The No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team took care of business Saturday afternoon, securing the series sweep against Bemidji State University with a 2-0 shutout at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
The win boosts the Bulldogs to 8-5-1 overall and 7-4-1 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action, while the Beavers fall to 3-12-1 and 2-10-0.
"Game two is usually tougher, it's clear they did some video and did a really good job of blocking the shots that we were taking today, so we had to really work to get the goals we got," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. "It was really nice that one came off our power play, Tova did a great job putting another one away for us, the game-winner, and then Mobley with the security goal definitely helped set the tone for us to get the win."
Tova Henderson entered Saturday's contest with a goal count (four) that had already surpassed her previous two seasons (two), but after netting two in Friday's contest, the junior defenseman wasn't done yet. Henderson opened the scoring for the Bulldogs 12:47 into the first period, the recipient of a heads up play by Danielle Burgen to push the puck across the slot to Henderson open on the doorstep. Henderson one-timed it past BSU's Eva Filippova for her fifth goal of the season to give UMD a 1-0 lead in the first.
The Bulldogs doubled that goal count midway through the second period when Olivia Wallin found Olivia Mobley at mid ice, and Mobley did the rest, using an odd-man rush to create enough space to snipe it over Flippova's right shoulder. Mobley's sixth of the season at 8:18 also handed Wallin her whopping fifth point on the weekend (3g, 2a), and after 40 minutes of play, UMD was up on the Beavers 2-0.
From there, the Bulldogs still outshot BSU 12-4 in the third period, and the defense kept any serious threats to the second shutout of Tindra Holm's UMD career at bay.
Holm made all 12 saves on shots she faced, and the Bulldogs outshot BSU 39-12 in the contest, and UMD was 1-of-1 on the lone power play attempt it had on the weekend. Filippova had 37 saves for the Beavers, who were scoreless on their lone attempt with an extra skater.
The Bulldogs will continue their longest home stand of the season next weekend when the welcome the University of Vermont next Friday and Saturday to AMSOIL for the holiday non conference series that will get underway Friday at 6:00 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES: Saturday's clean sheet was the 19th of Tindra Holm's entire collegiate career … UMD now has three shutouts this season, and Holm has two of them … Tova Henderson is now on a three-game scoring streak, complete with three goals and an assist … Olivia Wallin led all scorers on the weekend with three goals and two assists for five points … the Bulldogs now have a 15-game winning streak against BSU that dates back to Jan. 22, 2021 … over their past six games, BSU has scored just two goals against UMD, in fact over their past 10 showdowns, the Beavers have just four goals logged against the Bulldogs.
