UMD Bulldogs "ALLETE" Moments: Competition
Throughout this year, UMD Athletics is partnering with Minnesota Power, ALLETE to highlight the Bulldogs accomplishments in the 3 C's: Classroom, Competition, Community. 


For a sixth time in program history, the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team has landed five different players on the annual All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association collection of all league teams.

Fifth-year senior defenseman Ashton Bell and graduate senior goaltender Emma Soderberg earned 2022-23 All-WCHA First Team honors, while graduate senior center Gabbie Hughes earned 2022-23 All-WCHA Second Team accolades. Graduate senior defenseman Maggie Flaherty earned a spot on the 2022-23 All-WCHA Third Team, while freshman goaltender Hailey MacLeod made her first appearance on an All-WCHA Team with a place on the 2022-23 All-WCHA Rookie Team.

Bell - now a three-time All-WCHA First Team selection - becomes the program's first-ever three-time defenseman ever to lock down that award.  A Preseason All-WCHA selection, Bell has been named the WCHA's Defender of the Month twice so far this season (September and December), and is a three-time WCHA Defender of the Week. The native of Deloraine, Manitoba currently ranks second on the Bulldogs with 33 points on 12 goals and 21 assists, including eight multiple point performances and a hat trick, and leads all WCHA defenseman in game-winning goals (4),  ranks second in power play goals (6), and is the third-leading scoring defenseman in the league while helping UMD to the most shutouts in the NCAA  (12). 

Sodberg, who joins Riitta Schaublin as the only goaltender in program history to glove two All-WCHA First Team accolades, currently leads the NCAA in shutouts with 10, as well as the fourth-lowest GAA (1.41). Soderberg sits at the top of the WCHA in saves percentage (.935), GAA and shutouts. The native of Jarved, Sweden set UMD's program record for career shutouts with 21 last Friday, and was September's WCHA Goaltender of the Month, as well as a four-time WCHA Goaltender of the Week. 

Hughes has now pocketed an All-WCHA honor every year she has skated in a Bulldog sweater, a feat no other Bulldog player has accomplished. All told, Hughes has one First Team selection (2021-22, three Second Team selections (2022-23, 2020-21, 2019-20 and one Third Team (2018-19), and also nabbed an WCHA All-Rookie spot as a freshman in 2018-19. Currently UMD's scoring leader for the fourth time in her career, the Lino Lakes, Minn. product has 45 points on 10 goals and 35 assists, and her assists per game average of 1.03 ranks third in the NCAA in first in the WCHA, while she ranks ninth in the NCAA and third in the league with 405 face-off wins. Hughes is a two-time WCHA Forward of the Week and was a Preseason All-WCHA selection.

Flaherty makes her first All-WCHA squad since being named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team in 2018-19. The Lakeville, Minn. native is in the midst of a career offensive season from the blueline, and has posted eight goals and 14 assists for 24 points so far. Flaherty has also been part of a UMD defense that has racked up a NCAA-best 12 team shutouts, and was twice a WCHA Defenseman of the Week this season.

MacLeod caps off a strong rookie season after being both the November WCHA Rookie of the Month, as well as a WCHA Rookie of the Week on Jan. 16.  The product of Abbotsford, B.C. owns a 1.06 GAA average in eight games this season, which includes seven starts, and is unbeaten in those starts with a record of 5-0-1 and one shutout.

The UMD program has six-times had five players selected to annual WCHA accolades, including most recently during the 2016-17 season. 

About Minnesota Power, ALLETE:
Our bold vision centers on our commitment to climate, customers and communities. We're a clean-energy leader under our EnergyForward strategy, already delivering 50% renewable energy ahead of all other Minnesota utilities. Now we're doubling down on that with a vision to deliver 100% carbon-free energy to customers reliably and affordably by 2050. Learn more at: https://www.mnpower.com/CarbonFreeEnergyVision