The No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to face the No. 4 University of Minnesota at Ridder Arena in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season series finale. The Friday-Saturday series gets underway Friday night at 6:00 p.m. before wrapping up at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.


THIRD PLACE UP FOR GRABS: UMD and Minnesota's final regular season series will determine who finishes third in the WCHA in 2024-25. 

The Bulldogs have a chance for their highest league placement since they finished second in the league after a regular season finale against Wisconsin Feb. 27, 2021, a 4-3 overtime loss that gave the Badgers the regular season title. 

UMD enters the weekend with 48 points in league play, while the Gophers enter with 51. (Ohio State is currently in second place with 53 -- one Buckeye win takes second place out of reach for the Bulldogs.)

CLINCHING FIRST ROUND HOME ICE: The Bulldogs clinched home WCHA first round ice last weekend. Since the WCHA went to a quarterfinal game (2005) or series (since 2006), the Bulldogs have hosted 15 of a possible 17 first round playoff series.  (The 2005 quarterfinal game was held in Minneapolis, Minn., a neutral site, and there was no WCHA first round playoffs held during the COVID season of 2020-21.)

POWERED PLAY: UMD currently ranks fifth in the NCAA with a 27.5 power play conversion rate -- the highest conversion rate by a Bulldog squad since the 2002-03 title team owned a 28.9.

Previously, UMD posted a 26.1 conversion rate over the 2022-23 season.

The Bulldogs, who have recorded 22 power play goals so far, are led by rookie center Caitlin Kraemer, with six power play goals. Kraemer has scored the most power play goals by a freshman since former Bulldog All-American, Olympian and current PWHL defenseman Ashton Bell rang up seven in 2017-18.

Along with Kraemer, Olivia Mobley has added four, while Olivia Wallin and Tova Henderson have added three.

NO SHORTHANDED PROBLEMS:  Olivia Mobley leads the NCAA with four shorthanded goals. Mobley is the first Bulldog to score four shorthanded goals since Jenny Potter and Caroline Ouellette each had four during the 2003-04 season. In fact, Mobley tied a UMD program record in NCAA sanctioned play -- Maria Rooth had the all-time record of seven over the 1999-00 season, but it was not in NCAA play. In all, Mobley is just one of four players to score four or more shorthanded goals in a season -- 

Potter (twice, 2002-03, 2003-04) and Ouellette (2003-04).

As a team, UMD now has seven shorthanded goals on the season, the most since the Bulldogs rang up seven over the 2010-11 and are tied for the fifth most shorthanded tallies in a season in program history. The Bulldog program has now three times had seven shorthanded goals in a season and has had seven or more five times. UMD's record is 12, set during the 1999-00 season.

CAREER YEARS: Seven Bulldogs have already gone in the books with career-best offensive seasons. Those players --

Mary Kate O'Brien (most points 23, most assists 17), Grace Sadura (most assists 8, most points 12), Danielle Burgen (assists 9, points 14), Hanna Baskin (20 assists, 21 points), Olivia Wallin (tied career points of 33, career most 20 assists), Tova Henderson (points 20, assists 14 and goals 6), and Clara Van Wieren (16 goals, 33 points). 

Of note, Olivia Mobley's 16 goals is just one shy of her career-collegiate season-high of 17 set her sophomore season at Quinnipiac in 2021-22 

GASCON NAMED SEMIFINALIST FOR GOALIE OF THE YEAR: Eve Gascon has been named a semifinalist for the Women's Hockey Commissioners Association 2025 National Women's Goalie of the Year, one of nine netminders selected and one of only two repeat semifinalists.

Currently, Gascon owns a saves percentage of .941, and has five 40+ save games, which includes six wins against top-8 teams, complete with two shutouts. The native of  Mascouche, Quebec is 12-10-1 so far this season with the No. 6 Bulldogs, and owns four shutouts. She recorded a career-high effort of 58 saves against Ohio State Universtiy on Jan. 17 -- the most of any goaltender in the WCHA this season and the sixth most in the nation this year.

The award, created in 2021, has now had at least one UMD goaltender become at least a semifinalist since its inception. Former All-American Emma Soderberg was top-3 finalist in 2023 after becoming a top-8 finalist in 2021.

