For a fifth-consecutive season, the No. 6 University of MInnesota Duluth women's hockey team will open up in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament this week when Bulldogs will face Sacred Heart University inside Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. Game-time for the postseason puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. CT.
UMD IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UMD heads back into its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament -- the second longest postseason run in program history. It trails only the seven straight appearances between 2005-2011.
All-time, the Bulldogs are 21-10 in the NCAA postseason, and 8-6 in Regional Final/Quarterfinal games. UMD owns the third most NCAA tourney wins in all of the NCAA at 21.
In just the fourth season of the expanded NCAA field (where UMD has made the tourney every time), the NCAA now hosts a regional instead of a single quarterfinal that the top-3 seeded teams host. The NCAA didn't adopt a quarterfinal game until the 2004-05 season, and prior to that, UMD had played in and won the first three NCAA titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003, going a perfect 6-0 in the NCAA postseason.
UMD has now made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, the third most in NCAA history. The Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Frozen Four nine times as a program, including twice in the last five seasons. With seven NCAA Championship game appearances, including the 2022 title tilt, UMD owns the third most NCAA titles in the NCAA with five (2010, 2008, 2003, 2002, 2011), and the only NCAA title three-peat in NCAA Division I history.
UMD IN THE NCAA FIRST ROUND:
Since the NCAA went to a regional tournament four years ago, the Bulldogs have perfect in the first round with a record of 3-0. Here are those results:
March 14, 2024 Connecticut 1-0 2 OT Win at OSU Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio
March 9, 2022 Clarkson 2-0 Win at Ridder Arena, Minneapolis, Minn.
March 10, 2022 4-0 Harvard, 4-0 Win at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.
Thursday will mark the second NCAA First Round game UMD will have played in outside the state of Minnesota after being sent to Minneapolis in both 2022 and 2023. Last season the Bulldogs were sent to Columbus, Ohio.
All told, UMD has scored seven goals in three first round games for a 1.75 goals per game average. More impressively, the Bulldogs have never allowed a goal in first round play, having posted three shutouts -- one last season by current netminder Eve Gascon, and the previous twp by former All-American goaltender Emma Soderberg.
SCHU'S NO STRANGER TO THE UMD POSTSEASON: While Thursday marks first-year head coach Laura Schuler's first NCAA Tourney visit at the helm of the Bulldogs, it will be her sixth as a member of UMD's coaching staff. Schuler has been a part of the last four NCAA Tournament appearances (2022, 2023, 2024), as well as in 2010 and 2011 for a grand total of six. Schuler has also been a part of three NCAA Frozen Fours at UMD (2022, 2010, 2009), which includes two NCAA title tilts (2022 and 2010). UMD has won one NCAA title with Schuler as an assistant coach -- against Cornell University in 2010.
BULLDOGS AGAINST THE TOURNAMENT FIELD: UMD may not have skated against Sacred Heart this season, but it has played 15 games against the 2025 NCAA Tournament field with a record of 3-10-1.
Olivia Wallin and Clara Van Wieren each have eight points in those 15 games -- Wallin with five goals and three assists, while Van Wieren has three goals and five assists. Three players scored three goals -- Olivia Mobley, Caitlin Kraemer and Grace Sadura.
Eve Gascon backstopped 14-of-the-15 games UMD skated against Tournament teams, and posted a .939 saves percentage. The sophomore netminder also averaged 36.7 saves a game in those 14 games.
13-of-15 games came against WCHA opponents, and 10 of the 15 games were decided either way by just a single game, with one overtime skate. Three goals against were on empty Bulldog nets , while 10 came on power plays. UMD averaged just 1.67 goals a game while allowing 2.93.
The Bulldogs averaged 26.8 shots a game against NCAA teams -- below the 32.4 it averaged all season. Those opposing teams averaged 40.4 shots on goal -- for more than the 29.6 over the entire season.
