The No. 4/5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will battle its second nationally ranked opponent in three weeks this weekend when it welcomes the No. 3 University of Minnesota to AMSOIL Arena on Friday and Saturday for the Bulldogs second Western Collegiate Hockey Association's series of the season. The puck is scheduled to drop at 6:02 p.m. Friday night, while Saturday the game will get underway at 3:02 p.m.

UMD Women's Hockey Weekly Press Conference -- Oct. 22, 2025 (Head coach Laura Schuler, Defenseman Kate Kosobud and Krista Parkkonen)



KRAEMER'S A GAMER: The Bulldogs red hot sophomore leads UMD with 11 points through her first 11 games -- a 1.38 points per game average. 

Caitlin Kraemer has logged points in all but one game (7-of-8), and has scored goals in six-of her first eight skates. The Waterloo, Ontario native, who is also part of Canada's Olympic Training Camp roster, has three times posted multiple point games so far this season.

Kraemer ranks second in the NCAA with three game-winning goals, tied for fifth for goals (7) and tied for ninth in the NCAA with her 11 points.

THIRD PERIODS A CHARM: UMD has scored over half of its goals in the third period season -- a whopping 16 of 28.

While the Bulldogs have only put two tallies on the board in the first periord, they jump to nine in the second period. UMD has scored almost double in the third period what they have scored in the first and second period combined (9).

NEW BULLDOGS, BIG OFFENSE: 16 of UMD's 28 goals through their first six games have come from either transfers or rookies new to Duluth this season.

Thea Johansson (7) and Josie St. Martin (2) combined for nine goals, while freshman forward Molly Cole (3) and Rae Mayer (3) have added six.

Overall, the Bulldogs have put up the most goals through eight games since 2021-22 NCAA Runner-up season, where UMD also logged 29 tallies through eight skates.

REAL GOAL GETTERS: Caitlin Kraemer and Thea Johansson currently lead the Bulldogs with seven goals each through the first eight games. 

Kraemer opened the season scoring in five-straight games, the longest goal scoring spree of her UMD career. Her five game, seven point string tied her second longest scoring streak of her college career.

Johansson is currently seventh among all active NCAA DI players in career goal totals with 58 goals. 

NO GOALS GASCON: It may sound like a broken record, but the UMD goaltender Eve Gascon is once again a stalwart in net for the Bulldogs.

The Canadian Olympic Training camp invitee, who like Caitlin Kraemer, is going back and forth from Canada camps to Duluth, has to date logged the most minutes between the pipes in all of the NCAA -- 481.

The two-time WCHA Goaltender of the Week is tied for the second most shutouts this season (3), and last Friday moved ahead of former Bulldog legend Maddie Rooney for her 14 career shutout to take over fifth in the program all-time.

Gascon is currently tied with former UMD All-American Kim Martin with an all-time .943 saves percentage -- the best in program history. Gascon also ranks fifth in goals against (1.76) and seventh all-time with 1,732 saves. In 59 career games as a Buldlog, Gascon is averaging 29.3 saves a game.

JOHANSSON NETS 100 CAREER POINTS: Senior forward Thea Johansson (who spent the first three years of her college career at Mercyhurst) reached the 100 career mark after scoring a goal last Saturday against the Mavericks. Johansson -- who actually scored back-to-back goals in UMD's comeback win, has 58 career goals to pair with 43 assists for 101 career points.

Johansson becomes the second Bulldog transfer to register her 100th career point at UMD. Olivia Wallin did it last season with UMD after spending her first two seasons at Penn State. 

NOT OUT OF THE BOX: The Bulldogs have struggled to stay out of the penalty box so far this season, and rank fourth in the NCAA with an average of 11 minutes of penalties a game. UMD actually has 88 total minutes of infractions -- the third most in the NCAA -- but heavily trails Minnesota, who enters the weekend with 116 penalty minutes and a 14.5 minutes in the box per game average

THE SERIES: The Bulldogs are heavily upside down all-time against Minnesota with a record of 32-78-11. UMD has struggled against the Gophers as of late, and is just 0-9-1 over their past 10 games and 0-5-0 since it tied Minnesota back on Feb. 23, 202, a 1-1 overtime tie at Ridder Arena. 

UMD is winless since it knocked out Minnesota to go to the 2022 NCAA Frozen Four on March 11, 2022 at Ridder Arena. One player remains on the roster from the 2022 NCAA Runner-up team UMD team that defeated Minnesota 2-1 to advance to the 2022 NCAA Frozen Four -- captain Mary Kate O'Brien.

Top UMD Scorers vs Minnesota

Mary Kate O'Brien GP=14 G=23 A=2 P=5

Kamdyn Davis GP=4 G-1

Eve Gason -- 0-7 record,  .924 SV%

UMD vs Minnesota

Last 10 games (0-9-1)

Jan. 22, 2025 0-1 Loss Away

Jan. 21, 2o25 2-3 Loss Away

Nov. 16, 2024 2-3 Loss Home

Nov. 15, 2024 1-4 Loss Home

Feb. 24, 2024 2-4 Loss Away

Feb. 23, 2024 1-1 Tie Away

Nov. 18, 2023 1-3 Loss Home

Nov. 17, 2023 1-3 Loss Home

Mar. 11, 2023 0-3 Loss Away*

Jan. 28, 2023 3-4 Loss Home

*NCAA Regional Final

Last season, UMD went 0-4 against the Gophers, including a sweep by Minnesota at AMSOIL Arena in late January by scores of 3-2 and 1-0. 

