The No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will welcome No. 12 St. Cloud State Universtiy to AMSOIL Arena this weekend in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown that will double as the Bulldogs last home regular ice of the season. The Friday-Saturday series will get underway at 6:00 p.m. Friday, and will conclude Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. puck drop. Following the Saturday game, the UMD program will honor its 2022-23 senior class.

Date: February 10-11, 2023,  6:00 p.m. Friday, 3:00 p.m. Saturday 
Site:  AMSOIL Arena (6,600) Duluth, Minn.

UMD: 20-8-2 (14-8-2)
SCSU: 16-15-0 (9-15-0)

TV: My9, Saturday 
Video: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/page/home
Live Stats: https://msumavericks.com/sidearmstats/whockey/summary

SENIOR SALUTE: The Bulldogs will honor nine seniors Saturday night that make up the 2022-23 senior class.  It includes six players who were freshmen over the 2018-19 seasons (Taylor Anderson, Kylie Hanley, Anneke Linser, Gabbie Hughes, Maggie Flaherty and Emma Soderberg), two seniors that were rookies over the 2017-18 season (Ashton Bell and Naomi Rogge) and graduate tranfer Blanka Skodova.

These seniors have been a part of two NCAA Frozen teams, and were NCAA runner-ups one season ago. With a NCAA Tournament record of 4-2 between them, the 2022-23 class has a record of 92-55-12 heading into the series this weekend (this is the program record between 2017-18 to present).

Even more impressively, this class includes three All-Americans, seven Academic All-Americans, one Patty Kazmaier Top-3 Finalist, two WCHA Players of the Year, 3 WCHA First-Team selections, two WCHA Second-Team selection, and two WCHA All-Rookie selections, one WCHA Goaltending Champion, three NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament honorees, one Hockey Humanitarian Finalist, eight All-WCHA Academic Team members, three Olympians and one Olympic gold medalist.

THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are 78-14-8 against St. Cloud State after sweeping the Huskies in St. Cloud, Minn. by scores of 2-0 and 5-1 back in mid-November.

In the Friday night skate, UMD scored early in the first period on goals by Clara Van Wieren (6:19) and Anneke Linser (11:54) to take a 2-0 lead, and UMD's defense did the rest. It held the Huskies to just 14 shots while posting 25, and helped Emma Soderberg to her third shutout of the season at the time.

In game two Saturday afternoon, UMD dominated from start to finish, starting the game with a power play goal from Maggie Flaherty at 17:13 of the first period and five goals later, ending it with an empty-net goal from Flaherty at 16:02 of the third period. In between, UMD's Naomi Rogge became the program's 23rd member of the 100 point club just 1:53 into the second period to make it a 2-0 game. Mannon MacMahon added a goal at 14:41 and Ashton Bell backhanded one in just 36 seconds into the third period.  All told, the Bulldogs scored five unanswered goals and went more than 119 minutes in the series before they surrendered the one goal SCSU had all weekend at the end of the third period.

The contest was the first-ever game and start from freshman goaltender Hailey MacLeod, who made 18 saves in her debut and was 38 seconds from her first career clean sheet.

NOTED: The Bulldogs are unbeaten in their last 14 games with SCSU and 9-0-1 against the Huskies in their last 10 skates.

--While UMD outscored SCSU 7-1 in the series, UMD is averaging 4.40 goals against the Huskies in their last 10 outings.

UMD-SCSU HIGHLIGHT: The two sides have met just once in the second round of the WCHA postseason, a semifinal match-up that came on March 8, 2008 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center  held WCHA Tournament. The Bulldogs routed the Huskies in what still stands as the most goals scored by a UMD squad in all postseason action 9-0. The Bulldogs had nine players post two or more points and five post three. Haley Irwin (2g, 1a) and Elin Holmov (2g) each had two tallies for UMD, while goaltender Kim Martin and Johanna Ellison combined for teams 10th shutout of the season. (The Bulldogs would go on to add an 11th shutout in the NCAA title game against Wisconsin two weeks later.)

A QUICK LOOK AT THE HUSKIES: The No. 12 Huskies are having one of their best seasons in decade, and have been ranked just outside of the top-10 for the second half of the season. SCSU is led by Jennlina Nylund with 27 points and the second most goals on the team with 13. Goaltenders Jojo Chobak and Sanni Ahola have spilt the 31 games so far, with Ahola (2.59 GAA ) having played in 17 and Chobak (2.54 GAA) 16. The Huskies have a "new" coach in Brian Idalski, who revived the University of North Dakota program before it was scrapped after the 2016-17 season. 

 

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs defeated Minnesota State in overtime 4-3 Friday before settling for a 0-0 tie and an shootout win Saturday afternoon in Mankato, Minn.

Friday, UMD never led until it struck in overtime, it offense chasing the entire game until Gabbie Hughes scored at 16:07 of the third period to draw the Bulldogs even at 3-3. UMD got a first period power play goal from  Gabby Krause, and a second period goal from Mary Kate O'Brien. Mannon McMahon netted the game-winner in overtime at 3:04, securing the win for rookie netminder Hailey MacLeod, who had 15 saves in 62:34 of action.

On Saturday, neither team could breakthrough a 0-0 stalemate, despite overtime. The lone puck to cross the goal line of the game (that counted) was Maggie Flaherty's shootout effort, which coupled with Emma Soderberg's work between the pipes, delivered a 1-0 shootout win for UMD and with it, WCHA first round playoff ice. Soderberg had 20 saves in her eighth shutout of the season and 19th of her career.

NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE SERIES:   UMD is now 81-9-10 all-time against the Mavericks and is 9-2-1 in the last 12 head-to-head action between the teams. The Bulldogs are also now 20-2-6 against the Mavericks in 28 games since the 2017-18 season -- the last six seasons.