Notably, UMD averaged 9.47 minutes of penalty minutes, while their opponents only averaged 6.53.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: This marks the fifth NCAA Tournament appearances for graduate forward Clara Van Wieren and fifth-year defenseman Nina Jobst-Smith, who become the first-ever UMD players to have skated in five NCAA Tournaments. Five other players will skate in their fourth NCAA Tournaments – Hanna Baskin, Mary Kate O'Brien, Jenna Lawry and Brenna Fuhrman. As a program, UMD now has 26 total players in program history who have skated in four – or more – consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
In all, UMD has 13 returning players that have skated in at least one NCAA Tournament, in addition to Olivia Mobley, who earned a title with Ohio State University last season and was on two previous Quinnipiac University NCAA Tournament teams (2022, 2023).
TOURNAMENT TOUCH: Clara Van Wieren leads UMD with two points in 10 NCAA Tournament games. Van Wieren has recorded two assists, while Nina Jobst-Smith, Olivia Wallin, Brenna Fuhrman all have logged an assist.
Eve Gascon is one of just three UMD goaltenders to have recorded a shutout in an NCAA Tournament game. Kim Martin did it in the 2008 NCAA title game (4-0 over Wisconsin, while Emma Soderberg owns a program-record three NCAA postseason shutouts.
Gascon is also looking to join another exclusive club -- only six goaltenders have ever won two or more games in the NCAA Tournament. Gascon, who was in net for the UConn double-overtime thriller last season, would join that club with a win Thursday.
VAN WIEREN'S A GAMER: Graduate forward Clara Van Wieren will tied UMD's all-time games played record Thursday when she takes her first shift. She will beceome just the second player in program history to have skated in 173 games, tying former captain and current PWHL star Mannon McMahon, who ran up 173 career games in a row from 2019-24.
SAVING UP: Eve Gascon has recorded six games with 40+ saves so far this season. Gascon has the most 40+ save games in a season so far since household name Maddie Rooney compiled seven over the 2018-19 season. Rooney, who had a 30.9 saves per game average and .930 saves percentage, did so over 31 games that year. Gascon owns a 30.8 saves per game average and a .942 saves per game average through 28 contests this season.
In fact Gascon has recorded five 40+ save games in her last 12 outings, and four of those were 44 saves or more, and over the same span, has record seven games with 35 or more stops. Gascon set a personal record of 58 stops against Ohio State University on Jan. 18, and currently ranks seventh in the NCAA with a saves percentage or .942.
With a career saves percentage of .944 in 49 career games, Gascon's saves percentage as is would rank as the fourth best in WCHA history. It currently puts her first all-time among all UMD goaltenders -- just one ahead of Bulldog great Kim Martin with .943.
CAREER CHART CLIMBERS: Besides Eve Gascon's stamp already forming all over the Buldlogs career leader boards (1st - saves percentage .944, 7th saves --1,443, 5th -- goals against 1.75, 6th -- career shutouts 11 and 9th for career wins 24), UMD has other players making one last run at the record books before their career ends.
Fifth-year defenseman Nina Jobst-Smith now has the seventh most assists in history from the blueline (55), and is just one point shy of 10th place among all-time defenseman in scoring (13-55=68).
Graduate forward Clara Van Wieren is tied for 17th all-time in scoring for the Bulldogs with 54 goals and 68 assists for 122 points. She is currently in a tie with forward/defenseman Jessica Wong, who racked up 122 points over her career from 2009-13
NO SHORTHANDED PROBLEMS: Olivia Mobley is tied for the lead in the NCAA with four shorthanded goals, and the Bulldogs sit second in the NCAA. 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).
UMD's seven shorthanded goals on the season is 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 24, most assists 18), Grace Sadura (most goals 5, assists 8, most points 13), Danielle Burgen (assists 9, points 14), Hanna Baskin (20 assists, 21 points), Tova Henderson (points 20, assists 14 and goals 6), and Clara Van Wieren (16 goals, 37 points).
