCAA UMD is upside down against with an all-time record of 33-58-15. A season ago, UMD went 1-3, with one of the setbacks a 5-4 overtime thriller loss at AMSOIL on Oct. 17.
In their last series showdown, the Bulldogs split with then No. 3/4 Wisconsin on Feb. 4-5Â in Madison, Wisc. by scores of 3-0 in the first game and 1-5 in game two.
In game one, with Emma Soderberg at the Olympics with Team Sweden, Jojo Chobak made 45 saves to help UMD beat the Badgers 3-0, the first UW loss at home by a Bulldog side in almost seven years.
Outshot heavily in every period, rookie Gabby Krause scored UMD's first goal at 3:42 of the first period. Elizabth Giguere put the Bulldogs up 2-0 at 11:36 before icing the game herself when an empty net goal with 15 seconds remaining in game.
All told, the story was Chobak, who made 45 saves on 45 Badger shots. UW outshot UMD 45-16 in the contest. It was also the Bulldogs first shutout of the Badgers since Feb. 6, 2015 (also in Madison)
In the second game, a 5-1 loss, the scoreboard slanted for the Badgers but the shot chart did not. UW edged UMD in the final shots on goal count 29-27, and the Bulldogs and Badgers each had nine shots apiece in both the second and third period. Kailee Skinner had the lone Bulldog goal early in the third period.
It was the first series played between the two sides that did not include an overtime since Feb. 2019
Gabbie Hughes posted five assists against UW last season, while Clara Van Wieren had two in four skates.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs were swept by the No. 1 Ohio State University in Columbus last weekend by two scores of 3-2. In the first game, it took the final minute of 3-on-3 overtime for the Buckeyes to finally defeat UMD, its first loss of the season.
An even first period spilled into the second, and the Bulldogs carried a penalty kill into the period that the Buckeyes cashed it in at 1:29 for the night's first lead. UMD's response came in the form of junior forward Clara Van Wieren, who beat the OSU goaltender five-hole at the 13:55 mark. A little over three minutes later, the Buckeyes reclaimed the advantage on a goal from Jennifer Gardiner, and after a wild second period, UMD left the ice down 2-1.
UMD equalized OSU as its power play expired 7:56 into the third period, an instant classic goal from Maggie Flaherty. The senior defenseman skated into the zone and took a feed from Mannon McMahon at the circle, levered her shot with a knee to the ice and found the top-left netting to pull the game even at 2-2. From there both sides had chances to tuck the game away, but the conclusion couldn't be found in regulation. OSU finally scored off a breakaway at 4:00.4 of the 3-on-3 overtime – UMD's first setback in extra time on the season in three games. Emma Soderberg had 29 saves for UMD, while OSU outshot the Bulldogs 32-17 in the game.
On Saturday, it was the Bulldogs that struck first. UMD took the game's first advantage on a goal that came at 7:54 of the first period. Mannon McMahon skated the puck behind the net and beat OSU goaltender Amanda Thiele with a wraparound from the extended goal line for the 1-0 lead. The Buckeyes knotted the game on a goal at 16:17, and both sides were an even 1-1 after the opening 20 minutes.
Gabbie Hughes single-handedly broke that tie with a breakaway goal at the 3:29 mark of the second period. Hughes hit the open ice of the Buckeye defensive zone and stick-handled Thiele to the ice before tucking the puck in between Thiele's right skate and the post for the 2-1 lead back to the Bulldogs.
That lead held for the remainder of the second period and until midway of the third period before the Buckeyes scored two unanswered goals at 10:47 and 15:03 to take their first, and what would be final, lead of the game at 3-2. OSU turned in shots on goal advantage of 37-25, UMD outshot the Buckeyes in the second period (11-9) and almost half of OSU's shots came in the first period. Soderberg had 34 saves for UMD.
OHIO STATE SERIES NOTES: The Bulldogs are now 73-25-9 all-time against the Buckeyes, who have won four straight-games against UMD -- the longest OSU winning streak against the Bulldogs in program history.
--UMD is 8-8-2 against OSU on the road over the last 10 road games, but an impressive 13-3-2 against the Buckeyes at AMSOIL since the 2013-14 season. UMD has averaged 2.92 goals over the past nine seasons against the Buckeyes.
--The Bulldogs were swept for the first time since Wisconsin managed an overtime sweep of UMD on Oct. 15 & 17 of last season at AMSOIL and it doubled as the first road sweep by a Bulldog opponent since Dec. 6-7, 2019 in Madison.
POINT TAKEN: Two UMD players have logged points in seven of their last eight skates. Senior Mannon McMahon has notched a goal and two assists over her last three points for a three-game scoring streak, and has already picked up eight points (3g, 5a) over eight games for a 1.00 ppg average.
Gabbie Hughes, who currently leads the Bulldogs with 12 points (2g, 10a), has also recorded points in seven her last eight games, and had a goal and two assists against OSU last weekend, with points in both games.
MIND YOUR MANNON: As noted above, Mannon McMahon has compiled a point in all but one skate so far this season. The speedy forward is coming off the best offensive season of her career after scoring four goals and 15 assists for 19 points last year in 40 games.
In just eight outings, the senior has already registered half of her career-high from her junior campaign (eight points), and her three goals is just one shy of the career-mark she set last season of four.
BULLDOG WCHA BITES: Gabbie Hughes is tied for the second-most multiple point games in the WCHA with five ... Hughes also ranks second in assists and assists per game (1.25) and is tied for sixth in points per game average with 1.50 ... Hughes is averaging the second most face-off wins a game at 12.88 ... Ashton Bell is tied for the most power play goals (3) in the league, and ranks second in game-winning goals (2) ... Bell sits fourth in the WCHA in scoring among all defenseman with nine points and a 1.13 ppg average .... of the top-10 goaltenders that have the lowest goals against in the WCAH, none of them have played within 100 minutes of Emma Soderberg, who has played 469:25 minutes so far ...Soderberg's 1.28 GAA ranks fourth, but she is tied for first for wins with six ... only two netminders in the league have pocketed six wins ... Soderberg also has the fourth-highest saves percentage (.935) with 143 saves on 153 shots ... UMD has three team shutouts, two of which are completely credited to Soderberg for the second-most in the WCHA ... Maggie Flaherty is averaging 2.13 blocked shots a game, the fourth most in the conference ... as a team, UMD has scored the second most power play goals (6) ... and has the second most shutouts (3), but also is averaging the second fewest penalty minutes in the WCHA at 5.50 a game.
WATCH PARTY: Super senior Naomi Rogge has 96 career points (52g, 44a) over 1357 games, just four shy of the UMD 100-point club.
Ashton Bell is right behind Rogge on the career climb. The converted defenseman has 95 career points (36g, 59a) and 41 of them have come from the blueline over 62 games.
Maggie Flaherty sits in the 10th spot with 44 assists by defensemen in a career.
Gabbie Hughes, already the seventh-highest point getter in UMD history (73-107=180), will look to climb in career goals, where she sits tied in the 10th slot with 73 along with Emmanuelle Blais. The Lino Lakes, Minn. native is sixth all-time for assists.