THE SERIES: UMD trails the all-time series with Minnesota 32-76-11, and has not won at Ridder since the NCAA Regional Final on March 12, 2022. Since that time, the Bulldogs are 0-4-1 at Ridder, including another NCAA Regional Final on March 13, 2023. In fact, since the 2022 NCAA Regional win, UMD is 0-10-1 against the Gophers. The Bulldogs will be looking for their first series sweep of Minnesota since Jan. 13-14, 2017.

Since defeating the Gophers in March of 2022, the Bulldogs have been outscored 36-17. Clara Van Wieren, who logged an assist in game one in November, leads UMD with nine points (1g, 8a) in 18 games played against Minnesota.

Top-4 UMD Scorers vs Minnesota

Clara Van Wieren GP=18 G=1 A=8 P=9

Nina Jobst-Smith GP=19 G=2 A=3 P=5

Hanna Baskin GP=15 G=2 A=3 P=5

Mary Kate O'Brien GP=12 G=2 A=2 P=4

Eve Gason -- 0-5 record,  .924 SV%

UMD vs Minnesota 

Last 10 games (0-9-1)

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

Jan. 27, 2023 0-3 Loss Home

Nov. 5, 2022 3-5, Loss Away

*NCAA Regional Final

In their last meetings on Nov. 15-16 at AMSOIL, then No. 3 Minnesota swept the Bulldogs at home by scores of 4-1 and 3-2.

In game one, The Gophers defeated the Bulldogs 4-1 after scoring a empty net goal with five seconds left in the final frame and holding off a late and consistent push from the feisty UMD.

Eve Gascon was indeed impressive and impressive early, and turned away 21 shots in the opening period alone. The Gophers took the game's first lead off a power play goal by Sydney Morrow at the 16:18 mark, but the Bulldogs responded just 1:25 later.

Hanna Baskin walked into the top of the slot and ripped it past Gopher netminder Hannah Clark to pull UMD even at 17:43.

That score would hold until midway through the second period when Abbey Murphy struck to put Minnesota back on top 2-1. The Gophers extended that lead at 18:42 on a shorthanded tally from Ella Huber – a deficit the Bulldogs would never recover from.

Gascon tied her then UMD career save mark with 48 stops against 52 Minnesota shots (one was an empty net goal), The Gophers (9-3-1, 5-3-1) had 27 saves from Hannah Clark, who faced 28 shots.

Saturday, despite a late, hard charging effort, the Gophers were able to hold off the Bulldogs 3-2. UMD opened the scoring on the first career goal of Kamdyn Davis just 3:54 into the first period, a blast from the left circle to make it a 1-0 game. But the Gophers responded at 8:27 and then again on the power play at 18:37 to take over a 2-1 lead.

After a scoreless second period which included nine minutes on the penalty kill for the Bulldogs, Minnesota struck for their third goal at 11:41 of the third. The Bulldogs pulled within a single goal, however, on a power play goal from Nina Jobst-Smith with just 3:21 left in regulation.

UMD threw all the offensive pressure they could in the final minutes of the period, and outshot the Gophers 18-12 in the frame. But the Bulldogs couldn't crack Minnesota goaltender Hannah Clark for a third time.

Gascon had 35 saves for UMD for a total of 83 on the weekend, while UMD was 1-of-3 on its power play, while the Gophers went 1-of-4 on 9:06 with an extra skater and outshot the Bulldogs overall 38-33.

MORE NOTES ON UMD VS MINNESOTA: Eve Gascon will be looking for her first win against the Gophers this weekend. The sophomore is 0-5 with .924 saves percentage in those games.

--UMD is 5-18-2 in Ridder Arena over the past decade.

----Bulldogs had a season high penalty minutes (21) in a single game against Minnesota on Nov. 16. UMD went 1-of-5 on its power play against the Gophers in the earlier series this season.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept Minnesota State last weekend at AMSOIL by scores of 8-2 and 4-1.

Led by an impactful power play, Clara Van Wieren's hat trick and five-point day (3g, 2a) and Olivia Wallin's six points (2g, 4a), the Bulldogs scored three goals in the first two periods to bury the Mavericks.

The Bulldogs scored a bevy of goals – four to be exact – in the first period over an 8:16 span of time. It all started with the first of two power goals from Caitlin Kraemer, who redirected a shot from Hanna Baskin from the point at 5:04 for the opening score. Just 2:41 later, Van Wieren made it a 2-0 contest when she backhanded in a loose rebound in the crease.