In the Friday night game, UMD outshot Minnesota but the Gophers outscored the Bulldogs 3-2.

Olivia Wallin scored both of the UMD's goals, but it was the Gophers, against the grain early in the first two frames, that scored a goal in each period to hold the Bulldogs off.

Minnesota had been skating uphill and outshot by a 3-to-1 margin when Emma Kreisz of the Gophers struck for the game's first lead at 14:52. Wallin had the answer at the 17:12 mark, however, and buried a rebound from a Brenna Fuhrman shot to equalize at 1-1.

The Gophers retook the lead 6:40 into the second period, and then went up 3-1 on Natalie Mlynkova's strike at 14:09. That 3-1 deficit would haunt the Bulldogs until Wallin was sprung on breakaway mid-ice from Clara Van Wieren. Wallin beat Gopher goaltender Hannah Clark to pull UMD within a single goal at 16:52.

UMD struggled to get goaltender Eve Gascon off the ice, however, and unfortunately for the Bulldogs, game one of the series, and the shot at third place in the WCHA, went to the Gophers.

The Bulldogs outshot Minnesota 30-27 in the skate, and Gascon had 24 stops for UMD. Neither team scored on the power play – the Bulldogs went 0-of-2, while the Gophers were scoreless in one attempt. 

Saturday afternoon, in the most unreasonable of all ways, UMD fell 1-0 to then No. 4 University of Minnesota at Ridder Arena after a puck errantly came off the back glass and back over the goal. Eve Gascon backhand gloved the puck out of the air over her shoulder, but not before it apparently crossed the line, according to the official review. 

The result was crushing for the Bulldogs, who had gone toe-to-toe with the Gophers for a second-straight day, but couldn't put the puck away. After two scoreless periods, Minnesota's fluke goal came at the 11:21 of the third and was credited to Abbey Murphy, though the back glass pulled all the necessary tricks. 

The Gophers outshot UMD 49-22, but Gascon made 48 stops in her sixth 40+ save game of the season. Both teams were perfect on the penalty kill – the Bulldogs went 3–for-3 on their PK, while Minnesota went 4-of-4.

BULLDOGS FROM GOPHERS: UMD has two players that transferred from Minnesota last season, their only season in Minneapolis -- senior defenseman Krista Parkkonen and sophomore Kate Kosobud.

Parkkonen appeared in 39 games and recorded one goal and four assists for five points, while Kosobud skated in 16 games and registered one assist.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs bullied Minnesota last weekend in their first home action of the season, sweeping the Mavericks with 5-0 and 3-1 wins.

In game one, the fire alarm that went off as the second intermission began at AMSOIL Arena was incredible foreshadowing for the Bulldog offense that ignited a four-goal second period.

Four players logged two or more points, including Caitlin Kraemer, who led all scorers with two goals and an assist for three points. Kraemer owned the lone score of the first 40 minutes of play with a one-time rebound off a Maverick skate on the delayed penalty at 3:33 of the second period to give UMD the only lead it would end up needing. 

That score held through through the frame, and after the intermission was slightly delayed due to a fire alarm that went off in the building, the Bulldogs returned to set actual fire to the ice, beginning just 1:46 into the final period. Sophomore defenseman Kate Kosobud buried a rebound for her first collegiate goal to double UMD's goal count. 

The Bulldogs then unloaded with three goals in less than three minutes, starting with Mary Kate O'Brien's first goal of the season, a follow up rebound off a Rae Mayer drive to the net at 11:24. Mayer followed that assist up 45 seconds later with a power play goal of her own, and finally, at the 14:51 mark, Kraemer struck again, burying the backhand pass from Ava MacLeod.

When the smoke finally settled, UMD had a 5-0 lead and a third shutout of the season served up for junior goaltender Eve Gascon, who moved into sole possession of the fifth most career shutouts in UMD history with 14. Gascon had 24 saves in the game for the Bulldogs, who outshot the Mavericks 46-24.

Saturday, the Bulldogs stormed back from a 1-0 deficit to score three unanswered goals just over three minutes apart late in the third period to defeat the Mavericks 3-1.

UMD's comeback earned its third sweep of the season and first in league play and pushes its unbeaten streak against MSU to 15 games strong. 

The Mavericks scored their first goal of the series – and what would end up their only one – 6:58 into the first period, courtesy of Taylor Otremba. That score would hold an incredibly long time thanks to the netminding work of Hailey Hansen, who had fended off more than 30 shots before the Bulldogs finally cracked her code late in the third period.

More than 40 minutes after MSU had gone ahead 1-0, UMD finally equalized at 13:45 of the third frame. Grace Sadura buried a shot in the slot over Hansen's shoulder off a one-time feed from Zoey Krock behind the goal. 

A mere 20 seconds later, Thea Johansson put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1 with her 100th career point, unloading another high shot over Hanson off a feed from Danielle Burgen. Johansson then struck again, wrapping in a rebound from Caitlin Kraemer and extending UMD's lead to 3-1 to silence any upset talk left for the Mavericks.

Gascon had 17 stops on goal for the Bulldogs, who struggled to score in four attempts on the power play but won 29 of 51 faceoffs. The Mavericks, outshot 42-18 in the game – including 16-4 in the third period.

NOTES ON THE MINNESOTA STATE SERIES: All-time, UMD is now 96-9-11 against the Mavericks, and owns a 15-game unbeaten streak that dates back to Feb. 27, 2022.

--UMD has won its first home game of the season for four-straight seasons now, dating back to 2022-23 after the Bulldogs shutout MSU Friday night.