UMD Athletics

Caitlin Kraemer picked right up Saturday where she left off Friday night, and the No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team rolled over Mercyhurst University 4-0 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. The junior center had two goals in the first period and an assist in the third to lead the Bulldogs offensively, while senior goaltender Eve Gascon moved into a tie for the program's all-time career shutout with the 23rd of her career and second in as many games.

"Another great win for us, really excited about the sweep," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler, who now has 99 career wins as a NCAA Division I head coach. "Those are huge games, and anytime we play a non-conference games, those are really, really important because down the line, they really have a huge impact on our national rankings. Every time we can go up against a good opponent like Mercyhurst, nationally ranked right now, and get the sweep, is going to end up down the line playing huge dividends for us."

Kraemer's first tally was a one-time shot off a pass from Laini Gnetz from behind the net that put UMD up 1-0 just 3:05 in the first period. The Bulldogs second goal came at the 15:11 mark, when Ella Bellfry found Kraemer off the boards. Kraemer did the rest, entering the MU zone and going to her backhand to put the puck past Magdalena Luggin for her second goal in 15 minutes and third of the series. 

After a scoreless second period despite a 14-8 shots on goal advantage for the Bulldogs, UMD's offense again found the net in the third frame. Junior Zoe Krock backhanded in a rebound  at 8:47 for her first goal of the year, and then in 4-on-4 action, Ida Karlsson's blast deflected off a Laker defenseman and into the net to push UMD's lead to 4-0 at 16:51.

The Bulldogs again outshot Mercyhurst in the game, this time 35-18 and a whopping 80-44 in the series. Gascon made 18 stops Saturday to run her perfect total to 44 in the series, while Luggin had 31 Saturday night. Neither team was successful on the power play – UMD went 0-of-4 while Mercyhurst was 0-of-1.

"It's great, but you can't do that without the team." said Gascon when asked about how she felt as a now co-record holder. "It's a team effort on all of these. It's fun but it's not just me."

Gascon and the Bulldogs (2-0-0) will stay in nonconference play when they travel to Burlington, Vermont next weekend to face the University of Vermont. The weekend series will get underway at 10:00 a.m. CST Friday before wrapping up at noon CST Saturday.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is now 20-2-2 on opening weekends over this past 11 years (dating back to the 2015-16 season) … Saturday marked Eve Gascon's fifth career series shutout, and seventh time the senior goaltender has earned back-to-back shutouts … Gascon tied the record in 88 career games – Emma Soderberg set the record in 87 career games between 2018-23 … Saturday was Caitlin Kraemer 16th career game with two or more points … senior transfer Ella Bellfry notched her first point as a Bulldog on Kraemer's second goal … in all, three UMD players earned their first points over the weekend – Laini Gnetz (2a), Pauliina Salonen 1a) and Bellfry … four players had a multiple point series … Caitlin Kraemer (3g, 1a), Rae Mayer (1g, 2a), Ida Karlsson (1g, 1a), Gnetz (2a).