The Mavericks' Claire Vekich scored two minutes later, but Van Wieren struck for her 15th of the season and second of the game on an offload from the top of the left circle at 13:20 to put the Bulldogs up 4-1 after the first frame.

MSU scored with an extra skater to open the second period and make it a 4-2 game, but UMD picked right back up where it left off in the first – with another power play goal from Kraemer. The rookie center finished off a brilliant passing sequence from Wallin and Van Wieren to push the Bulldogs back ahead by three goals at 3:41. Another 1:26 later, Wallin struck for her own goal to push UMD ahead 5-2, and at 12:33, Mary Kate O'Brien got into the scoring column after banking an extended goal line shot off the back of a Maverick skater to take a 6-2 Bulldog lead after less than 40 minutes of play.

UMD still had some offense left in the tank late in final frame, and after the Mavericks were called for a game misconduct at 13:35, the Bulldogs struck twice in the final three minutes of their power play. The result was Van Wieren's third goal of the game and fifth point, the second hat trick of the graduate's forward career at the 16:17 mark. Then, 1:42 later, Wallin casually tipped in her second goal of the game and team-high sixth point to close out the scoring at 8-2.

Six players had multiple point afternoons, led by Wallin (2g, 4a) and Van Wieren (3g, 2a), as well as Kraemer's three point effort (2g, 1a). Three defensemen added two assists – Nina Jobst-Smith, Hanna Baskin and Tova Henderson. 

Eve Gascon picked up win No. 12 of the season with a 23 save contest for UMD, while UMD was golden 4-of-5 on its power play. The Bulldogs outshot the Mavericks 29-25.

 In game two, UMD turned an early Mavericks power play into a 1-0 lead 3:22 into the first period, the fourth shorthanded goal of the year by Olivia Mobley. Mobley, who skated from her own blueline on a breakaway, slipped the puck five-hole with her backhand past MSU goaltender Jessie McPherson. 

Just under two and a half minutes later, rookie forward Zoey Krock followed up and in a 2-on-1 between Grace Sadura and Caitlin Kraemer, knocking in the rebound for her fourth goal of the season to give the Bulldogs the 2-0 advantage at 5:48. 

The Mavericks got on the board at the 8:04 mark on Ava Guillernette's goal to cut UMD's lead in half, but the Bulldogs doubled up on MSU 1:17 later on another tally from Mobley, her 16th of the season and second of the game. Mobley took a one-time feed from Kraemer on the Mavericks' blueline and walked in on another breakaway to give UMD the 3-1 lead after just 9:21 of play.

The next 39:39 of play was scoreless between the two sides until Kate O'Brien chased down a puck in the MSU zone and after turning into the circle alone was tripped up by a Maverick player. O'Brien was awarded the goal with 21 seconds left in regulation to ice the game 4-1 for the Bulldogs and lock in the WCHA sweep.

Tindra Holm earned her seventh win at UMD with a 23-save performance for the Bulldogs. UMD outshot MSU 30-24 in the game but neither side was able to score on the power play – the Bulldogs went 0-of-3 while the Mavericks went 0-of-2.

NOTES FROM THE MSU SERIES:  UMD finishes the regular season unbeaten by the Mavericks at 3-0-1-1. The Bulldogs, who have a 13-game unbeaten streak that dates back to Feb. 27, 2022 outscored MSU 19-7 this season. All-time, UMD improved to 92-9-11 against the Mavericks.

--Clara Van Wieren and Olivia Wallin entered the weekend with the most career points against MSU and they delivered Friday night with six and five points each, respectively -- Van Wieren now has 15 points after a three goal, two assists weekend, while Wallin has four goals and eight assists for 12 points after a six-point weekend (2g, 4a). Wallin is now averaging 1.50 points per game against the Mavericks in eight career skates.

--Caitlin Kraemer has now registered eight points (5g, 3a) over her last four games. With two assists Saturday, Kraemer ended up with five points against the Mavericks (2g, 3a), and it also marked her second-straight game with two or more points and her third in four games. 

--Van Wieren was named the WCHA's Forward of the Week for her efforts, while Tova Henderson (3a) was named the WCHA Defender of the Week.

ONE AWAY FROM 20 WINS: The Bulldogs are chasing their 18th season out of a total of 26 with 20 or more wins as they enter the weekend with 19. UMD has three-straight 20+ win seasons prior to the 2024-25 season.