One of the most highly anticipated series in all of college hockey will get underway this weekend at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. when the No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth will meet No. 2 Ohio State University for the first time in four months. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown will get underway at 6:00 p.m. Friday night. Game two, set for Saturday, will drop the puck at 3:00 p.m. The first 200 fans for both games will get a Bulldog bucket hat.


BULLDOGS ENTER WEEKEND ON 10-GAME UNBEATEN STREAK: UMD will enter its massive weekend with Ohio State on a 10-game unbeaten streak that has spanned three months and started on Nov. 22. Since then, the Bulldogs have gone 9-0-1.

The streak has included four shutouts, and over that span, UMD has outscored its opponents, which has included four games against top-8 teams, 41-7.

It also marks the longest unbeaten streak by the program since the it was unbeaten in 10 skates during the 2012-13 season. That span, in which UMD went 8-0-2 over, was from Dec. 1, 2012 through Jan. 25, 2013. Ironically, the final two wins over that streak came against  Ohio State in Columbus.

SECOND PLACE IS AT STAKE: The Bulldogs and Buckeyes will battle for second place in the WCHA this weekend. UMD enters the series alone in second place and one point (34) in front of both the University of Minnesota (33 points, .688, 11-4-1) and OSU (33, .611 and 10-5-3). The Bulldogs are 10-4-2 in league play.

ANYTHING BUT STREAKY: Oliva Mobley is on a six-game scoring streak -- the fifth-year has notched four goals and two assists for six points over UMD's last six games. 

Rookie center Caitlin Kraemer is also on a collegiate career-best four game scoring streak. The freshman has two goals and three assists for five points in her last four skates.

Two other players enter the weekend having picked up points in both games last weekend -- defensemen Ida Karlsson (1g, 1a) and Tova Henderson (2a).

SHUT IT DOWN: After blanking St. Cloud State twice last weekend, the Bulldogs now have six team shutouts, which ties them for the fifth most in the NCAA and second in the WCHA.

Reigning WCHA and HCA Goaltender of the Month and WCHA Goaltender of the Week Eve Gascon has recorded four shutouts so far this season, while Tindra Holm has turned in two. 

THE 50 CAREER GOAL CLUB: Graduate forward Clara Van Wieren will take to the ice Friday with 49 career goals, and looking to become the 16th UMD player to have played their entire career with the Bulldogs to reach the 50 goal mark.

Senior forward Olivia Wallin hit 50 against Syracuse (and added a second to get to 51). 38 of Wallin's career tallies were netted at Penn State University. Wallin isn't the only 50 goal player on UMD -- Olivia Mobley owns 53 career goals, 10 of which have come with the Bulldogs.

Once Van Wieren hits the mark, the three players will become the first trio of 50 career goal scorers since the 2021-22 season. In 2021-22, Gabbie Hughes had 71 career goals at that point of her career, Anna Klein had 60, and Elizabeth Giguere had whopping 121 (22 of which came that season).

NO SHORTHANDED PROBLEMS: 

UMD has four team shorthanded goals this season -- the most since the 2013-14 season.

Olivia Mobley is in a nine-way lead for the most shorthanded goals in the nation, and leads the WCHA with two shorthanded goals. Mobley is has scored the most shorthanded goals since Anna Klein recorded two in 2020-21 in just 19 skates. Over the past 10 years, just three players have scored two shorthanded goals over a season -- Mobley, Klein and Sydney Brodt (2019-20). 

UMD's single-season shorthanded goal record is seven, set by Maria Rooth before NCAA sanctioned play in 1999-00. In the NCAA era, two players scored four shorthanded goals in a season -- Jenny Potter (twice, 2002-03, 2003-04) and Caroline Ouellette (2003-04).

GAMERS: VAN WIEREN AND JOBST-SMITH ENTER THE TOP-10 FOR GAMES PLAYED: Both graduate senior Clara Van Wieren and fifth year senior Nina Jobst-Smith had now skated in 157 consecutive games -- the 9th most in program history. Currently, the pair has also played in the fourth-most consecutive games in Bulldog history.

UMD is 73-32-9 all-time against OSU, including 3-7 in their last 10 meetings, but improve to 14-6-0 against the Buckeyes at AMSOIL since the 2014-15 season.

