The No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will return home for the first time in 48 days Friday to host the No. 1 University of Wisconsin in game one of the Bulldogs' first Western Collegiate Hockey Association's series of the new year. The Friday-Saturday series gets underway at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, and concludes Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. puck drop.

SOPHIE SQUAD DOUBLE-HEADER SATURDAY: UMD will host its fifth-annual Sophie's Squad event Saturday in a double-header with the men. The organization that encourages talking about mental health was created in 2021, by a group led by former UMD All-American and current PWHL star Gabbie Hughes. Hughes went on to win the 2023 Hockey Humanitarian Award for her work with the organization. For more information on Sophie's Squad, click, go to https://sophiessquad.org/. For a look at back at Gabbie Hughes and her work in the cause, click here.

BACK FROM BELFAST: The Bulldogs returned Sunday night to Duluth, Minn. after a seven-day trip to Ireland and Northern Island. UMD played two games in the Friendship Series, which was held at the SSE Arena in Belfast in Northern Irealnd. 

For the first time in the history of the tournament, four women's college ice hockey teams competed in the Friendship Series for the coveted Belpot Trophy. UMD joined Harvard University, Boston University and Quinnipiac University in the field that competed for the inaugural Friendship Series Championship at SSE Arena in Belfast. BU was the eventual winner.

Friday afternoon's game was the first-ever international game ever played outside of Minnesota by the Bulldog program. While UMD as a program has faced international teams at home in exhibitions, it had never played a game outside of the U.S.

HOME SWEET HOME: It will be 48 days on Friday from the last time the Bulldogs had a home game inside AMSOIL Arena. 

UMD had a travel heavy first half to the season, home just six games out of a possible 20. Inside AMSOIL, UMD has been just 2-6.

KRAEMER'S A GAMER: The super sophomore was the lone UMD player to leave Belfast with a scoring streak intact, and Caitlin Kraemer was the lone Bulldog to notch at point in both games.

Kraemer currently has notched at least a point in her last five skates, a goal and five assists for six points -- a 1.20 points per game average over that span.  

Over 18 games so far (Kraemer missed the St. Cloud State series in November due to a Canada National Team call up for the Rivalry Series), she's averaging 1.11 points per game -- 20 points in 18 games on 10 goals and 10 assists.

In fact, Kraemer has been held pointless just three times this season -- one of those games was against Wisconsin on Nov. 12 in Madison.

THE SERIES: UMD has struggled against the Badgers over their last nine games, and enters the weekend on a nine-game winless streak against Wisconsin. All-time, UMD is 37-67-15, and were winless in five games last season, which included a WCHA Final Faceoff skate in March.

1-9 in their last 10 games against UW dating back to Dec. 2, 2024 (the longest losing streak to the Badgers in UMD history), the Bulldogs have suffered four losses by a single point, including a heartbreaking loss this past Oct. 11 when the Badgers scored two power play goals in the final 20 seconds of the game to comeback and defeat UMD 4-3.

Notably, in the October series, UMD put Wisconsin on 16 power plays, where the Badgers were 5-of-16 with a 31.3 conversion rate. UW had 60 shots on their power play, compared to just six the Bulldogs had on their nine extra skater attempts.

Also in the series, UMD averaged just 19.50 shots per game, while the Badgers averaged a whopping 51.50.

In their series in October, goaltender Eve Gascon was again incredible in net with a combined 95 saves, including 45 in game one and 50 in the second game.

In fact, Gascon is averaging 41.6 saves a game in eight all-time games against the Badgers but is still seeking her first goaltending win.

Top UMD Scorers vs Wisconsin

Ida Karlsson GP=11 G=0 A=6 P=6

Danielle Burgen GP=15 G=2 A=2 P=4

Grace Sadura GP=11 G=3

Eve Gascon - 41.6 saves per game average

UMD vs Wisconsin

Last 10 games (1-9-0)

Oct. 12, 2025 0-4 Loss Away

Oct. 11, 2025 3-4 Loss Away

Mar. 7, 2025 1-3 Loss Home (WFF Semis)

Feb. 1, 2025 1-2 Loss Home

Jan. 31, 2025 1-2 Loss Overtime Home

Oct. 13, 2024 3-7 Loss Away

Oct. 12, 2024 1-5 Loss Away

Jan. 27, 2024 4-5 Loss Home

Jan. 26, 2024 1-2 Loss Home

Dec. 2, 2023 3-2 Win Away

LAST TIME OUT: UMD stumbled in two nonconference games in Belfast in the Friendship Series. 

Last Friday, UMD fell behind 2-0 to Harvard Univiersity before goals by Thea Johansson and Grace Sadura pulled the Bulldogs even at 2-2 and pushed the game into overtime. 

Despite heavily outshooting the Crimson 57-27, UMD surrendered a goal in extra time with 21 seconds left, sealing UMD's first setback against the Crimson since the 2015-16 season. 

NOTES FROM THE HARVARD GAME: Friday was the Bulldogs' first loss to a nationally unranked team this season, and UMD is now 8-1 against unranked squads

-- The Bulldogs are now 17-6-1 all-time against Harvard

-- Harvard's goal in the first period broke a 192:49 shutout streak the Bulldogs had against the Crimson since January of 2022, and was the first time Harvard had logged a goal against UMD in four games.

Saturday, UMD played against then No. 8 Quinnipiac in the third place contest, who had also lost in overtime the night before to Boston University.

Despite a Caitlin Kraemer shorthanded goal at 8:57 of the first period, the Bulldogs gave up two goals to the Bobcats and an empty net tally to suffer the 3-1 loss.

Freshman goaltender Sophie Villanueva had 25 saves in just her third collegiate start. Overall, QU edged UMD 28-23 in shots on goal, and the Bulldogs mere 23 shots on goal was the second-lowest count of the season, though they outshot Quinnipiac 10-8 in the final frame.

NOTES FROM THE QUINNIPIAC GAME: First line defenseman Ashley Messier did not play in either game in Ireland due to illness.

--UMD is upside down all-time against the Bobcats, 1-4-1 recent rivalry that only started on Jan. 25, 2019 under the then Maura Crowell tenure. 

--In the six games UMD has played against the Bobcats, they have averaged just 1.67 goals a game and have never beaten QU away from AMSOIL Arena.