The No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will drop the puck on the 2024-25 season this Saturday when it faces No. 1/2 Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio in the first Western Collegiate Hockey Association series of the year. The Bulldogs and Buckeyes, who met last in the NCAA Regional Final in mid-March, will get underway Saturday in the OSU Ice Rink at 2:00 p.m. CT. The series will finish up on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT.


THE SCHULER ERA BEGINS: Laura Schuler begins her first season at the helm of the Bulldogs after spending a total of 10 seasons, including the past three, as an assistant, and then associate head coach last season, to former head coach Maura Crowell.

A part of six NCAA Tournament teams at UMD in all, including three NCAA Frozen Fours and an NCAA championship title in 2010, Schuler helped those 10 UMD teams to a record of 187-105-29, and not only coached all 13 of the Bulldog's PWHL draft picks over the past two drafts during her time with the UMD program, but has also coached 25 of UMD's 41 Olympians.

As the third head coach in program history, Schuler notably has the distinction of having served as an assistant coach for multiple seasons under both of the previous head coaches at UMD – most recently Maura Crowell (2015-2023) and Shannon Miller (1999-2015).

EARLY BIRDS - UMD'S MID-SEPTEMBER START: The Bulldogs will begin their season on the earliest date since Sept. 22, 2018, when they hosted the Minnesota Whitecaps in an exhibition game at AMSOIL Arena.

September 21st was the first allowable day to schedule, and the Bulldogs and Buckeyes will take full advantage of it. It will mark the earliest ever game played by UMD in the program's 26-year history.

NEWEST DOGS: While UMD doesn't have as many newcomers as last season (nine, including six freshman), it still has eight players who will wear the Bulldog for the first time this weekend in Columbus. 

One of UMD's four freshman include forward Caitlin Kraemer, who was only in Duluth for a few weeks before she joined sophomore goaltender Eve Gascon at the senior Canadian National Team's September camp. Kraemer will put on the maroon and gold with a plethra of accolades, and with the notoriety reserved for only the most sought after recruits.

While the September camp marked the first Canadian National Women's Team duty for Kraemer, the native of Waterloo, Ontario has been a powerhouse on the U-18 scene for Canada over her international career and concluded her U-18 career as Canada's all-time leading scorer.

Fellow freshman forward Reece Logan also joins UMD with a wealth of international experience behind her. The Burlington, Ontario had four points in six games for Canada at the 2024 U-18 World Championship, helping Canada to a bronze medal

Both rookie forward Zoey Krock and defenseman Kamdyn Davis spent tim in U-18 U.S. select and national team camps, rounding out the Bulldog freshman class of 2024-25.

UMD also added four transfers, including graduate forwards Olivia Mobley out of Ohio State and Nina Steigauf from Quinnipiac University, as well as Swedish national team senior goaltender Tindra Holm out of Long Island University and senior defenseman Devyn Millwater, who comes to Duluth after three seasons at St. Cloud State University.
 

THE BULLDOGS AND BUCKEYES HEAD-TO-HEAD: 

All-Time Record: UMD leads 71-32-9

Last Meeting: March 16, 2024 NCAA Regional Final (0-8 Loss, Away)

Last Series: Jan. 19-20 (OSU Sweep, Away)

First Meeting: Oct. 20, 1999 (UMD won 4-2)Last Season: 0-6-0 

Record this Year: 0-0-0

Last 10 Meetings: 1-9-0

Notable:  The Bulldogs and Buckeyes have met twice in the NCAA Tournament -- last season in the NCAA Regional Final, and prior to that, in the 2022 NCAA national championship game when OSU outlasted UMD for a 3-2 win in University Park, PA inside Pegula Ice Arena.

UMD starts the season where it ended  last season -- in Columbus, Ohio. 

The Bulldogs and Buckeyes last met back on March 16 in the NCAA Regional Final, a 9-0 triumph for OSU.

The Bulldogs, who battled the equivalent of two games in their legs before they even stepped on the ice against the Buckeyes, fell behind just 22 seconds into the game and trailed 3-0 after the first period.

OSU scored four goals in the second and one in the third period to advance to next weekend's NCAA Frozen Four. 

Then freshman goaltender Ève Gascon started and played 47:12 minutes for the Bulldogs. The freshman made 27 saves, running her NCAA Tournament total to 60 in her first season. Then UMD sophomore and current Buckeye Hailey MacLeod opened the second period in goal but played just 12:48, making three stops in that span. OSU outshot UMD 39-16 in the contest, and improved to 33-4-0 on the season.

The Bulldogs, who advanced to their fourth-straight NCAA Regional Final/Quarterfinal, ended their season with a record of 21-14-4.

UMD has suffered seven-straight losses to OSU, and has gone 1-9 over their last 10 meetings. Since the 2013-14 season, the Bulldogs are are 8-11-2 inside the OSU Ice Rink, compared to 14-6-2 in the confines of AMSOIL Arena.

All-time, UMD owns a commanding 71-32-9 record against the Buckeyes, including 22-21-4 in the past 10 seasons.

Last season, the Bulldogs struggle to find their offense against OSU. Along with going winless against the Buckeyes for the first time in program history (0-6), UMD logged just two goals -- in the opening 5-2 loss at AMSOIL on Oct. 13, 2023. In fact, from there, the Buckeyes outscored the Bulldogs 25-2 in 2023-24 -- something UMD will be looking to improve on in 2024-25.

