The Western Collegiate Hockey Association postseason gets underway this weekend, and the No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team and Minnesota State Universiry, Mankato will meet at AMSOIL Arena in one of four quarterfinal showdowns, the first league quarterfinals since 2020. The best-of-three series will get underway Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., with game two set for Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Game three, if needed, will also get underway at 2:00 p.m. Sunday.
BULLDOG QUICK HITS
IT'S KLEIN'S TIME: ANNA KLEIN WILL SET ALL-TIME GAMES PLAYED RECORD FRIDAY: A season of counting down the games Anna Klein has played will culminate Friday when the senior captain takes her first shift and becomes the all-time games played leader at UMD. Klein -- who already owns the consecutive games played record, currently at 157 -- has never missed a game over her five-year collegiate career. On Friday, Klein will take over the record with 158 games played, surpassing Jaime Rasmussen and her 157 games played from 2006-10.
HUGHES AND GIGUERE REACH 50 POINT MILESTONES: Elizabeth Giguere and Gabbie Highes both reached 50 points last weekend against St. Cloud State, becoming the first Bulldog duo to hit 50 points in a season since 2009-10. Hughes recorded her 50th point last Friday night on the game's opening goal for her 50th point (17g, 33a), while Giguere had three assists to hit her 50th and 51st point (18g, 33a). The last pair to reach that milestone was Emmanuelle Blais (65 points, 41 games) and Laura Fridfinnson (54 points, 39 games), who accomplished the feat over the 2009-10 NCAA title season.
THE GREAT GIGUERE -- Only five players in NCAA history have ever recorded more points than Élizabeth Giguère, who has now compiled 283 points. Giguere is just two points from tying the No. 4 spot of 285 points. Giguere became the NCAA's third all-time assist leader on Feb. 1, and now has 166 career assists. Giguère is currently first among all active players in the NCAA for career assists (166) and second in points (289). Giguère also ranks second in points per game (1.67), second in assists per game (0.98), second in goals (117) and first in game-winning goals (25).
UMD IN THE WCHA TOURNAMENT: UMD is 43-23 in all WCHA postseason games. A breakdown of UMD's all-time WCHA tournament record --
WCHA Quarterfinal games -- 30-9
WCHA Semifinal games -- 8-10
WCHA Third Place games -- 2-0
WCHA Championship games -- 5-3
In all, UMD owns five WCHA playoff crowns (2010, 2008, 2003, 2001, 2000).
Nine players on UMD's roster have never played in a league quarterfinal series previously.
UMD AND MSU IN THE POSTSEASON: The Bulldogs and Mavericks have met just once before in the WCHA quarterfinals, back on Feb. 25-26, 2011. UMD swept MSU in two games, 3-0 in game one and 5-0 in game two. It was the first post season games ever played by the Bulldogs at AMSOIL Arena.
THE SERIES: UMD is 76-8-9 against the Mavericks, and wrapped up the regular season 3-1. The Bulldogs outscored MSU 18-9 in those skates after outshooting them 124-86.
In their last series with the Mavericks on Jan. 28-29, the Bulldogs defeated MSU 4-2 in the first game (Jan. 28). Hughes led all players with three assists, while her linemate, Klein, chimed in for two assists. Both players reached career milestones in the contest.
In the second game on Jan. 29, Giguere scored two first period goals 55 seconds apart to help the Bulldogs to a quick start against the MSU. Though the Mavericks scored two goals in the second to tie the game, goals by Hughes and Clara Van Wieren and an eventual empty-net tally by Klein kept MSU off an upset trail.
MORE ON UMD/MSU: Gabbie Hughes led all scorers with 10 points against MSU this season on three goals and seven assists in four games, while Anna Klein posed eight on two goals and six assists. Elizabeth Giguere had the most goals -- four -- to go with two assists for six points, while Naomi Rogge also had six points in four skates against the Mavericks (2g, 4a).
--While the Bulldogs rank fifth in the NCAA with their power play, MSU sits right behind UMD in sixth with at 23.3 conversion rate on 17-of-73 attempts. The Mavericks scored nine goals against the Bulldogs in four games (one was an empty net goal). Three of those eight tallies came on the Mavericks power play.
