Bemidji State women’s Hockey hosts St. Cloud State for two-game series at Sanford Center

The Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team continues play at Sanford Center this weekend and hosts St. Cloud State University to end its four-game homestand this weekend. The Beavers (3-8-1, 1-7-0 WCHA) host the Huskies (4-6-0, 2-6-0 WCHA) for a two-game, Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Sanford Center beginning Friday, Nov. 4 at 3:01 p.m. The Beavers and Huskies will then face-off for game two Saturday with a 2:01 p.m., puck drop.

Bemidji State enters the sixth week of WCHA play after earning its first WCHA victory of the season last weekend by splitting its series with Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The Beavers earned a 2-1 victory over the Mavericks in game one but fell 3-0 in game two. Senior Reece Hunt scored the game-winning goal for the Beavers in game one while junior Hannah Hogenson made 26-of-27 saves to pick up her first league win of the season.

The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Beavers and an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1).

The Beavers were stymied in game two of the series by Mavericks’ goaltender Alexa Berg who stopped all 27 shots by the Beavers for her second win this season.

The Beavers have now dropped their last six games and are 0-7-1 in their last eight after starting the season 2-0-0.

Sophomore Shelby Breiland scored the Beavers’ other goal in game one which was her first career goal.

Bemidji State averages 1.42 goals per game which is seventh in the WCHA and allows 4.17 goals per game for eighth. The Beavers are tied for last in the league with a -2.80 scoring margin.

The Beavers have scored four power-play goals this season which is sixth in the league and have a power-play percentage of .148 (4-27) to rank sixth. However, BSU has failed to score a power-play goal in its last eight games (0-for-18).

The Beavers’ penalty kill has allowed six power-play goals this season, most in the WCHA and is fifth in the league with a penalty kill of .833 (30-of-36).

BSU averages 3.33 penalties per game, third-most in the WCHA and have had 40 penalties called against them, second most in the league.

Bemidji State is fifth in the WCHA with a face-off percentage of .504 and have won 329-of-653 draws. That number is also good for 20th in Division I.

Bemidji State has totaled 365 saves as a team which leads the WCHA and is third in Division I. Junior Hannah Hogenson has made 330 of those saves which leads the WCHA and is second most in the nation.

Bemidji State leads the WCHA with 208 blocked shots this season and average 17.33 per game.

Bemidji State is led on offense by sophomore defenseman Adriana Van De Leest who has totaled six points (6a) despite missing three games due to injury.

She is followed by Gabbie Smith and Taylor Nelson who have each posted four points off two goals and two assists in 12 games.

Nelson, Smith, Raeley Carney, Genevieve Hendrickson and Claire Vekich all lead the Beavers with two goals this season.

Paige Anderson is fifth in the WCHA with 97 face-off wins this season and she has a .502 success rate. She is followed closely by freshman Raeley Carney with 96 face-off wins and owns a .530 face-off winning percentage. Gabbie Smith follows with 86 face-off wins (.506) but didn’t take any draws last weekend after playing the wing for the first time in her career.

Senior Abby DeLaRosa and sophomore Taylor Larson are each tied for third in the WCHA with 22 blocked shots this season. They are followed by Makenna Deering with 21, Ella Annick (19) and Kendra Fortin (16).

Bemidji State is 51-44-10 when playing the Huskies and are 26-20-4 when playing in Bemidji.

The Beavers are currently on a one-game winning streak versus the Huskies and went 3-1-0 against St. Cloud State last season.

Senior Reece Hunt leads active skaters with seven points (3g-4a) in 15 career games against St. Cloud State while Taylor Nelson (1g-3a) and Kate Boland (4a) have each added four points.

Following Hunt, Gabbie Smith is the only other skater with multiple goals against SCSU and has totaled two goals in 10 games.

In three career games against St. Cloud State, junior Hannah Hogenson has posted a perfect 3-0-0 record with a .944 save percentage and 1.65 goals against average. She is the lone netminder to have seen action between the pipes versus the Huskies.

Head coach Jim Scanlan is 22-13-1 versus SCSU in his nine seasons at the helm of the Bemidji State Women’s Hockey program.