The No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will face the No. 2 University of Minnesota Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Regional Final at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. at 2:00 p.m. It will mark the second-consecutive year UMD will play in either an NCAA Quarterfinal contest or NCAA Regional Final.  At stake in Saturday's skate is a spot in the 2022 NCAA Frozen Four.

UMD IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UMD heads back into the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010 and 2011. This will mark the tenth time in program history the Bulldogs have received an NCAA Tournament bid, and the third of the Maura Crowell era.  In all, UMD has gone to the NCAA Tournament (or right into the NCAA Frozen Four (2001, 2002, 20003) for 13 times in its history.

UMD will play in the first-ever Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament Saturday after the NCAA expanded its tournament field from eight to 11 teams. UMD will be looking to go back-to-back into the NCAA Frozen Four for the first time since the Bulldogs did it four seasons in a row -- 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Just one season ago, UMD upended fourth-seeded Colgate University on March 15, 2021 in NCAA Quarterfinals, using overtime at the Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, Penn. to knock out the Raiders in a 1-0 and advance to the program's eighth Frozen Four.

All-time, the Bulldogs are 17-7 in the NCAA postseason, including 11-3 in the NCAA Frozen Four and 5-4 in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The NCAA didn't adopt a quarterfinal game until the 2004-05 season, and prior to that, UMD had played in and won the first three NCAA titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003, going a perfect 6-0 in the NCAA postseason.

THE BULLDOG -- GOPHER NCAA POSTSEASON HISTORY: Despite meeting in 11 WCHA postseason games, UMD and Minnesota have met just twice in the NCAA postseason - and only once in an NCAA Quarterfinal/Regional Final.  All-time, UMD is 1-1 against the Gophers in the NCAA postseason.

Their one quarterfinal game happened back March 11, 2017 when the University of Minnesota escaped with a 1-0 win over the third-seeded Bulldogs, who hosted the first-ever NCAA Quarterfinal at AMSOIL Arena.

The first two periods were scoreless in the game, a testament to the level of goaltending both teams had on display.  Outshot 11-4 in the first period and just barely 11-10 in the second, the Bulldogs put the pressure on Gopher netminder Sidney Peters in the third period, outshooting Minnesota 11-7.

But it was the Gophers that would get the lone offensive break of the game.  While UMD hit a crossbar in the second period and a pipe in the third, Minnesota finally found the net on a backdoor one-time goal from Patti Marshall 7:54 into the final stanza.  That lone goal ended up the difference between two Western Collegiate Hockey Association heavyweights, playing in their sixth head-to-head contest of the season.

UMD sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney made 28 saves in the game, while Peters turned in 25 for the Gophers.  Minnesota outshot the Bulldogs 29-25 overall.

The Bulldogs and Gophers other NCAA match-up game came at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. on March 19, 2010, a 3-2 NCAA Frozen Four semifinal win for UMD.  Both Emmanuelle Blais (2g, 1a) and Laura Fridfinnson (1g, 2a) had three points for the Bulldogs in the win, while then freshman goaltender Jennifer Harss had 27 saves for UMD.

UMD vs Minnesota (1-1)

NCAA Tournament History

March 11, 2017 - NCAA Quarterfinal

AMSOIL Arena (Duluth, Minn.)

UMD 0, Minnesota 1

March 19, 2010 - NCAA Semifinals

Minneapolis, Minn. (Ridder Arena)

UMD 3, Minnesota 2

THE SERIES: UMD is 31-66-10 against the Gophers and have gone 2-3 so far in five skates so far this season, including 1-2 at Ridder Arena.

The two sides met just one week ago in the WCHA Final Face-Off semifinals, where UMD fell 5-1 to then top-ranked Minnesota last Saturday in the WCHA Final Face-Off semifinals at Ridder Arena.

Minnesota book-ended the first period with a goal 51 seconds in and then at 19:48, a deflection that found its way past Jojo Chobak.  The Gophers added one goal in the second period at 3:18, and opened the third period with a goal just 14 seconds into the frame.

UMD was chasing a 4-0 Minnesota advantage when its top-line finally broke through at 3:56 of the third period. From behind the net, Gabbie Hughes found Élizabeth Giguère at the top of the right circle and Giguère's blast it to make it a 4-1 semifinal.