UMD vs. Ohio State -  71-32-9 All-Time.      (Last 10 games, 1-9)

March 16, 2024 0-9 Loss Away^

March 8, 2024 0-5 Loss Neutral*

Jan. 20, 2024 0-1 Loss Away

Jan. 19, 2024 0-3 Loss Away

Oct. 14, 2023 0-2 Loss Home

Oct. 13, 2023 2-5 Loss Home

March 3, 2023 1-2 Loss Neutral*

Dec. 3, 2022 5-4 OT Win Home

Dec. 2, 2022 1-2 Loss Home

Oct. 22, 2022 2-3 Loss Away

Oct. 21, 2022 2-3 OT Loss Awa

Mar. 20, 2022 2-3 Loss Neutral+

+NCAA Frozen Four Championship 

^NCAA Regional Final

*WCHA Final Face-Off Semi
 

PLENTY OF RETURN: For a second-straight season, the Bulldogs return 15 players, a core of players that anchored its somewhat unexpected continuation of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance last March.

Up front, UMD returns eight forwards, notably only losing all-time games played leader and PWHL draftee Mannon McMahon to graduation and speedy, blue collar forward graduate Kate Davis to the portal. 

But it returns graduate Clara Van Wieren -- one of two UMD players that has now skated in the NCAA Tournament for four-consecutive seasons, and one of seven players who played in the NCAA title tilt against the Buckeyes in 2022. The team captain and USA Hockey Women's National Festival invitee ran up 24 points (13g, 11a) last season and is one of two top-scorer returning from last season. A sort of ironwoman, the reigning WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year  has played in 135 consecutive games in her own right -- the fifth most in program history. Van Wieren will also start the season just 15 career points from the 100 career point mark (38g, 47a).

Graduate forward Olivia Wallin, a Penn State University transfer last season, also recorded 24 points in 2023-24, dishing out a team-high 18 assists to go with six goals. Wallin, who is also just 12 points away from a total collegiate point haul of 100 points with 88, (43g, 45a) has a career plus/minus rating of +46. 

After being injured as a sophomore, junior redshirt and speedy winger and alternate captain Mary Kate O'Brien turned in 14 points last season on seven goals and seven assists, and will look to make even more of an impact this year.

UMD's blueline has been notably stingy over the past few seasons, and one of those reasons is fifth-year defenseman and team captain Nina Jobst-Smith, who like Van Wieren, has only known NCAA invitations over her Bulldog career and is also fifth-all time for consecutive games played (135). Jobst-Smith, who has spent the last two seasons on the German National Team in her free time, enters the season with 49 career points (10g, 39a), and maybe more impressively, a massive team-best of 147 career blocks. 

Jobst-Smith is joined by senior Hanna Baskin, who like Van Wieren, was invited to the mid-August USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Lake Placid, N.Y. Baskin posted a career-best effort of 18 points last season with five goals and a team-best 61 blocks in the season. 

Sophomore Ida Karlsson also returns to secure UMD's strong defensive core, and the 5-9 Swedish National Team blueliner did not disappoint in her Bulldog debut last season. Karlsson dished out 12 assists in addition to one goal, and had 44 blocks to help a backline that allowed just 1.69 goals a game last season.

In net, the Bulldogs return now Preseason All-WCHA Team selection Ève Gascon, who had a rookie season to remember. Fresh off a Canada's September National Team Camp for a second-straight season, Gascon set a rookie program record for shutouts last season with seven -- the third most in all of the NCAA -- and was a HCA Rookie of the Year Award Watch List honoree. Named to the 2023-24 WCHA's All-Rookie Team, Gascon, a product of Mascouche, Quebec, was three times the WCHA's Rookie of the Week and posted the fifth-highest saves percentage in the NCAA (.946). 

Gascon also joined elite company when she earned a shutout against the University of Connecticut in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, holding the Huskies scoreless through double-overtime with 33 saves. In the process, Gascon became just the third goaltender in program history to post a shutout in a NCAA tournament game, joining UMD All-Americans and Swedish Olympians Kim Martin and Emma Soderberg.  Gascon was also the first UMD rookie to earn an NCAA shutout in program history.
 

TAKE ME TO THE TOURNAMENT: The Bulldogs Clara Van Wieren and Nina Jobst-Smith will be attempting to do something no other UMD player has been able to do -- return to the NCAA Tournament for a fifth time.

The duo, both on COVID fifth years of eligiblity, are the first UMD players since the 2010-11 seniors to have reached four-consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Two of seven Bulldogs who played in the NCAA title game in 2022, Van Wieren and Jobst-Smith four-straight tournament appearance run was last done by All-American defenseman Jocelyne Larocque, defenseman Tara Gray, forward Laura Fridfinnson (who owns the 10th most career points in program history with 155), and Swedish Olympians forward Elin Holmov and All-American goaltender Kim Martin. (Both Holmlov and Martin missed the 2009-10 title season due to Swedish Olympic duties, but still were part of the program who at the time made not only seven-straight NCAA appearances in a row, but four-straight NCAA Frozen four appearances from 2006-07 through 2009-10.

Of note, current head coach Laura Schuler was an assistant for the Bulldogs in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, as well as from 2021-22 until last season -- all NCAA Tournament teams.

Seven players from the current team played in UMD's title game against the Buckeyes in 2022 -- in addition to Van Wieren and Jobst-Smith, Mary Kate O'Brien, Jenna Lawry, Gabby Krause, Hanna Baskin, Brenna Fuhrman were all freshman on that squad.