Top UMD Scorers vs Ohio State

Clara Van Wieren GP=18 G=4 A=6 P=8

Nina Jobst-Smith GP=18 G=2 A=5 P=7

Olivia Wallin GP=8 G=1 A=2 P=3

Gabby Krause GP=15 G=0 A=3 P=3

Ida Karlsson GP=8 G=1 A=2 P=3

Caitlin Kraemer GP=2 G=2 A=1 P=3

Eve Gason is 2-4-0, 2.83 GAA, .923 SV% and one assist

--Current Bulldog Olivia Mobley spent last season with the Buckeyes, while former UMD goaltender Hailey MacLeod is now a netminder for OSU.

UMD vs Ohio State (Last 10 games)

Sep. 22, 2024 4-3 Win Away

Sep. 21, 2024 2-1 Win Away

Mar. 16, 2024 0-9 Loss Away^

Mar. 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

Mar. 3, 2023 1-2 Loss Neutral*

Dec. 3, 2022 5-4 OT Win Home

^NCAA Regional Final

*WCHA Final Face-Off Semi

The two sides kicked off the 2024-25 season back on Sept. 21-22, a Bulldog sweep of OSU in Columbus, 2-1 and 4-3 wins for the Bulldogs.

While OSU outshot the Bulldogs 39-30, and 40-14 and 79-44 overall in the series, but it was UMD that outscored the Buckeyes in the series 6-4. The Bulldogs, who scored just two goals against OSU over six games the entire last season, put up the most goals against a Buckeye side since it had put up six on Dec. 2-3, 2022.

In game one OSU struck just 1:39 into the frame on a puck that popped up and over Eve Gascon, but despite being out shot 18-2, the Bulldogs only trailed 1-0.

But UMD flipped the script in the second stanza, and secured by the play of Gascon, outshot the Buckeyes 7-4 and finally broke through a 17 period scoreless stranglehold OSU had on the Bulldogs dating back to their first game last season. Olivia Wallin threw the puck towards the front of the net from behind the goal line, and its deflection beat Amanda Thiele at 18:46 to pull UMD even with OSU at 1-1.

Ida Karlsson's first game-winning goal of her collegiate career came off a pass from former OSU fifth-year Olivia Mobley just 23.3 seconds left in the game to take over a 2-1 lead, and UMD withstood the final 23 seconds like it did the entire 60 minutes, behind the goaltending of Gascon. Gascon made 39 saves, 17 in the first period and 18 in the third for her first win of the season and 11th of her UMD career. UMD's defense held the Buckeyes scoreless on three power play attempts, and as a unit, had 16 blocks. Junior defenseman Tova Henderson had a team-high five blocks on the afternoon.

Game two was college hockey's introduction to UMD rookie Caitlin Kraemer, who scored two goals in the third period to equalize and help defeat the Buckeyes.

Kraemer logged a game-high three points in the outing, recording her first UMD assist along with her first two collegiate goals. Kraemer's offensive outburst, paired again with the outstanding goaltending effort of Gascon, was a 1-2 punch from an inspired UMD side the Buckeyes were unable to fend off all weekend.

After OSU opened up the scoring 6:04 into the first period with an extra attacker on a delayed penalty call, graduate forward Clara Van Wieren equalized. Van Wieren hammered home a loose puck in the slot to draw UMD even at 14:06, assisted by Wallin, her second point on the weekend and Kraemer, the first point of her brand new career.

The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game just 1:50 into the second period off a power play goal from senior forward Jenna Lawry. Lawry's snipe from the circle blew by former UMD goaltender Hailey MacLeod to go ahead 2-1. 

After head coach Laura Schuler had a OSU goal taken off the board with a successful challenge for goaltender interference midway through the frame, the Buckeyes buried two goals 10 seconds apart to retake the lead, a 3-2 advantage OSU would take into the second intermission.

Enter Kraemer, who knotted the game at the 4:35 mark after skating the length of the ice and the, at 14:33 unleashed a shot past MacLeod's glove side to take over the 4-3 lead late in the third period.

UMD's defensive core again stood strong, keeping the Buckeyes scoreless on three power play attempts, including 15 seconds of 6-on-4 hockey to end the period. The Bulldogs blocked 10 shots and got 36 saves from Gascon, who ran her weekend total to 74 total stops.

Kraemer had a team-high three points over the weekend (2g, 1a), but four other players put up two or more points, including Karlsson (1g, 2a), Van Wieren (1g, 1a), Wallin (1g, 1a) and Mary Kate O'Brien (2a).

EXTRA NOTES ON THE BULLDOGS AND BUCKEYES: The Bulldogs blew up some dusty history the weekend they swept over then No. 1/2 Ohio State.

