Beavers return to action and hosts St. Thomas at Sanford Center

BSU Women’s Hockey resumes play to host St. Thomas

The Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team returns from its bye week and prepares to host University of St. Thomas this weekend at Sanford Center in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action.

The Beavers (1-10-1, 0-8-0 WCHA) host the Tommies (5-6-1, 2-5-1 WCHA) for a two-game WCHA series beginning Friday, Nov. 15 and ending Saturday. The Beavers drop the puck on their two-game set with the Tommies Friday night at 6:02 p.m. CT Friday and then at 2:02 p.m. Saturday.

The Beavers return to action after their first bye week of the season this past weekend.

Bemidji State is seeking its first victory in WCHA play after going winless in the first eight conference games.

This weekend’s series will mark the first time since Oct. 18-19 that the Beavers won’t face a nationally ranked opponent and just the third series of the season.

The Beavers end a four-game home stand this weekend and will spend the next seven series on the road.

The Beavers will play the next 13 games on the road spanning from Nov. 22 to Jan. 31 or 70 days.

Bemidji State faces St. Thomas for the first time this season.

Historically, the teams have split their series with BSU holding a narrow 6-5-1 edge in the all-time series.

The Beavers have dominated play when hosting the Tommies and are 4-1-1 when playing at Sanford Center.

Bemidji State is 3-1-1 over the last five meetings between the two teams including a 1-0-1 record in their last series at Sanford Center.

Seniors Makenna Deering and Shelby Breiland lead the Beavers each recording two goals and three assists against the Tommies.

Sophomore Eva Filippova is the lone BSU netminder to have faced UST and in three games she is 2-0-1 with a 1.30 goals against average, .958 save percentage and earned her first career shutout.

The Beavers are eighth in the WCHA standings while the Tommies sit nine points ahead of them in sixth.

The Tommies are coming off a series split with Lindenwood University this past weekend.

Bemidji State is led by redshirt freshman Isa Goettl who has totaled six points (3g-3a) in 12 games.

She is followed by sophomore Hailey Armstrong, sophomore Riley Reeves and freshman Morgan Smith who each have five points.

Armstrong paces the team with four goals while Reeves and Smith have each registered two goals and three assists.

Reeves paces the Beavers’ blueline in points (5) and also leads the WCHA and is second in the nation with 38 blocked shots.

The Beavers lead the WCHA and are third in Division I Women’s Hockey with 214 blocked shots.

Freshman Kaitlin Groess has earned the starters crease for the Beavers and has made nine starts posting a 2.92 goals against average and .913 save percentage.

Groess is second in the WCHA with 533:55 minutes played and averages 30.2 saves per game to also rank second.

In her first season as head coach, Fryklund has welcomed back 15 returners from the 2023-24 season while adding 12 newcomers to the squad.