Beavers begin WCHA action with road trip to No. 15/14 St. Cloud State

Bemidji State Women’s Hockey plays for league points at Huskies

Western Collegiate Hockey Association action begins Friday night and the Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team will open league play with a road trip to No. 15/14 St. Cloud State University this weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

The Beavers (0-3-1, 0-0-0) and Huskies (3-1-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) both play their first league series of the 2023-24 season and will drop the puck on the weekend series Friday, Oct. 13 and Saturday. Game one will begin at 6:01 p.m., followed by game two at 3:01 p.m.

Each game of the series will be streamed online at B1G+ with play-by-play provided SCSU Athletics. A Beaver Radio Network broadcast will also be available for each game on the radio dial at 94.3 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com.

All eight teams in the WCHA begin conference play this weekend with the Beavers traveling to St. Cloud State, Minnesota State University, Mankato traveling to University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University traveling to University of Minnesota Duluth and University of Minnesota facing University of St. Thomas at the Xcel Energy Center.

Bemidji State is coming off its final non-conference series of the season where it hosted Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Sanford Center.

The Beavers went 0-1-1 against the Engineers after earning a 1-1 overtime tie in game one and fell 3-1 in game two.

Junior goaltender Abbie Thompson shined in net for the Beavers and stopped 48-of-52 shots over the series including 28-of-29 in Friday’s tie. She posted a 1.94 goals against average and .923 save percentage over the weekend.

Bemidji State saw four different skaters record a point in the series against the Engineers with freshman Hailey Armstrong and senior Kayla Santl each scoring goals.

Armstrong paces the Beavers with two goals on the season while seniors Taylor Nelson (1g-1a), Gabbie Smith (1g-1a) and sophomore Raeley Carney (2a) have also recorded two points.

Nine different Beavers have recorded a point just four games into the season.

Thompson paces BSU netminders starting three of the team’s four games between the pipes and has posted a 0-2-1 record with a 2.30 goals against average and .920 save percentage.

Thompson is one of four goaltenders to play in three games this season and eighth in the nation in save percentage among goalies to have played in at least 150 minutes.

Bemidji State travels to St. Cloud State as the Huskies host their second series at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center of the season.

The Huskies are ranked in the top-15 national polls and sit No. 15 in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll and No. 14 in the USCHO.com poll.

St. Cloud State enters the weekend’s series with a 3-1-0 record and are coming off a non-conference series split at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.

The Bemidji State-St. Cloud State women’s hockey rivalry is the second longest rivalry in terms of amount of games faced against one another in BSU’s history.

The two teams will meet for the 110th and 111th meetings in the all-time series, second to BSU-UMD (114).

Bemidji State edges the all-time series record holding a 51-48-10 record against the Huskies but have lost the last four meetings between the two teams.

Head coach Jim Scanlan is 22-17-2 in 10 seasons coaching against the Huskies.

St. Cloud State holds a slim lead in the all-time series when playing in St. Cloud with a 24-23-8 record.

Bemidji State’s last victory against the Huskies came by a score of 2-1 on Jan. 22, 2022 in Bemidji. The Beavers last win in St. Cloud was Dec. 4, 2021 (2-1 OT).

Seniors Taylor Nelson and Gabbie Smith have faced the Huskies the most of any active skaters on the team with the pair each skating in 14 career games versus St. Cloud State.

Nelson leads the team with four career points (1g-3a) against the Huskies while Smith follows with three (2g-1a) but paces the team with two career goals against SCSU.

No active goaltender on the 2023-24 roster for the Beavers has faced the Huskies.

2023-24 is the 26th season of Bemidji State Women’s Hockey. In 26 seasons, the Beavers are 271-515-79 (.360).

Head coach Jim Scanlan is in his 10th season at the helm of the Bemidji State Women’s Hockey program. He is 118-175-22 (.413) in his coaching career. He is one of 22 head coaches in Division I Women’s Hockey with 100 career victories and is sixth among active WCHA coaches in victories.

During the off-season, Scanlan announced the return of two former Beavers to his coaching staff for the upcoming season. Amber Fryklund makes her return as Associate Head Coach after pursuing a teaching career while former defenseman Alexis Joyce makes her coaching debut and was named an Assistant Coach.

They join Sarah Bobrowski (Assistant Coach) as the four leaders of the program for the season.

Senior Taylor Nelson was voted by her teammates to lead the 2023-24 Beavers on and off the ice and will dawn the “C” on her sweater. She will be assisted by fellow seniors Khloe Lund and Gabbie Smith who will serve as alternates and wear the “A”.

The Beavers have 24 student-athletes rostered for the 2023-24 season with 14 forwards, six defensemen and four goaltenders.

BSU returns 15 athletes from last year (10 forwards, three defensemen, two goaltenders) and lost 10 athletes (4 forwards, five defensemen, one goaltender) to graduation or the transfer portal.

Scanlan has added nine newcomers to the squad with four forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.

Junior Genevieve Hendrickson (2g-5a) and senior Khloe Lund (1g-6a) are the top scorers returning with each posting seven points in 30 games last season.

Nelson and sophomore Raeley Carney are the top returning goal scorers after each scored three goals.

Junior Abbie Thompson is the top returning goaltender after starting six games last year and posted a 2-4-0 record with a 4.68 goals against average and .844 save percentage.

Bemidji State’s nine newcomers to the team are Olivia Dronen, Ana Davis, Talya Hendrickson, Kate Johnson, Shelby Sandberg, Riley Reeves, Hailey Armstrong and Eva Filippova.

The Beavers look to add goal scoring from some of the highest scoring players in the state of Minnesota. Talya Hendrickson and Kate Johnson helped Warroad High School to back-to-back Class A State Tournament championships with Talya, younger sister of BSU forward Genevieve Hendrickson, recording the second most points in both classes with 101 (38g-63a) and Johnson third with 98 (38g-60a). The pair combined for 572 points in their Warroad careers.

The 2023-24 BSU Women’s Hockey roster consists of 16 Minnesotans, one Alaskan, one North Dakotan, one Wisconsinite, four Canadians and the program’s first Russia native in freshman goaltender Eva Filippova.

The Beavers added one student-athlete out of the transfer portal in junior goaltender Emerald Kelley from Minnesota State University, Mankato.