Beavers return from bye with road trip to No. 3 Gophers

BSU Women’s Hockey begins eight-game stretch of road games with series at No. 3 Minnesota

Fresh off another bye week, the Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team returns to Western Collegiate Hockey Association action with a road trip to Minneapolis, Minn., to take on No. 3 University of Minnesota.

The Beavers (1-12-1, 1-9-0 WCHA) begin an eight-game stretch of road games by facing the third-ranked Gophers (11-2-0 7-2-0 WCHA) at Ridder Arena for a two-game series beginning Friday, Dec. 2 at 6:01 p.m. Game two of the series will take place Saturday at 2:01 p.m.

Each game of the series will be streamed online at B1G+ with play-by-play provided Gopher Sports. 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 an eight-game stretch of road games this weekend that spans 53 days before its next home series at Sanford Center on Jan. 19-20.

The Beavers face their fifth nationally ranked opponent of the season in the third-ranked Gophers.

Bemidji State is returning to play after its second bye week and is coming off earning its first victory of the season after a series split with Minnesota State University, Mankato on Nov. 17-18.

The Beavers earned their first win of the season after defeating the Mavericks 3-2 in overtime in their series opener. Minnesota State responded with its own 3-2 overtime win in game two to salvage the series split.

Senior defenseman Khloe Lund led the Beavers in the series with three points (1g-2a) and was named the WCHA Defenseman of the Week. She was joined by freshman Hailey Armstrong who scored twice to earn WCHA Rookie of the Week honors. Both earned the accolades for the first time in their careers.

The Beavers played just four games during November going 1-3-0 during the month.

BSU will play its first road series since Oct. 20-21.

Bemidji State opens the weekend tied for sixth in the WCHA standings with three league points while the Gophers are third with 22.

Bemidji State is fueled by its top line of Taylor Nelson, Gabbie Smith and Hailey Armstrong.

The three have combined for 20 of the team’s 41 points this season and 11 of the team’s 15 goals.

The trio scored three of the Beavers’ five goals in their last series including two from Armstrong.

Smith center’s the line with Nelson on the left and Armstrong on the right. Nelson (3g-4a) and Armstrong (7g) have each recorded seven points to tie for the team lead while Smith follows with six points (1g-5a).

Armstrong leads the team with seven goals through 14 games and is tied for the 10th most in the WCHA. Five of her goals have come in league play which tied for the sixth most.

The Dawson, B.C., native is coming off back-to-back games scoring a goal and has scored in consecutive games once earlier this season. She has never scored in three-straight games.

Smith’s five assists paces the team and is tied for 17th most in the WCHA. She is coming off back-to-back games recording an assist.

Smith has taken 41 percent of the team’s face-offs and is fifth in the WCHA with 297 total draws. She has won 129 for a 43.4 win percentage which is 18th in the conference.

Along with tying for the team lead in points (7), Nelson leads the BSU forwards with 15 blocked shots.

Junior Makenna Deering powers the Beavers’ blueline leading the group with four points off four assists. She is third on the team and sixth in the league with 25 blocked shots.

Freshman Riley Reeves leads the team with 36 blocked shots which is the most in the WCHA and the fourth most in Division I.

Junior Abbie Thompson has been the workhorse in between the pipes for the Beavers starting ten of the Beavers’ 14 games but split last weekend’s series with freshman Eva Filippova.

Thompson has posted a 0-9-1 record with a 4.07 goals against average and .892 save percentage and is coming off stopping 33-of-36 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss to MSU.

Filippova led the Beavers to their first victory of the season and her first collegiate win after she stopped 24-of-26 shots against the Mavericks.

The freshman is 1-2-0 on the season in three starts and has a 2.66 goals against average and .909 save percentage.

The Beavers will face the third-ranked team in both the USA Hockey/The Rink Live and UCHSO.com Top-15 national polls in the Gophers who are riding a six-game win streak.

The two teams will meet for the 107th and 108th meetings in the all-time series this weekend.

Minnesota dominates the all-time series record at 90-9-7 overall and are 47-5-4 when hosting the Beavers in Minneapolis.

The Gophers have won the last 18 meetings against the Beavers, the longest win streak in their series.

BSU’s last win against Minnesota came on Dec. 2, 2017 at Ridder Arena 2,189 days ago.

Head coach Jim Scanlan is 5-32-1 in 10 seasons coaching against the Buckeyes.