The No. 7/8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will put the wraps on the 2022 portion of its season in a big way this weekend, hosting St. Thomas University for a Friday-Saturday Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at AMSOIL Arena. The matinee series will get underway at 3:00 p.m. each day, with Saturday dedicated to Sophie's Squad and the Bulldogs commitment to bring awareness to mental health.
Date: December 9-10, 2022, 3:00 pm Friday & Saturday
Site: AMSOIL Arena (6,600), Duluth, Minn.
UMD: 12-6-0 (6-6-0)
St. Thomas University: 3-13-0 (0-12-0)
Video: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/page/home
Live Stats: https://umdbulldogs.com/sidearmstats/whockey/summary
SOPHIE'S SQUAD RETURNS TO AMSOIL: Less than a year after becoming the first college program to host Sophie's Squad, Hockey Hits Back event for mental illness, the Bulldogs will join forces with the men's team for the first-ever college double-header Saturday. Graduate senior Gabbie Hughes and her family were part of the group that created the organization in a response to a person tragedy in July of 2021. For more information on Sophie's Squad, click here, and to read more about Hughes and her role in Sophie's Squad, click here.
ITS IN THE (DEFENSIVE) DETAILS: UMD continues to be one of the hardest teams in the country to score on, and currently has the fifth lowest goals against average of 1.67 -- despite playing six games against teams ranked No. 1 in the country, and nine against ranked squads. The Bulldogs also have the second GAA mark in the WCHA.
UMD also has the third most team shutouts -- six, which is also the most in the WCHA.
SODERBERG STALK OF THE RECORD BOOKS: Emma Soderberg has quitely climbed her way into the UMD goaltending annuals, and with a win last weekend over Ohio State, earned her 43rd career win and a tie with Tuula Puputti for the seventh most wins in program history -- two triumphs shy of taking over the sxith spot. (Soderberg's all-time record is 43-22-0, while Puputti's is 43-13-6).
Soderberg is also one shutout away from a career tie with fellow Swedes Kim Martin, who had 16 shutouts as a Bulldog, and her .929 saves percentage is the fifth-highest in program history.
COUNTDOWN TO 200: Senior graduate center Gabbie Hughes is now just 10 points shy of the 200 career points mark. With 75 goals and 115 assists in 147 games, Hughes is sitting at 190 points -- only seven players in program history have ever reached the 200 point mark, the last, Hailey Irwin in 2011-12.
Hughes is also now just nine assists shy of cracking into the NCAA's career top-25 assist record book, that begins at 124 career assists. Three other Bulldogs are in that heralded club -- Jenny Potter (148), Caroline Ouellette (137) and Haley Irwin (127).
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are 4-0-0 against St. Thomas, having faced the Tommies four times last season in their first-ever run in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. In those four skates, UMD outshot UST 20-2 in those four outings.
In their last meeting (only series ever at AMSOIL Arena) last season, UMD swept St. Thomas by scores of 2-1 and 8-1.
In game one, Gabby Krause scored at 1:40 and Anneke Linser at 2:19 of the second period, and UMD's defense did the rest, holding UST to a UMD program-low six shots in the game (two each period.)
Six different players scored goals the following Saturday in UMD's 8-1 thrashing of UST. Naomi Rogge led all scorers with four points on two goals and two assists, while three other players recorded three points – freshman Krause (2g, 1a), sophomore Clara Van Wieren (2g, 1a) and senior winger Taylor Anderson (1g, 2a). Six players in all noticed two or more points. The Bulldogs outshot UST 54-10 in the contest. UMD outshot the Tommies 92-16 in last weekend's series.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE TOMMIES: St. Thomas is in its second season as a Division I program, and is still seeking its first WCHA win this season. Two players have recorded seven points through 16 games this season -- Gabby Billling (3g, 4a) and Maddy Clough (3g, 4a). Saskia Maurer has played in 10 of the Tommies games between the pipes, and has a 3.09 GAA and .901 saves percentage.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD's split with top-ranked Ohio State at AMSOIL in the last national championship rematch series of the regular season with a 2-1 loss Friday before knocking off the Buckeyes in overtime Saturday 5-4.
On Friday, a power play goal late in the first period put OSU 1-0, and the Buckeyes doubled that lead at 15:57 of the third period. UMD cut the deficit to 2-1 with 59 seconds left after pulling goaltender Emma Soderberg on Kylie Hanley's third goal of the year. But it was too little, too late for UMD, who outshot OSU 34-27. Soderberg had 25 stops in the game.
