Beavers continue WCHA play on the road this weekend at No. 1 Wisconsin

BSU Women’s Hockey faces top-ranked, defending National Champions Badgers

The Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team will face a tough challenge this weekend and travels to Madison, Wis., to take on No. 1 University of Wisconsin at LaBahn Arena.

The Beavers (0-5-1, 0-2-0 WCHA) will play a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with the Badgers (6-0-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) beginning Friday, Oct. 20 at 7:01 p.m., and ending Saturday at 3:01 p.m.

Each game of the series will be streamed online at B1G+ with play-by-play provided UW 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.

Bemidji State continues play on the road for its second consecutive WCHA road series.

The Beavers are coming off a 0-2-0 weekend at No. 15 St. Cloud State University that opened the conference season.

BSU fell 5-2 in the first game versus the Huskies and then fell 3-0 in game two.

Freshman forward Hailey Armstrong scored both goals for the Beavers in the season bringing her team-leading tally to four on the season.

This weekend will mark the second consecutive weekend with the Beavers facing a top-15 opponent and aims to set up four weekends in a row versus nationally ranked opponents.

Armstrong and senior Taylor Nelson pace the Beavers in scoring with each totaling four points.

Armstrong is the team’s goal leader with four while Nelson paces the team with three assists.

Armstrong is tied for eighth in the WCHA in goal scoring.

Nine different Beavers have recorded a point while four Beavers have scored a goal.

Junior Abbie Thompson has started the last four games in between the pipes for the Beavers. She is 0-4-1 on the season with a 2.97 goals against average and .898 save percentage.

Thompson leads the WCHA and 14th in Division I with 132 saves on the season.

The Beavers will face the unanimous No. 1 team in both the USA Hockey/The Rink Live and USCHO.com National polls.

Wisconsin enters the weekend’s series with a perfect 6-0-0 record and are coming off a series sweep over Minnesota State University, Mankato after outscoring the Mavericks 15-0 in the series.

The Badgers are the highest scoring team in Division I, netting 54 goals just six games into the season. The second-highest goal scoring team is Colgate with 26.

The defending National Champions have not lost a game since March 3 of 2023, the WCHA Final Faceoff Championship game.

Bemidji State and Wisconsin will face-off for the 101st and 102nd meetings between the two teams.

Wisconsin dominates the all-time series record boasting an 88-7-5 all-time record versus the Beavers and have won the last nine match-ups.

In LaBahn Arena, the Beavers have just four wins in 51 games against the Badgers (4-45-2).

Bemidji State’s last victory over Wisconsin came on Jan. 11, 2020, a 3-2 win at Sanford Center, while the Beavers’ last win in LaBahn goes all the way back to the 2014-15 season (Jan. 16, 2015).

Senior Taylor Nelson and junior Makenna Deering lead all active skaters with two career points against the Badgers.

Head coach Jim Scanlan is 3-33-2 in 10 seasons coaching against the Badgers.

Thompson is the lone goaltender to have faced the Huskies making two relief appearances.

2023-24 is the 26th season of Bemidji State Women’s Hockey. In 26 seasons, the Beavers are 271-517-79 (.360).

Head coach Jim Scanlan is in his 10th season at the helm of the Bemidji State Women’s Hockey program. He is 118-177-22 (.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.