--The UMD-MSU 0-0 tie was the first 0-0 tie by a Bulldog side since Feb, 6, 2015 at the University of Wisconsin.

--Saturday was also the first time this season UMD has been held scoreless, and the first time since Oct. 16, 2021 of last season when the Badgers defeated the Bulldogs 3-0 at AMSOIL.

--With Soderberg's shutout Saturday, UMD now has 10 for the season, just two shy of the Bulldog team record of 12 set over the 2010-11 season.

--The Bulldogs have now also played in nine overtime games. UMD's program record of overtime is 10, set over the 2019-20 season.

HOME WCHA ICE CLINCHED: UMD clinched home ice last Saturday with two WCHA points. The Bulldogs have now been at home for the first round of the WCHA postseason in all but one season since the league went to a best-of-three series in 2005-06. (The was no WCHA first round series played during the COVID season of 2020-21.)

WINNING WAYS: With 20 wins already, the Bulldogs have tied their third-most wins of the Maura Crowell era and second-straight 20-plus win season. (UMD posted 27 last season and 25 in 2016-17.)

UMD's 20th win is the 17th time in program history a Bulldog squad has pocketed that many triumphs.

 

HISTORICALLY HUGHES: Gabbie Hughes -- the reigning WCHA Forward of the Week -- tallied her 11th multiple point game of the season and fourth game with three or more  points last Friday. But with the game-winning assist, Hughes overtook Erika Holst as the sixth all-time scorer in program history with 205 points (79g, 126a), and is now just one point behind Haley Irwin in the fifth slot with 206 career points (79g, 127a). Hughes is now tied with Irwin in career goals (79) in eighth all-time, and is just an assist shy of Irwin, currently in third, for career assists with 127.

SAVES BY SODERBERG: Emma Soderberg, who is the sixth winningest goaltender in program history, is one win away from 50 career wins, a feat that only five previous UMD goaltenders have accomplished. In all, 19 goaltenders in WCHA history have record 50 or more wins.

The graduate senior currently sits second all-time with 19 career shutouts. seasons, and has posted a career-best eight so far this season.

POWERED PLAY: The Bulldogs power play currently ranks fourth in the NCAA with a percentage of 24.4 and fifth in power play goals with 21. 

DUG IN DEFENSE: UMD continutes to be one of the stingiest teams in the nation on defense, and with a scoring defense of 1.50, ranks second in the WCHA and fifth in the NCAA.  With nine shutouts this season as a team (the second most in the NCAA), UMD has allowed the fifth fewest goals against so far this -- 45 -- over 30 games. Emma Soderberg leads the WCHA and is tied for second in the NCAA with eight shutouts so far, and ranks fourth in the NCAA among goaltenders with 1,300 or more minutes  with a 1.55 GAA.

CROWELL CREEPS TOWARD 150 WINS AT UMD: Bulldog head coach Maura Crowell is inching towards the 150 win mark at UMD, currently sitting at 146 heading into the weekend series against SCSU. Crowell already ranks  eighth among all-time WCHA coaches in overall wins, and seventh in WCHA games with 97 wins over her eight year tenure behind the Bulldog bench. 

ASCENDING ANDERSON: Graduate student senior Taylor Anderson has quietly turned in the most offensive season of her career. Anderson currently has 19 points, and the third most goals on the team with nine. But even more impressively is the offensive output Anderson has unload in her last 10 games. Playing in 10-of UMD's last 11 games, Anderson has contributed points in every skate she dressed for, putting up a 11 point, 10 game streak of six goals and five assists over that span, including five points (2g, 3a) against top-10 ranked teams.

LINSER'S LOADED OFFENSE: Fifth-year forward Anneke Linser's eight game scoring streak was snapped last Saturday, but not before Linser recorded eight goals over nine games. Linser's career-best season has also pushed her towards 100 career points – the fifth-year now has 91 through 154 games played (41g, 50a).

OFFENSIVE DEFENDERS: While UMD's blueliners have helped hold their opponents to just 45 goals in the last 30 games (the second lowest goals against in the WCHA), those same defenseman have accounted for more than a quarter of the Bulldogs scoring so far this season.

In all, UMD's seven defenseman have notched 25 goals -- averaging just short of a goal a game (0.83) for a UMD squad averaging 3.40 an outing.

MAKING A CAREER OF IT: Gabbie Hughes ranks in the top-five among all active NCAA players in points at third  (205), fourth in points per game (and first in the WCHA, 1.33), third in assists (126) sixth in assists per game (0.81), and fifth in game-winning goals (17).  

HONOR THY DEFENSE: With Nina Jobst-Smith's Defender of the Month award for January, UMD has now grabbed three of the five available Defender of the Month honors. (and all five Bulldog WCHA Player of the Month of honors have gone to defensemen or goaltenders. In addition, of the 12 WCHA Player of the Week awards earned by the Bulldogs, seven have gone to defenseman and four to a goaltender. 

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 seventh all-time with 73 points (24g, 49a) in just 84 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 69 career points (15g, 54a) over 144 games, and sits top-10 for the  most points by a defenseman in program history at ninth.  With 54 career assists, Flaherty is now sixth all-time by a blueliner.

With 18 goals between them this season, they have 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.

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 159th game last Saturday, making her just the second-ever Bulldog to have played in 159 or more games. Gabbie Hughes and Anneke Linser are tied for the fourth most games ever played (156), while Ashton Bell is at 155 in sixth (Bell also now has the second most consecutive games played in program history). Taylor Anderson, with 153 games, is now tied for seventh all-time in games played, while Kylie Hanley sits in 10th with 149.

In all, UMD has nine players that have played over 124 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.