The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team returns to St. Cloud, Minn. Tuesday to finish up its rescheduled road series with St. Cloud State University. The game is the first of three the Bulldogs and Huskies will hit the ice togehter for, starting with 3:01 p.m. Tuesday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center and then moving to AMSOIL Arena for a Friday-Saturday series.

BULLDOG QUICK HITS
BELL TO PLAY FOR AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL:  UMD senior defenseman Ashton Bell, who has spent the 2021-22 season centralized with the Canadian Olympic team, has a chance to play for an Olympic gold medal Wednesday when she and former UMD All-American Jocelyne Larocque face the U.S. and current Bulldog goaltender coach Maddie Rooney in Beijing.

Former Bulldog All-American Lara Stalder will try to win her second bronze medal with Switzerland.

GOALS GALORE: UMD currently has 109 goals through 29 games -- UMD has not scored 110 goals or more in an entire season since the 2016-17 (note the 20-21 season was only 19 games). The Bulldogs have only scored 109 or more goals three times since in a decade (UMD recorded 121 in 2011-12).

KLEIN EYES ALL-TIME GAMES PLAYED RECORD:  Senior winger Anna Klein is just three games away from tying the all-time games played record at UMD.  Currently held by former Bulldog defenseman Jaime Rasmussen (2006-10), if Klein skates in all three games against SCSU this week, she be tied for first with 157 games played.

THE GREAT GIGUERE -- Élizabeth Giguère is currently first among all active players in the NCAA for career assists (162) and second in points (279).  Giguère also ranks second in points per game (1.68), second in assists per game (0.98), second in goals (117) and first in game-winning goals (25).

VAN WIEREN ON SEVEN-GAME SCORING STREAK: Clara Van Wieren has now recorded points in a career-best seven straight games. The sophomore forward has four goals and five assists for nine points in those last seven skates.
 

THE SERIES: UMD is 74-14-7 all-time against the Huskies and remains unbeaten in its last nine games against SCSU (8-0-1).

The Bulldogs defeated the SCSU 5-1 on Feb. 1, in St. Cloud, Minn., the first game of the make-up Tuesdays series behind a three-point game from Elizabeth Giguere.

On the afternoon, Kylie Hanley, Mannon McMahon, Taylor Anderson, Gabbie Hughes, and Giguere all found the back of the net. In addition to Giguere's third-point night, Hanley and McMahon each tallied a goal and an assist in the win. Sophomore goaltender Jojo Chobak got the start in net and made 17 saves off 18 St. Cloud en route to getting her first-ever assist as a Bulldog.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept St. Thomas at AMSOIL Arena last weekend by scores of 2-1 and 8-1 to move to 4-0 against the Tommies on the year.

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 Saturday in UMD's 8-1 thrashing of UST. Senior center 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). Senior forwards Anna Klein (2a) and Elizabeth Giguere (1g, 1a) added two points – six players in all noticed two or more points.  The Bulldogs outshot UST 54-10 in the contest.

Chobak got the win in net for UMD with four saves in 49:38 of action, but freshman Holly Gruber played 10:10 and stopped five shots for the Bulldogs in her first collegiate minutes.

NOTES FROM THE ST. THOMAS SERIES: UMD is now 4-0 against the Tommies and outscored USt 20-2 in those four outings.

--UMD outshot the Tommies 92-16 in last weekend's series.

--Seven players registered two or more points on the weekend, including four with three or more. Senior Naomi Rogge led all scorers with five points on two goals and three assists.  Gabby Krause added two goals and two assists for four points, while Clara Van Wieren had two goals and two assists for four points

THAT WINNING FEELING: With 20 wins, the Bulldogs have tied their second-most wins of the Maura Crowell era. Crowell ran up 25 wins in 2016-17.

In the past decade (since 2011-12, UMD has only two other times reached the 20 win mark -- in 2016-17 (25), 2011-12 (21).

UMD's 20th win is the 16th time in program history a Bulldog squad has pocketed that many triumphs.

POWERED PLAY:  The Bulldogs rank fifth in the NCAA with a 26.3 conversion rate on 20-of-76 attempts.

CAREER YEARS: Multiple Bulldog players are in the midst of career offensive season.

Naomi Rogge surpassed her rookie season previous high of 24 points (16g, 8a) in 35 games in 2017-18, and now already had 25 points (13g, 12a) in just 29 outings.

Anna Klein blew past her previous high set her junior season (13g-14=27), and now has 40 points on 17 goals and 23 assists in 29 games.

Other skaters who have already reached career season-best offensive outputs include Mannon McMahon (3-14=17) in 29 games, former high five points (2g, 3a) in 36 games and Clara Van Wieren who has more than doubled her freshman total of 11 points (7g, 4a in 17 games) and now has 25 points (8g, 17a) over 29 skates.

Senior Gabbie Hughes is just two points shy of her massive 51 point campaign from her sophomore season (20g, 31a in 35 games), and has already dished out a career-best 33 helpers to go with 16 goals this season.