The No. 11 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will face the nation's top-ranked team Friday and Saturday when it hits the OSU Ice Rink ice to play No. 1 Ohio State University. Game-time Friday is set for 5:00 p.m. CST, while the two teams will wrap the series up with a 1:00 p.m. start on Saturday.
Weekly Press Conference -- November 11, 2026 with head coach Laura Schuler and sophomore forward Rae Mayer
DOWN DOGS: UMD will be missing four players this weekend -- Eve Gascon (G, Sr.), Caitlin Kraemer (F, Jr. are with Canada playing the U.S. ahead of Worlds. Tuuli Tallinen (D, Fr.) is with Finland, while captain Ida Karlsson (D, Sr.) is with Sweden.
Without them, UMD is left with 11 forwards, five defensemen -- just 16 total skaters -- and two goalies. This will be the second fewest available players for a UMD game program possibly ever in program history.
OFFENSE OUT OF THIS WORLD: While former Bulldog Michelle Lowenhielm currently ranks ninth in scoring in Denmark for Team Sweden (1g, 5a for six points in four games), current Bulldog center Caitlin Kraemer is getting offensive in her first senior national team tournament with Canada. Kraemer has two goals and three assists for five points in four games, tying her for the 11th most points, right behind Lowenhielm. Of note, Kraemer, a Waterloo, Ontario native compiled 37 goals in 32 games played for a total of 53 points as a U-18 national team member.
Current defenseman with Team Sweden Ida Karlsson is tied for the 24th most points with two goals and an assist for three points in four games -- knotted up with her former teammate Nina Jobst-Smith, who has three goals in four skates for Germany. Katerina Mrazova rounds out UMD's current and former players in the top-30 for scoring - Mrazova sits in a tie for 16th with two goals and two assists for four assists in four games.
In net, current senior Bulldog goaltender Eve Gascon has seen time in three games and made 14 saves, and recorded one shutout against Japan earlier this week -- her first with the senior Canadian National Team.
++All stats current as of Thursday, Nov. 12.
NO GOALS ALLOWED: Despite the absence of two-time All-American Eve Gascon in half of UMD's games, the Bulldogs currently own the NCAA's lowest goals against average of 1.3, the lowest saves percentage of .952 and shutouts, with five -- half of UMD's games played so far this season.
Eve Gascon owns the NCAA's best GAA (0.39), saves percentage (.982), tied for the highest winning percentage (1.000) and first in shutouts (4).
PENALTY KILLERS: UMD owns the nation's second-best penalty kill, with a kill percentage of 95.5.Â
In fact, the Bulldogs have killed off 21-of-22Â opponent power plays so far this season and have been perfect in 13-straight penalty kills and hasn't allowed a power play goal since Oct. 2.
SHUT IT DOWN: UMD currently leads the NCAA with five team shutouts (four from Eve Gascon and one from Marilou Grenier).
LEADING THE WAY: Both Eve Gascon and Caitlin Kraemer are sitting at the top or near the top of the NCAA in a number of catergories despite having missed multiple games due to Team Canada duty.
Gascon owns the NCAA's best GAA (0.39), saves percentage (.982), tied for the highest winning percentage (1.000) and first in shutouts (4).
Kraemer is tied for fourth in game-winning goals (3), and is tied eighth in points per game with 1.50. Kraemer has played fewer games than every players in front of her due to national team commitments, but still is still tied seventh in face-off win percentage 63.4
THE SERIES: UMD is 73-36-9 all-time against the Buckeyes, and went winless against OSU in 2025-26 over the regular season for just the second time since the 2013-14 season.
UMD is also 10-13-2 in Columbus since November of 2013, and 24-27-4 over the same time span.
UMD was swept by Ohio State in Columbus last weekend by scores of 6-2 and 3-1.Â
Ohio State will enter the weekend ranked No. 1 in the country. The last time UMD defeated a No. 1 team? OSU on Sept. 22, 2024 in Columbus by a 4-3 score. That was also the same weekend the Bulldogs last swept a No. 1 opponent in a series.
Six Buckeyes are expected to miss UMD's series at OSU due to the World Championship.