UMD pushed the rest of the third, but Lauren Bench and Minnesota didn't concede any other goals to the Bulldogs. The Gophers added an empty net tally at 17:16 to run their lead, and eventual final score, to 5-1.

Chobak, making her first ever WCHA Final Face-Off start, had 34 saves for UMD.  Bench had 21 for Minnesota, who outshot the Bulldogs 39-22 in the game.  Both teams went 0-of-1 on their power plays.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs got a hat trick from Gabbie Hughes and a shutout from Emma Soderberg en route to a 4-0 stomping of Harvard University in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.

Hughes struck 39 seconds into the first period and 25 seconds into the second period.  The senior center concluded the first-ever UMD natural hat trick in an NCAA game at 12:21 of the second period, extending the Bulldogs lead to 3-0.  Elizabeth Giguere had three assists, one on each of Hughes' tallies.

McKenzie Hewett rounded out the scoring at 6:34 of the third period, and Soderberg and the defensive core did the rest, earning UMD its ninth shutout of the season and fifth for Soderberg.  The Bulldogs had the slight edge on shots on goal at 30-27, and held the Crimson scoreless on their lone power play.

NOTES FROM THE HARVARD GAME:  UMD is 15-5-1 all-time against Harvard all-time, and now 3-0 in NCAA Tournament action.

--The Bulldogs as a program have never scored fewer than four goals against the Crimson in the NCAA postseason, and have averaged 4.66 goals per game in those contests.

--Elizabeth Giguere now has a whopping 19 points (6g, 13a) against Harvard in nine career games for a 2.11 points per game average.  Giguere and

--The Bulldogs are 6-1 against the Crimson with head coach Maura Crowell at the helm.

--After Soderberg's ninth team shutout Thursday, UMD has the most shutouts in a season since Kayla Black posted 10 in 2014-15.

FIRST ROUND NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES: Gabbie Hughes joined UMD legend Maria Rooth as the only two players in program history to score a hat trick in the NCAA Tournament Thursday night.  Rooth also netted one against Harvard in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals on March 23, 2001, a 6-3 Bulldog victory (en route to the program's first NCAA title).

--Hughes has the only natural NCAA postseason hat trick in program history.

--Emma Soderberg now has two of the three UMD program NCAA Tournament shutouts. In addition to Soderberg's two, Kim Martin has the other, a 4-0 triumph over the University of Wisconsin in the NCAA Championship game back on March 22, 2008 at the DECC.

--Élizabeth Giguère and Hughes also joined quite the club Thursday night with three points in a game (Hughes 3g, Giguere 3a).  They became the eighth and ninth UMD players to compile three or more points in an NCAA game.  It's actually been done 10 times -- Emmanuelle Blais managed it twice in her career.

 

POUR ON THE POINTS:  Gabbie Hughes and Élizabeth Giguère have done something no Bulldog duo has done since the 2004-05 season -- they have eached scored over 55 points. Giguère has recorded 59 points so far, while Hughes has hung up 58.  The last pair of players to double up for more than 110 points between them? Then senior Caroline Ouellette (32g, 48a) with 80 points and Noemie Marin (30g, 26a) for 56 points during the 2004-05 season.

SODERBERG IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Emma Soderberg has now cemented herself as one of the best UMD goaltenders statistically ever in the NCAA postseason. The senior owns a record of 2-1, with two shutouts -- the only Bulldog netminder to own two shutouts (and one of only two to have earned one).  Soderberg has played 206:06 minutes in between the pipes, and over that span, has a 0.58 goals against average and .981 saves percentage. Patricia Sautter leads all UMD goaltenders with a perfect record of 4-0, and Kim Maritn having played in the most NCAA games with a record of 3-2.

A FINALIST FOR HISTORY, GABBIE HUGHES:  Senior center Gabbie Hughes is one of just three Division I women's college hockey players to be both a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award and the Patty Kazmaier Award.  Hughes joins Annie Pankowski (Wisconsin 2019) and Chandra Gunn (Northeastern 2004, 2003), who are the only other players in history to be finalists for both awards.