The No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will put its seven-game unbeaten streak on the line once more when it travels to Mendota Heights, Minn. this weekend to face St. Thomas University in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series. The Saturday-Sunday series will get underway at 6:00 p.m. at the St. Thomas Ice Arena and will be featured on Bally Sports North.
 

Date:  January 21-22, 2023,  6:00 p.m. Saturday, 2:00 p.m. Sunday

Site:   St. Thomas Ice Arena, Mendota Heights, Minn.

           UMD: 17-6-1 (11-6-1)

           St. Thomas: 7-16-1 (2-15-1)

Video: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/page/home

Live Stats: https://tommiesports.com/sidearmstats/whockey/summary

TV Sunday: Bally Sports North

THE SERIES: All-time, UMD is one-sided in six all-time meetings against Tommies with a 5-0-1 record since STU became a Divsion I program and joined the WCHA last season.

Over those six games, the Bulldogs have outscored UST 29-4 in those six skates for an average of 4.83 goals per game.

The two sides met back on Dec. 9-10 at AMSOIL Arena, a UMD win and split in the WCHA series. The Bulldogs outscored the Tommies 9-2 in the series, but outshot them a whopping 105-29. Ashton Bell led all scorers with five points in the series on two goals and three assists. Mannon McMahon had the second most points with two goals and two assists for four points.

On Friday afternoon (game one), UMD trounced the Tommies, scoring three goals in the opening frame before cruising to a 8-1 victory. Bell had four points on two goals and two assists, while Mannon McMahon and Gabbie Hughes each posted three points on a goal and two assists. In all, five players had multiple point games with senior Anneke Linser adding a goal and an assist, and freshman defenseman Tova Henderson dishing out a career-best two assists.

Saturday afternoon was a entirely different story for the Bulldogs, who after putting 56 shots on goal Friday, recorded 49 on net Saturday.  UMD was forced to settle for a 1-1 overtime and eventual league mandated shootout loss for the extra WCHA point.

McMahon netted the Bulldogs lone goal 3:18 into the second period with assists to Taylor Anderson and Bell, but a power play goal by UST at 14:31 of the third period tied the game at 1-1. Despite UMD having outshot the Tommies 19-5 in the third period, 6-2 in overtime and 49-15 over the entire contest, the Bulldogs ended up with a tie.

Rookie goaltender Hailey MacLeod ended up with 14 saves in her third career start.

UMD-UST HISTORIC HIGHLIGHT: The two programs met for the first time ever on Oct. 23, 2021 in Mendota Heights, Minn., a 3-0 win. Gabbie Hughes scored the Bulldogs first-ever goal against the Tommies at 2:56 into the second period. Hughes had two points (1g,1a), and along with Anna Klein (2a) led all scorers with two points. Emma Soderberg made 21 saves in the first STU shutout of her career.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE TOMMIES: STU has gone 4-2-0 overall and 2-2-0 in WCHA play since tying UMD back in mid December. The Tommies are led by Maddy Clough, who has a team-high 10 points on  five goals and five assists in 24 games.

STU has relied on two goaltender who have split time so far this season -- Saskia Maurer and Alexa Dobchuk. Maurer has started 13 games and gone 4-8-1, while Dobchuk has started 10 and has posted a 2-8-0 record.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs are on a seven-game unbeaten streak after sweeping Bemidji State over the weekend at AMSOIL Arema.

UMD turned in scores of 8-1 Friday night and 5-0 Saturday, its second series sweep in a row.

Friday night, UMD unloaded three goals in the first period, including one just 57 seconds into the game from Clara Van Wieren, and rolled from there, adding another three in the second period and two in the third.

The Bulldogs rung up their second-highest scoring output of the season behind four players that recorded three or more points and six that compiled two or more, while a total of 11 different players got on the score sheet. Junior defenseman Nina Jobst-Smith, led all scorers with four points (1g, 3a), while Anneke Linser (1g, 2a), Mannon McMahon (3a) and Gabbie Hughes (1g, 2a) all contributed three points in the game.