UMD vs OSU, Last 10 games (2-8-0)
Jan. 31, 2026 1-3 Loss Away
Jan. 30, 2026 2-6 Loss Away
Nov. 22, 2025 1-4 Loss Home
Nov. 21, 2025 1-3 Loss Home
Jan. 18, 2025 1-2 Loss Home
Jan. 17, 2025 1-3 Loss Home
Sep. 22, 2024 4-3 Win Away
Sep. 21, 2024 2-1 Win Away
Mar. 16, 2024 0-9 Loss Away^
Mar. 8, 2024 0-5 Loss Neutral*
^NCAA Regional Final
*WCHA Final Face-Off Sem
Top Scorers vs OSU
Caitlin Kraemer 8GP, 3g, 2a, 5 points
Ida Karlsson 14 GP, 1g, 2a, 3 points
In the last series back on Jan. 30-31, UMD was swept by OSU in Columbus last weekend by scores of 6-2 and 3-1.Â
The Bulldogs were hampered with early penalties Friday night, allowing the Buckeyes to score two power play goals in the opening eight minutes, and eventually four in the first period to overwhelm UMD. Both teams put 34 shots on net -- Eve Gascon played the first period, while Sophia Villanueva played the final 40, and made 17 stops. UMD went just 1-of-9 on its power play while OSU was 2-of-4.
In game two, UMD battled evenly, but again gave OSU power plays down the stretch -- two in the final four minutes of play -- that helped the Buckeyes seal their win with a power play goal at the 17:51 mark. Molly Cole had UMD's lone goal, while Gascon had 34 saves for the Bulldogs, who were outshot 37-33.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD was swept by then No. 2 Minnesota at AMSOIL by scores of 2-3 by nights on Oct. 30-31.
On Friday night, the game stretched into overtime for the depleted roster Bulldogs, who were missing five players on the night. UMD went down 2-0 before the Bulldogs crawled back into the game. Laini Gnetz collared an errant Gopher pass in the slot, shot it off Rae Mayer on the doorstep and buried her own rebound to net her first goal at UMD 4:04 into the period. The goal also doubled as the Bulldogs first power play score of the season, and it pulled the scrappy home team within a single goal.
Minnesota challenged a save by rookie goaltender Marilou Grenier at 10:02 of the second, which was eventually ruled to have gone entirely over the goal line. But an immediate counter challenge from the UMD bench for goaltender interference got the call reversed, and after 40 minutes of action at AMSOIL, the Gophers still led the Bulldogs by just a single goal at 2-1.
Short bench and all, UMD pushed Minnesota to the brink, and after outshooting the Gophers 14-13 in the third frame, finally broke through to knot the game at 2-2 with 34 seconds left in regulation with the extra skater.. Rookie defenseman Renee Lapointe possibly became the youngest Bulldog player ever to score a goal when she unloaded from the slot a pass from Josie St. Martin for the first goal of her collegiate career, and more importantly, the game's equalizer.
It looked like the game was headed for a WCHA shootout after the two sides had battled in the 3-on-3 overtime, but with 36 seconds remaining, the Gophers finally beat Grenier on a goal from Ava Lindsay.
Grenier was outstanding between the pipes for UMD with a career-best effort of 39 saves for UMD. The Gophers outshot the Bulldogs 42-27 in the game.
Like Friday night, the Gophers found a way past Grenier twice in the first period Saturday, but unlike game one, UMD netted a tally of its own in between Minnesota's goals.
After a Gopher goal at 15:39, rookie blueliner Lapointe, not even 24 hours removed from her first collegiate goal, struck for her second of the series a minute and six seconds after Minnesota's first goal to equalize at 1-1.Â
The Gophers retook the lead 55 seconds later, and after 20 minutes of play, and took a 3-1 lead late in the second period.
UMD, short bench and all, pulled within to a single goal at 6:56 of the third period on a blast from St. Martin from the point, her fourth goal of the year. The Bulldogs even outshot the Gophers 9-8 in the final frame, but for a second-straight night, UMD would fall just short of knocking off the nation's second ranked team.
Grenier had 30 saves for UMD to bring her total to 69 in the series. The Gophers just edged UMD in shots on goal 33-31, and neither team was successful on their power play – Minnesota went 0-of-1 and UMD 0-of-1.
NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA SERIES:Â The Bulldogs are 34-80=2-11 all-time against the Gophers and 2-8-0 over their last 10 games. UMD has not won at home against the Gophers at home since Oct. 9, 2021, a 5-4 overtime win. Since then, the Bulldogs are 0-10-0 at AMSOIL against the Gophers, with just five of those game decided by a single point.
--UMD held Minnesota scoreless in two power play attempts.
--The Bulldogs are now 1-1-0 in overtime games so far this season.
INTO THE NUMBERS: UMD has scored 10 of its 25 goals this season in the third period.
Ironically, the Bulldogs have had an even number of shots across all of their periods of play, with 100 in the first and 103 in the second and third. UMD has outshot their foes 100-78, a lopsided number. UMD has outshot its opponents 308-272 so far this season and outscored them 25-13.
