For the 17th time in program history, the No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team has advanced to the semifinals of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs, after knocking out No. 11 St. Cloud State University 2-1 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.

 

The Bulldogs, who punched their ticket to their first home rink WCHA Final Faceoff since the 2012 season, close the book on the Huskies unbeaten in six games with a record of 5-0-1, including four-straight wins. UMD moves 10-1 in WCHA quarterfinal games against SCSU – with their sole loss coming during the 2006-07 season.

 

"What a way to finish, that's a really good team, and to be able to win against them six times is really, really hard," said head coach Laura Schuler. "Our players just continue to buy in day in and day out and they continue to take the small adjustments we are giving to them and implement them right away. Just so proud of them and their efforts today."

 

The Huskies appeared to have netted the opening goal just 3:01 into the first period, but a challenge by Schuler on the grounds the play was offsides erased that short lived goal for SCSU. The Bulldogs then struck at 13:33, a lead they would never surrender. Caitlin Kraemer tracked down the puck and from the extended goal line, backhanded it to Grace Sadura charging down the slot. Sadura did the rest en route to her fourth goal of the season, pushing around a defenseman and flipping the puck up and past SCSU goaltender Emilia Kyrkko to put UMD up 1-0.

 

That score would through almost the entire second period, and despite the Huskies outshooting the Bulldogs 14-10 in the frame, UMD doubled up the score on Olivia Mobley's 17th goal of the season. Taking a feed from Nina Jobst-Smith up the right boards, Mobley slipped around a SCSU defenseman in the neutral zone and in all alone on Kyrkko, beat the freshman goaltender low blocker side.

 

Sadura and Mobley's goals would be all the Bulldog defense, which started with another incredible performance by Eve Gascon, whose 38 saves stymied the Huskies over and over again for a sixth time this season, would need. SCSU finally broke through at 15:33 on Laura Zimmermann's tally, a last effort push, but a boarding penalty by the Huskies Taylor Larson with just 2:58 left in the game disabled an early empty net, and the Bulldogs locked it down for their 21st win of the season.

 

The Huskies outshot UMD 39-32 in the contest and Kryrkko had 30 saves, but neither team succeeded on their hard to find power play attempts – the Bulldogs were 0-of-1 and SCSU 0-of-2.

 

"It's awesome," said Mobley when asked about playing in a home hosted WCHA FInal Faceoff. Obviously being able to play at home, have our own facilities, get to sleep in our own bed, it's awesome. These two wins feel awesome, we get tomorrow off, rest up and look forward to the next game, it's pretty cool."

 

UMD (21-13-2) is the fourth seed in the WCHA playoffs, and will await the result of the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State, Mankato game, currently in double overtime, as this recap is written. A Gopher win would match up the Bulldogs with the top-ranked University of Wisconsin next Friday, while a Maverick win would force game three Sunday – and a MSU series win would match UMD up with second-ranked Ohio State University instead. Follow www.umdbulldogs.com for all updated schedule information.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is now unbeaten in its last 10 games against the Huskies and have swept the SCSU in two games in the last three-straight WCHA quarterfinals … in all WCHA quarterfinal games, the Bulldogs improve to 38-10 … against the Huskies, UMD is 9-1 all-time in opening postseason first round games … the one and only loss of the Bulldogs to a SCSU side happened on Feb. 24, 2007 a 3-1 setback at Mars Arena in Duluth, Minn. … UMD defeated the Huskies 5-1 the following day … the Bulldogs have advanced to 17-out-of-19 WCHA postseason semifinals … Saturday's 38 save effort by Eve Gascon was her 12th game this season with 32 or more saves … the win was the fourth time this season UMD has won when they have been outshot by an opponent (4-9-0) … Caitlin Kraemer now has 29 points this season (18g, 11a) … Kraemer is just a single point from becoming the 20th UMD rookie to score 30 or more points as a freshman … the center has already scored the most points by a first-year player since Gabbie Hughes rang up 37 (18g, 18a) over the 2018-19 season … Olivia Mobley's 17th goal of the season ties her career collegiate season high set her sophomore season at Quinnipiac in 2021-22.