Beavers host Mavericks to close out 2021
The Bemidji State University women’s hockey team closes out its first half of the 2021-22 season this weekend by hosting Minnesota State University, Mankato at Sanford Center, Dec. 17-18. The Beavers (6-10-2, 3-10-1 WCHA) meet the Mavericks (9-9-0, 5-9-0 WCHA) for the first time this season and will look to gain ground on the Mavericks within the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings. Game one is slated for 6:01 p.m., Friday, Dec. 17 from Sanford Center followed by game two Saturday at 3:01 p.m.
Bemidji State closes out 2021 with a home series against Minnesota State. The Beavers are 1-6-1 when playing at home this season and are coming off a weekend where they were swept by No. 1 University of Wisconsin at Sanford Center. Bemidji State was out-scored 10-3 in its series with the Badgers and out-scored 18-3 in the season series (0-3-1).
Following this weekend’s series, the Beavers will have 26 days off for holiday break and will be in action next at University of Minnesota Duluth, Jan. 14-15.
Bemidji State averages 1.72 goals per game which is seventh in the WCHA and allow opponents 3.39 goals per game for fifth.
The Beavers are led by senior Graysen Myers who has posted 13 points off of five goals and eight assists in 18 games this season. She tallied one assist in last week’s series and has six points (2g-4a) in the last seven games.
Junior Reece Hunt and fifth-year senior Paige Beebe follow Myers with 11 points with Hunt posting five goals and six assists and Beebe pacing the Beavers with six goals and has added five assists.
Fifth-year senior Lydia Passolt has added six points (4g-2a) in 12 games this season and after missing six games due to injury, she has scored in three of the last four games. She leads the team with a two-game goal scoring streak and is the only Beavers with a two-game point streak.
Sophomore Hannah Hogenson leads the Beavers in net and has posted a 5-7-2 record after filling in for fifth-year senior Kerigan Dowhy who went down with injury early in the season. She is tied for fifth in the WCHA with a .922 save percentage and leads the WCHA, sixth in the nation, with 499 saves.
The Beavers are sixth in the WCHA standings with nine points (3-10-1) and trail fifth-place Minnesota State by seven points.
Bemidji State is 44-35-14 all-time against the Mavericks but are on a six-game winless streak against MSU (0-5-1).
Bemidji State’s last win against the Mavericks was Jan. 25, 2020, a 3-1 victory at Sanford Center after the Mavericks went 5-0-1 against the Beavers during the 2020-21 season.
When playing at Sanford Center, the Beavers are 21-15-9 (.567) against the Mavericks.
Paige Beebe leads all active skaters with 14 points (7g-7a) in 19 career games against the Mavericks while Lydia Passolt (3g-1a), Lindsey Featherstone (0g-4a), Graysen Myers (3g-1a) and Reece Hunt (0g-4a) each follow with four career points against MSU.
Featherstone and Beebe each pace the team with 19 career games against Minnesota State while Passolt and Myers have each appeared in 14 games.
Kerigan Dowhy paces the Beaver netminders with seven appearances and six starts against the Mavericks and has posted an 0-5-1 record with a .916 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average. No other goaltender on the Beavers’ roster has started a game against the Mavericks.
Five of the Beavers’ seven defensemen this season are freshman and are led by freshmen Ella Anick and Makenna Deering who have each posted three assists.
Anick and Deering also pace the team with 27 blocks and are tied for 11th in the WCHA.
Bemidji State is 6-for-52 (.115) on the power play this season to rank sixth in the WCHA and are led by Hunt who has scored two power-play goals.
Bemidji State’s penalty kill is 41-of-52 (.788) this season which is also sixth in the conference.
Two fifth-year seniors are nearing program records for the Beavers. Lindsey Featherstone and Paige Beebe have each skated in 147 career games and are four shy of tying a program record. Featherstone and Beebe have also skated in 145 consecutive games which is three shy of tying a program record.