Beavers look to hold home playoff seeding in regular season finale

With one series left in the 2018-19 regular season, the Bemidji State University women’s hockey team has an opportunity to decide its own seeding in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. The Beavers (13-17-2, 10-10-2-0 WCHA) hold fourth and first-round, home playoff positioning with 32 points in league play but are separated by fifth-place University of Minnesota Duluth by just one-point. The Beavers face a daunting opponent in their regular season finale by hosting No. 2 University of Minnesota. The team will honor its two seniors Melissa Hunt and Emily Bergland during the weekend complete with a post-game ceremony following Saturday’s matchup.

The Beavers and Gophers meet for the 91st and 92nd meetings in the two program’s histories dating back to 1998. Minnesota dominates the all-time series record and holds a 74-9-7 record against Bemidji State entering the weekend. The Gophers have also been dominant in Bemidji and are 33-3-3. Bemidji State and Minnesota met earlier in the season in Minneapolis where the Gophers earned a series sweep over the Beavers. The second-ranked Gophers outscored the Beavers 8-4 in the series held Nov. 2-3. Minnesota defeated BSU 6-3 in game one and earned a 2-1 victory in game two to complete the sweep. BSU was led by sophomores Clair DeGeorge and Paige Beebe in the series after the duo each posted two points. DeGeorge paced the Beavers with two goals while Beebe recorded two assists. Fifth-year head coach Jim Scanlan is 5-16-1 against the Gophers while Brad Frost is 42-7-4 against BSU in his 12 seasons.