Beavers return home to renew rivalry with No. 7/8 Minnesota Duluth

BSU Women’s Hockey begins six-game homestand by hosting No. 7/8 Bulldogs

The Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team renews its cross-state rivalry with No. 7/8 University of Minnesota Duluth this weekend and makes its return to Sanford Center for the first time since Oct. 6-7.

The Beavers (0-7-1, 0-4-0 WCHA) will play a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with the Bulldogs (4-2-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) beginning Friday, Oct. 27 at 3:01 p.m., and concluding Saturday at 2:01 p.m. Saturday’s match-up will be the Organ Donation Awareness game where the Beavers hope to bring attention to the need for organ donors.

Each game of the series will be streamed online at B1G+ with play-by-play provided the Beaver Radio Network. 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 begins a six-game homestand this weekend for its first home series since Oct. 6-7 and first home WCHA series of the 2023-24 season.

The Beavers are coming off two losses at No. 1 University of Wisconsin.

Bemidji State battled the top-ranked and defending national champion Badgers tough but fell 4-0 and 8-1.

Junior goaltender Abbie Thompson kept the Beavers within striking distance of UW in game one and stopped the fourth-most shots in program history after stopping 60-of-64 shots.

She stopped the games first 35 shots to keep the score 0-0 after two periods before the Badgers finally broke through with four goals in the third period.

Thompson stopped the most shots by a BSU netminder since Lauren Bench stopped a program record 70 shots in 2020.

For her near record setting performance, Thompson was named the WCHA Goaltender of the Week for the first time in her career.

Freshman forward Hailey Armstrong scored the Beavers’ lone goal in Saturday’s 8-1 loss.

She has scored five of the team’s eight goals this season and is tied for seventh in the WCHA.

The rookie from Dawson Creek, B.C., is on pace for a program record 21 goals by a freshman (.625 g/game).

She plays on the right of senior center Gabbie Smith and with senior left wing Taylor Nelson. That line has contributed to 13 (7g-6a) of the Beavers 22 points (8g-14a) and seven of the teams’ eight goals.

Nelson is tied with Armstrong for the team’s points lead with five and leads BSU with four assists.

This weekend will mark the third consecutive series that the Beavers are facing a top-15 opponent and they will continue that trend next weekend as well as they welcome No. 2 Ohio State University.

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

Thompson paces the Beaver netminders starting six of the team’s eight games. She is 0-5-1 with a .910 save percentage and 3.14 goals against average.

Thompson leads the WCHA and 12th in Division I with 192 saves and 10th in save percentage.

The Beavers go up against the No. 7 ranked team and No. 8 ranked team in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live and USCHO.com National polls this weekend in Minnesota Duluth.

UMD enters the weekend’s series with a 4-2-0 record and are coming off a series sweep at Minnesota State University, Mankato and out-scored the Mavericks 7-2 in the series.

Bemidji State and Minnesota Duluth have faced off for the most meetings between any other team in the NCAA and this weekend will mark the 115th and 116th games in the all-time series

The Bulldogs dominate the all-time series record boasting an 88-22-4 all-time record versus the Beavers including winning the last nine match-ups.

At Sanford Center, the Beavers have just 10 wins in 50 games (10-39-1).

Bemidji State’s last victory over UMD was Jan. 22, 2021, a 1-0 overtime win at Sanford Center.

Head coach Jim Scanlan is 18-29-2 in 10 seasons coaching against the Bulldogs.

2023-24 is the 26th season of Bemidji State Women’s Hockey. In 26 seasons, the Beavers are 271-519-79 (.360).

Head coach Jim Scanlan is in his 10th season at the helm of the Bemidji State Women’s Hockey program. He is 118-179-22 (.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.