Freshman Hailey MacLeod picked up her fourth win in as many starts with 11 saves on the night.

Saturday, UMD's fifth-year players carried the day, with four of them contributing two points – Linser (2g), Ashton Bell (1g, 1a), Kylie Hanley (2a) and Maggie Flaherty (2a) led the way offensively, while fifth-year graduate student goaltender Emma Soderberg picked up her sixth shutout of the season, stopping all eight shots she faced.

Bell scored at 5:59 of the first period, and Linser struck at 8:08 and 16:45 of the first period, giving UMD a 3-0 lead at the intermission that they never relenquished.  The Bulldogs outshot BSU 34-8.

NOTES FROM THE BEMIDJI STATE SERIES: UMD moved to 86-22-4 all-time against the Beavers and have now beaten BSU in their last seven head-to-head contests. The Bulldogs outscored the Beavers 13-1 in the series while having outshot them 71-20.

--UMD's last unbeaten streak of seven (or more) games ran from Jan. 14, 2017 to Feb. 11, 2017 -- a nine-game unbeaten span in all. The Bulldogs posted a record of 7-0-2 over that span.

--UMD posted the seventh-highest attendance and highest since 2013 Friday night, with at least 2,765 fans inside of AMSOIL.

--Ashton Bell is now tied for the second most goals by a defenseman in program history with 24. Bell is tied with Krista McArthur, who had 24 goals over 115 career games, while the fifth-year senior has skated just 78 games as a defenseman so far. Also tied for the sixth most goals scored by a defenseman in a single season, Bell scored 11 goals as a blueliner in the 2019-20 season, the third most in a single season.

--With two assists Saturday, Maggie Flaherty has jumped into a tie with Sidney Morin for sixth for the most assists by a defenseman in over a career. Flaherty has also climbed into the top-10 list for defenseman in career scoring after her three point weekend (1g, 2a), and has 66 points (15-51=66) in 138 games, good enough for tenth.

--For her efforts, Saturday, rookie goaltender Hailey MacLeod was named the WCHA's Rookie of the Week. after picking up her fourth win against BSU Friday night, a 8-1 Bulldog triumph over the Beavers. MacLeod  is now unbeaten in four starts for UMD after picking up the win Friday. The rookie is 4-0-1 in those skates and boasts a 0.63 GAA with a .931 saves percentage overall. MacLeod made 11 saves in the outing and is part of a Bulldog defensive core that has allowed just two goals in its last four games and leads the WCHA with a league-low 34 goals against.

DUG IN DEFENSE: The Bulldogs are one of the hardest teams to score against in the NCAA, and own the lowest goals against in the WCHA at 1.42. Nationally, UMD ranks fourth and has allowed just 34 goals in 24 skates this season. Additionally, the Bulldogs own the second most shutouts in the NCAA (eight), and the most in the WCHA. UMD goaltender Emma Soderberg leads the WCHA and ranks third in the NCAA with six shutouts to her credit. Soderberg also ranks first in the WCHA and fourth in the NCAA for lowest goals against average -- 1.59 among goaltenders that have played 1000 minutes or more.

SAVES BY SODERBERG: Emma Soderberg added more to her legacy last weekend, logging her sixth shutout of the season to move into a tie for second all-time with Riitta Schaublin with 17. (Soderberg also had five shutouts in a season in 2021-22, and had six in 2020-21 - for the record, no goaltender in program history has had two, six shutout seasons.) With her 47th career win Saturday, Soderberg has now has the sixth-most wins in program history.

COUNTDOWN TO 200: Senior graduate center Gabbie Hughes is now just one point shy of the 200 career points mark. With 78 goals and 121 assists in 150 games, Hughes is sitting at 199 points -- only six players in program history have ever reached the 200 point mark, the last, Hailey Irwin in 2011-12. In all, seven players before Hughes have played at UMD with 200 or more points -- just last season, Hughes was on a line with Elizabeth Giguere, who ranks as the third-highest scoring player in NCAA history and who left the Bulldog program with 294 points (121g, 172a) between her season at UMD and four at Clarkson.