Saturday, the Bulldogs never trailed, going up 2-0 in the first period on goals by Taylor Anderson (8:49) and Clara Van Wieren (9:37). After OSU tied the game at 2-2 with a late first period goal and power play midway through the second frame, Nina Jobst-Smith answered with a power play goal of her own to retake the 3-2 lead.
An early OSU goal in the third period was answered by a goal from Hanley at 8:55, but a late power play goal by the Buckeyes forced UMD into overtime for a sixth time this season.
Overtime was no issue for UMD, who outshot OSU 4-1 and saw Van Wieren call game at 3:37 to knock of the Buckeyes 5-4. Soderberg had 31 saves in the game.
NOTES FROM THE OHIO STATE SERIES: UMD is 14-4-2 against the Buckeyes at AMSOIL since the 2013-14 season, and 74-26-9 all-time against OSU. For the regular 2022-23 season, the Buckeyes finish with a 3-1 record.
--Mannon McMahon and Nina Jobst-Smith led all scorers against the Buckeyes this season, with four points in four games - both players posted one goal and three assists
--Clara Van Wieren has scored three goals in four games against the Buckeyes this season, and four total against teams ranked No. 1 over six skates.
--Saturday was the fifth-straight game a UMD/OSU game has been decided by one goal. Two of their four meetings this season went into extra time.
--Kylie Hanley has notched a goal in her last three games, posting three goals and two assists for five points in that span. Besides Van Wieren (2 goals) and Hanley (1g, 1a), three other players recorded two points Saturday, including Jobst-Smith (1g, 1a), McMahon (2a) and Gabby Krause (2a).
--UMD's win against the Buckeyes last Saturday was its first against a No. 1 team since it defeated Wisconsin 4-2 at AMSOIL on Feb. 26
--Saturday was the Bulldogs biggest goal output on OSU since they dropped five on them in a 5-2 win on Dec. 2, 2021.
--For just the second time this season, UMD outshot its opponent and lost Friday … the Bulldogs also suffered a 4-3 setback to Wisconsin back on Oct. 29 despite outshooting the Badgers 38-26 in the skate.
--In six overtime games this season, the Bulldogs are 4-2, and are now 3-5 against ranked teams.
--UMD has now scored four or more goals in six of its 18 games this season. The Bulldogs had 18 games with four or more goals scored last season over 40 games.
--With 43 wins, Emma Soderberg ties Tuula Puputti for the eighth most wins in program history. Soderberg's all-time record is 43-22-0, while Puputti's is 43-13-6.
POWER UP PLAY: The Bulldogs are one of the NCAA's best teams on the power play, and ranks fourth in the nation in power play percentage at 26.4.
The Bulldogs rank fifth in the NCAA with 14 through their first 18 games, and have scored eight power play goals in their last 10 games alone.
Ashton Bell and Maggie Flaherty are tied for the fifth most power play goals in the country with four apiece, which also puts then in third in the WCHA. The are one of two duos from the same team in the top-5.
NEXT BULLDOG UP: How deep are the Bulldogs this season? Start with their two top scorers not recording a point last weekend in UMD against No. 1 Ohio State, and yet UMD not only split the series but scored five goals on Saturday.
The Bulldogs got a goal and two assists from junior defenseman Nina Jobst-Smith, who now has notched at least a point in her last three games (1g, 3a), while fifth-year senior Kylie Hanley has scored a goal in her last three games, and has posted a total of five points (3g, 2a) over that span.
In fact, Jobst-Smith has been bank against ranked teams, and has logged a team-best 10 points over those nine games (3g, 7a), while Clara Van Wieren has scored three goals in four games against the Buckeyes this season, and four total against teams ranked No. 1 over six skates
BLUEPRINT BLUELINERS: In Ashton Bell and Maggie Flaherty, UMD has its most dominant defensive pair in a decade, and the numbers to back the claim. While the duo is creeping up on the top-10 blueline scorers in program history -- Both are at 60 points -- one shy of tying the tenth spot -- Bell at (21g, 39a in 72 games as a defenseman) while Flaherty is at 60 (14g, 46a in 132 games), this season, in just 18 games they are writing their own history. With 14 goals between them and seven apiece, they have already scored the most goals by a pair of defensemen since 2012-13, when future Canadian Olympian Brigette Lacquette (eight goals in 34 games), and blueliner convert Jessica Wong (seven goals in 33 games) combined for 15 tallies -- in more than twice the amount of games played. In fact Wong and Bell are tied for the third most goals in a season by a defenseman with 11 (Wong in 2010-11, Bell in 2019-20), and both Flaherty and Bell right now are just two goals shy of tying the ninth spot -- nine goals in a single season.