--The Mavericks blocked 53 shots total in their four games against the Bulldogs. UMD, by comparison, blocked 33.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept St. Cloud State over the weekend by scores of 3-0 and 4-3 at AMSOIL.
In game one, UMD, with Jojo Chobak in goal, shutout the Huskies 3-0. Gabbie Hughes scored early in the first period, and Naomi Rogge scored midway through the third period. Katie Davis scored an empty net tally with 10 seconds remaining to give the Bulldogs their 3-0 final.
UMD outshot SCSU 47-14 in the contest.
In game two, the Bulldogs spent just over a minute total in the lead. Of the 11 points recorded (four goals and seven assists), nine were scored by players in their fourth season of eligibility, including the game-winning goal by McKenzie Hewett, who played in her final regular season game Saturday.
UMD's first lead in the game came at 2:07 of the second period, a power play goal by Naomi Rogge. But the Huskies scored 52 seconds later to tie the game at 2-2, and took the lead over at 7:27 of the third frame.
UMD finally equalized at 19:05 on a goal from Clara Van Wieren after pulling goaltender Emma Soderberg, and took the lead on Hewett;s goal with just nine seconds left in the game.
Soderberg had 22 saves in her first collegiate action since arriving back in Duluth five days earlier.
NOTES FROM THE ST. CLOUD SERIES: UMD finishes the season 3-0-1 against the Huskies, and stays unbeaten over their last 12 contests.
--The Bulldogs outscored SCSU 13-5 over the season, but outshot them a whopping 158-78.
--UMD's come from behind win last Saturday was just the fourth time the Bulldogs have won when the other team has scored first. UMD is now 4-6-0 when their opponent scores first.
--When outshooting its opponent, UMD is now 18-2-1 on the year.
--With a shutout last Friday, Jojo Chobak has three shutouts in 10 games.
ROGGE ON A ROLL: Senior center Naomi Rogge has now posted a point in her last five games, and over that span, has scored four goals and five assists for nine points.
THAT WINNING FEELING: With 22 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 22 wins -- in 2016-17 (25).
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 25.9 conversion rate on 21-of-81 attempts.
Minnesota State sits right behind UMD in sixth with at 23.3 conversion rate on 17-of-73 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 has 29 points (15g, 14a) in 32 outings.
Anna Klein blew past her previous high set her junior season (13g-14=27), and now has 43 points on 18 goals and 25 assists in 32 games.
Other skaters who have already reached career season-best offensive outputs include Mannon McMahon (3-14=17) in 32 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 27 points (9g, 18a) over 32 skates.
Senior Gabbie Hughes is just one point 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 17 goals this season.
COMING UP HUGHES: Gabbie Hughes currently has a 1.56 ppg game clip, the fourth-highest in the NCAA. Hughes also is tied in fourth with Elizabeth Giguere with 33 assists and a 1.03 assists per game.
One category that may get overlooked is that Hughes, a center, ranks fourth in the NCAA for face-off wins among 247 players ranked -- including second in the WCHA. Hughes has 419 wins from the dot
Equally as impressive is Hughes assault on the career record books at UMD. The assistant senior captain now has 159 career points (66g, 93a) in 119 games, and is now in ninth all-time for points and career assists.
Hughes is one helper away from Lara Stalder, who is currently in eighth place with 94 assists over her All-American career at UMD. Hughes was the seventh-fastest player in program history to score 150 points.
HIGHLY OFFENSIVE BULLDOGS: UMD has had an abundance of offense so far this season, having now compiled 117 goals through its first 32 games. Their 117 goals are the seventh most scored this season in the NCAA, and rank them sixth nationally with a 3.66 goals per game average --which only ranks them fourth in the WCHA.
GOALS GALORE: UMD currently has 117 goals through 32 games -- UMD has not scored 117 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 110 or more goals three times since in a decade (UMD recorded 121 in 2011-12).
FAST START, BEST START: UMD is 17-2-1 overall when it scores first and 11-3 with a lead after the first period. The Bulldogs are almost untouchable with a lead after two periods of play -- UMD is 16-1-1 in those games so far this season.