Of note, Olivia Mobley's 17 goals ties her career-collegiate season-high of 17 set her sophomore season at Quinnipiac in 2021-22. Fifth-year Olivia Wallin has also now set a career best for points in a season (38) and owns a career most 20 assists). Wallin leads UMD in scoring this season.
THE SERIES: The Bulldogs never played Sacred Heart over the regular season, and the Pioneers will be making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament Thursday. With no common opponents this season, the Bulldogs do have four games in program history against one NEWHA member, the league SHU is a member of and whose conference tournament the Pioneers won. Long Island University -- who the Pioneers defeated Saturday, UMD played against in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, winning all four games. UMD outscored the Sharks 19-1 in those skates.
Top UMD Scorers vs NEWHA opponents
Clara Van Wieren GP=4 G=3 A=2 P=5
Nina Jobst-Smith GP=4 G=1 A=4 P=5
Ida Karlsson GP=4 A=1 P=2
Eve Gason, 1-0, 0.00
UMD vs NEWHA Opponents
Four games (4-0-0)
Oct. 7, 2023 4-0 Win Home
Oct. 6, 2023 6-0 Win Home
Sept. 24, 2022 4-1 Win Away
Sept. 25, 2022 5-0 Win Away
Of note, UMD goaltender Tindra Holm transferred from Long Island University this season. As a Shark, Holm was a two-time NEWHA Goaltender of the Year in both 2023-24 and 2022-24.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD The top-seeded University of Wisconsin defeated UMD 3-1 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. in the WCHA Final Faceoff -- the Bulldogs first WCHA semifinal game in their home rink in 13 seasons. The Bulldogs scored the game's first goal but were unable to push through a second, their third-straight game against the Badgers with just a single goal.
Grace Sadura turned her home rink on its head a mere 2:56 into the first period with an end to end solo drive around a multitude of Badgers that ended with the puck sneaking past UW goaltender Ava McNaughton on the Bulldogs very first shot of the game.
That lead was short lived until the 6:31 mark when UW's Kelly Gorhatenko shot deflected off a UMD player and past Eve Gascon to draw the contest even at 1-1. That score would hold for the rest of the frame, despite a 16-3 shots on goal advantage for the Badgers.
Wisconsin took a 2-1 lead at 15:11 of the second on Caroline Harvey's 16th goal of the season, which eventually would hold as the game-winner.
The Bulldogs pushed back hard in the third period and had more shots on goal for most of the 20 minutes, but UMD couldn't offensively find the answer. Before the Bulldogs were able to pull Gascon to chase a one goal deficit, it was 3-1 on a UW goal scored at 18:56 to ice it the top-seed.
Gascon made 39 saves, one shy of her 6th game with 40 or more stops, and her 11th with 35 or more. McNaughton had 21 for the Badgers, who outshot UMD 42-23 in the game. Neither team landed a power play goal – the Bulldogs were scoreless in one chance while UW was scoreless in two.
NOTES FROM THE WISCONSIN SEMIFINAL GAME: UMD is now 51-28 in all WCHA postseason games, including 8-13 in WCHA semifinal games.
--The Bulldogs remain winless this season in five games against the Badgers, including a painfully close series at AMSOIL on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 that included one overtime stand and two games that UMD fell 2-1 in.
While UMD is winless in its last seven games against the Badgers, in their last eight showdowns at AMSOIL, seven-of-eight games were decided by one goal. In those games, UMD is 1-7, with three of those skates decided in overtime.
--Grace Sadura, UMD's lone goal scorer last Friday, has now had three goals against the Badgers this season.
POWERED PLAY: UMD currently ranks ninth in the NCAA with a 25.3 power play conversion rate. The Bulldogs, who have recorded 23 power play goals so far, are led by rookie center Caitlin Kraemer, with seven 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.
ANOTHER 20+ WIN SEASON: The Bulldogs are in their 18th season out of a total of 26 with 20 triumphs. UMD has now had three-straight 20+ seasons.
