For the second time this season, the No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will skate in a Thursday-Friday series, this time on the road in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play. The Bulldogs will head to Mendota Heights, Minn. to face the University of St. Thomas at the St. Thomas Ice Arena at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday night before wrapping up at 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.


GASCON'S THE GOAL: Perhaps overlooked in last weekend's sweep by the Buckeyes was the brilliant play and eye-popping numbers put out by sophomore goaltender Eve Gascon. 

Gascon made a career-high 58 saves on Friday night -- four short of tying UMD's program record of 62 set in 2017 by Maddie Rooney. Gascon followed that up with a 44-save performance Saturday afternoon. In all, Gascon made 102 saves on 106 shots by the Buckeyes. A staggering number of 100+ saves that had not been recorded by a Bulldog netminder since Rooney had a program-record 62 stops against the University of Minnesota in the WCHA Final Face-Off semifinals on March 4, 2017, and then made another 50 saves against the University of Wisconsin on March 5, 2017 in the championship game.

Despite the sweep, Gascon still posted a WCHA weekend high of a .962 saves percentage on the weekend. The sophomore netminder currently sits fourth in the NCAA with a .947 saves percentage, which ranks her second in the WCHA. Gascon also ranks ninth in the NCAA with an 1.66 in 1,078:35.

POWERED PLAY: UMD currently ranks seventh in the NCAA with a 26.7 power play conversion rate. 

The Bulldogs have recorded a power play goal in their last three games, and has scored 16 in all over 24 games. 

Olivia Mobley leads UMD with four, while Caitlin Kraemer and Tova Henderson each have rung up three.

OUT OF THE BOX: The Bulldogs as a team are averaging the third most penalty minutes in the nation through their first 24 games. UMD has 214 total penalty minutes for a 8.92 penalty minutes an outing.

UMD was called for season-tying 21 minutes of penalties last Saturday against the Buckeyes, though UMD played down a skater for "only" nine.

Nine times this season, the Bulldogs have been called for five or more penalties a game, including six penalties twice -- one of those times came against OSU last Friday night. Last weekend also marks the second time this season UMD has been called for 11 infractions over a series. 

Freshman Caitlin Kraemer has been called for the fifth most infractions in the NCAA -- 16 through 24 games played.

THE 50 CAREER GOAL CLUB: Graduate forward Clara Van Wieren will take to the ice Thursday 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).

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 159 consecutive games -- the 8th most in program history. Currently, the pair has also played in the fourth-most consecutive games in Bulldog history.

THURSDAY PUCK DROP: For a second time this season, the Bulldogs will begin a series on a Thursday. UMD also hosted Syracuse in a rescheduled series on Jan. 2-3, a Thursday-Friday. The Bulldogs are 1-0 on that day of the week after a 6-2 win against the Orange.

 

BULLDOGS RANKED FOURTH IN BOTH NATIONAL POLLS: Like they have been the entire season, UMD remains locked in at fourth in both the USCHO.com and the USA Hockey/The Rink Live national polls.

So far this season, the Bulldogs have played 14 games against teams ranked in the top-10 in either poll. UMD is 6-7-1 in those elevated outings. 

 

THE SERIES: UMD is 13-0-1 in 14 meetings against UST in a young one-sided rivalry that began during the 2021-22 season. The Bulldogs are averaging 4.14 goals a game against UST, and six of their 13 wins against the Tommies have been shutouts. UMD is 6-0  in St. Thomas Ice Arena, and has won its last eight straight games, against the Tommies. The Bulldogs have outscored UST 58-8 in their past 14 games.

 

Top UMD Scorers vs St. Thomas

Clara Van Wieren GP=14 G=7 A=10 P=17

Olivia Wallin GP=6 G=2 A=8 P=10

Gabby Krause GP=11 G=3 A=4 P=7

Hanna Baskin GP=14 G=1 A=6 P=7

Nina Jobst-Smith GP=14 G=1 A=6 P=7

Eve Gason Record 3-0-0, 2 Shutouts, 76 saves on 77 shot for a .987 SV%

Tindra Holm 1-0-0, 19 saves on 19 shots for 2-0 shutout

UMD vs St. Thomas, last 10 games (9-0-1)

Oct. 19, 2024 2-0 Win Home

Oct. 18, 2024 3-0 Win Home

Feb. 10, 2024 5-1 Win Away

Feb. 9, 2024 4-1 Win Away

Nov. 4, 2023 4-0 Win Home

Nov. 3, 2023 3-1 Win Home

Jan. 22, 2023 5-1 Win Away

Jan. 21, 2023 3-0 Win Away

Dec. 10, 2022 1-1 OT Tie (SOL) Home

Dec. 9, 2022 8-1 Win Home

UMD swept the Tommies earlier this season at AMSOIL on Oct. 18-19 in a shutout series with scores of 3-0 and 2-0.

The Bulldogs first home opener, back on Oct. 18 in part from a three-point performance from Clara Van Wieren, who scored a power play goal and added two assists, while senior blueliner Hanna Baskin added to assists.

UMD, who outshot the Tommies 19-5 in the first period, broke through midway through the frame Caitlin Kraemer's power play goal.

UST managed to outshoot UMD in the second frame 12-10, but the third period was all Bulldogs, beginning with a second power tally 5:43 in on a one-time wrist shot from Olivia Mobley in the slot to push the lead to 2-0, and exactly two minutes later, Van Wieren pocketed her own goal for the 3-0 score.

Eve Gascon picked up her first of the season with 27 saves, and the Bulldogs, who outshot the Tommies 44-27 in the skate, went 3-of-4 on their power play while holding UST scoreless in two attempts.

In game two, UMD's opening goal came from junior Danielle Burgen's first tally of the season at 13:46 of the first period. 

That one goal advantage was enough for the Bulldogs until almost midway through the third period when Devyn Millwater 's one-time wrist shot beat UST goaltender Dani Strom at 9:22 to double the UMD lead to 2-0 – more than enough for the defense UMD executed down the stretch.

Senior goaltender Tindra Holm earned both her first win as a Bulldog and first shutout with 19 saves in her AMSOIL debut. UMD outshot the Tomies 32-19 and neither team scored on its power play, with the Bulldogs going 0-of-2 and UST 0-of-1. Strom finished with 32 saves for the Tommies.

EXTRA NOTES ON THE BULLDOGS AND TOMMIES: UMD had a season high three power play goals in their Oct. 18 game.

--The Bulldogs one penalty in the Saturday, Oct. 19 skate was the least in a game all season. UMD also had just three

penalties over the entire series -- still a season low.