Hughes' march towards 200 -- a milestone among milestones for the often-awarded center -- also is stalking a WCHA list that only includes 22 players before her to have recorded 200 points. With 121 career assists, Hughes already ranks 17th the WCHA for all-time assists.

Hughes is also just three assists shy of cracking into the NCAA's career top-25 assist record book, a list that begins at 124 career assists. Three other Bulldogs are in that heralded club -- Jenny Potter (148), Caroline Ouellette (137) and Haley Irwin (127).

LINSER'S LOADED OFFENSE: Fifth-year forward Anneke Linser has been UMD's most consistent scorer over the past four games, and has compiled points in six of her last seven games. Currently on a four-game, five goal scoring streak with a total of  eight points over that span, Linser has recorded a team-high 11 points (6g, 5a) over the Bulldogs current unbeaten streak.

Linser has already put up a career-high 13 goals, surpassing her rookie season of 10. One goal shy of her rookie output of 24 points (10g, 14a), Linser currently has 23 points (13g, 10a). Linser leads UMD with 13 goals.

GAMES GALORE: A plethora of Bulldogs have now ascended on to the top-10 list for all-time games played in program history. Naomi Rogge played in her 153rd game Saturday, making her just the fourth-ever Bulldog to have played in 153 or more games. Rogge is tied for third with Sarah Murray in all-time games played. Gabbie Hughes and Anneke Linser are tied for  the sixth most games ever played (150), while Ashton Bell is at 149 in 8th (Bell also now has the second most consecutive games played in program history). Taylor Anderson, with 147 games, is now tied for tenth all-time in games played.

In all, UMD has nine players that have played over 118 or more career games. Even more impressive, UMD boasts 18 players who have played in an NCAA Championship game and 12 that have skated in back-to-back NCAA Frozen Fours.

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.

Bell stormed into the top-10 list of all-time scoring defenseman in December, and now sits ninth all-time with 68 points (24g, 44a) in just 78 games from the blueline. Bell ranks second among defensemen in goals scored with 24, and right now has the sixth most in a single-season with 10. (Bell already has the third most goals by a defenseman in a single season -- 11 -- compiled over the 2019-20 season.)

Flaherty has 66 career points (15g, 51a) over 138 games, and how now also entered the top-10  in most points by a defenseman in program history at tenth.  With 51 career assists, Flaherty is now tied with Sidney Morin for sixth all-time by a blueliner.

With 18 goals between them this season, they have already scored the most goals by a pair of defensemen in a season since Krista McArthur scored 15, and both Larissa Luther and Navada Russell netted five apiece. Pick either bluliner to pair with McArhtur, and the last time a defensive duo scored 16 or more points was the 2002-03 season at 20.

THE POWERED PLAY CAREER OF ASHTON BELL: No player in a decade has scored more goals on the power play for UMD than Ashton Bell, who has already rung up four so far this season.

The senior blueliner has 20 over her 149 games career so far -- the most by a Bulldog players since Haley Irwin finished her 134 game career with 20 in 2012. The last UMD player to notch more than 20 power plays in a career? Laura Fridfinnson, who posted 22 over 151 games from 2007-11.

MAKING A CAREER OF IT: Gabbie Hughes not only ranks seventh all-time in scoring at UMD and fourth in assists, the Lino Lakes, Minn. native is ninth all-time goals with 78.

Hughes ranks in the top-five among all active NCAA players -- the center ranks third in points (199), third in points per game (and first in the WCHA, 1.33), third in assists (121) fourth in assists per game (0.81), and fifth in game-winning goals (17).

HONOR THY DEFENSE: With Hailey MacLeod's Rookie of the Week nod Monday, of the 11 WCHA Player of the Week awards earned by the Bulldogs, six have gone to defenseman and four to a goaltender.