--UMD defeated OSU for the first time in Columbus since Jan. 21, 2022, and the first No. 1 opponent since Dec. 3, 2022 (a 5-4 overtime win against the University of Wisconsin at AMSOIL Arena).

--The Bulldogs swept the Buckeyes for the first time since they did it AMSOIL on Feb. 7-8, 2020 (by scores of 5-4 and 4-1). UMD also became the firs team to sweep OSU since the 2021-22 season.

--Even more impressively, it was the Bulldogs first win over a top-2 team since UMD swept the then No. 2 University of Minnesota back on Jan. 13-14, 2017 by scores of 3-2 and 5-3 at AMSOIL Arena.

--Most impressively of all, the last time UMD swept a No.1 ranked team before the swept OSU was Feb. 5-6, 2010, 3-1 and 3-0 wins over the Gophers at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. For more reference, UMD's freshman class, including game two's two-goal scorer Caitlin Kraemer, were just four years old.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept then No. 8/9 St. Cloud State last weekend at AMSOIL by back-to-back 3-0 scores.

On Friday afternoon, after a scoreless first period, Olivia Mobley revived her scoring role against the Huskies with an outside drive to the left side of the net at the 15:24 mark for the game's first lead.

UMD wasn't done, and Ida Karlsson on the point snuck a wrist shot through traffic with six seconds left in the frame to give UMD a 2-0 lead after two.

The Huskies never went away in the third, but it was Gascon's time to shine, stopping all eight shots she faced. After Olivia Wallin walked in an empty-netter with 1:52 left in the third, St. Cloud St. thought they had finally broken through on Gascon not once, but twice. But the first goal, challenged by UMD head coach Laura Schuer, was called off – the goal was scored by a forward moving SCSU arm. The second, with just two seconds left, was challenged again by Schuler, and again Schuler and Co. prevailed, this time for goaltender interference that didn't allow Gascon to get across the goal for the save.

UMD outshot the Huskies 34-24 in the game, but Gascon stopped all 24 shots she faced for her third shutout of the season. 

Saturday's offensive got started with a spectacular goal from rookie forward Zoey Krock with a backhanded flip at 17:46 of the second period to push UMD ahead 1-0.

Midway through the third period, it was Mobley – on a season tear against the Huskies, who picked the far side of the net on the power play to put the Bulldogs on top 2-0. Then, at the 17:14 mark – and after UMD had fought off a SCSU 6-on-4 empty net power play advantage earlier in the frame, it was Mobley again. The fifth-year forward drove into the zone and snuck the puck through to make it a 3-0 Bulldog lead.

Gascon did the rest, and despite the Huskies outshooting the Bulldogs 9-3 in the third period, Gascon picked up her fourth shutout of the season and second of the series to keep SCSU without a goal all weekend.

UMD outshot the Huskies 32-24 in the contest, and the Bulldogs had the lone power play tally of the weekend on Mobley's first goal. Gascon had 24 saves.

NOTES FROM THE ST. CLOUD SERIES: 

UMD is now 88-15-11 all-time against the Huskies, and unbeaten over the regular season against the SCSU (3-0-1-1) ...the Bulldogs also remain unbeaten against SCSU over the past eight games, and it also marked the sixth-straight game at AMSOIL that the Huskies have been unable to score a single goal against the Bulldogs.

--The back-to-back shutouts by Eve Gascon is the first shutout series by a single UMD goaltender since the 2017-18 season...until Gascon did it Saturday, Jessica Convery was the last Bulldog goaltender to own a scoreless series … Convery did it back on Sept. 29-30, 2017 … Gascon was a part of four scoreless series last season, splitting time with then UMD goaltender Hailey MacLeod … last weekend marked the first back-to-back shutouts of Gascon's career.

--Gascon now has 11 career shutouts, which ties her with Jenny Harss as the sixth-most in program history.

--Olivia Mobley ends the regular season with five goals in four games against Huskies.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is an impressive 10-2-0 so far at AMSOIL Arena this season.

--Impressively, when the Bulldogs have had a lead at both the end of the first or second period, they are undefeated (9-0-0). UMD is also a whopping 13-2-1 when it outshoots its opponent.

--When scoring first, the Bulldogs are 12-2, but all bets are off when their opponents strike first ... UMD is 3-3 in those skates.

--UMD has been slightly better in Friday games with a record of 7-1-1 ... the Bulldogs are 7-3-1 the following day.

--UMD is 7-3 in games with a power play goal.