Beavers travel across Highway 2 to renew rivalry with No. 4 Bulldogs

BSU Women’s Hockey travels to No. 4 Minnesota Duluth for weekend series

Fresh-off its first series sweep since 2022, the Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey hopes to carry momentum into a road series at No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth.

The Beavers (3-10-1, 2-8-0 WCHA) travel across Highway 2 to battle the fourth-ranked Bulldogs (6-5-1, 5-4-1 WCHA) for a two-game, WCHA series beginning Friday, Nov. 22 and ending Saturday. The Beavers drop the puck on their two-game set Friday afternoon at 3:02 p.m., followed by the series finale Saturday at 1:02 p.m.

Both games in the series will be streamed online at B1G+ with play-by-play provided by UMD Athletics. A Beaver Radio Network broadcast can be heard on the radio at 94.3 FM The Legends or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com with Rob Aitken providing play-by-play commentary.

The Beavers are riding the high of earning its first series sweep of the season last weekend against University of St. Thomas.

It was the first Beaver sweep of an opponent since the 2022-23 season and first sweep over a WCHA opponent since the 2021-22 season.

The Beavers earned a complete-game victory in game one defeating the Tommies 4-1. They then held-off a late surge by UST in game two winning 4-3 to complete the sweep.

Sophomore Kate Johnson had the best series of her career collecting four points in the series off a goal and three assists.

She began with her first career three-point effort assisting on three of the Beavers’ four goals Friday night and then scored her first goal of the season Saturday.

The line of Johnson, junior Raeley Carney and sophomore Talya Hendrickson factored in on four of the Beavers’ eight goals over the weekend including three on Friday night.

Freshman goaltender Kaitlin Groess also earned her first collegiate sweep in net and was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week after she stopped 56-of-60 shots over the weekend including 39-of-42 on Saturday.

The Beavers now hit the road for the first time this month and last played on the road at No. 1 Wisconsin Oct. 24-25.

This weekend’s road series begins a 13-game road streak for the Beavers and won’t play at home next until Jan. 31.

The Beavers are still looking for their first road win of the season and are 0-4-0 on the road.

Bemidji State travels to the No. 4 team in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live top-20 national polls in Minnesota Duluth.

Bemidji State is 0-7-0 against ranked opponents this season.

The Beavers will face Highway 2 rival Minnesota Duluth for the first time this season.

Historically, the Bulldogs have dominated the all-time series owning a 92-22-4 record when facing BSU.

The Bulldogs have won the last 13 meetings against the Beavers dating back Jan. 23, 2021.

Bemidji State is 11-50-3 when facing UMD on the road.

The Beavers earned their first league points of the season last weekend and moved into seventh in the WCHA standings with six points.

The Bulldogs are fourth in the standings with 17 points.

The Bulldogs are hungry for a pair of victories after being swept by Minnesota last weekend at AMSOIL Arena.

Bemidji State is led by sophomore Hailey Armstrong. She has recorded seven points in 14 games and leads the team and is tied for 11th in the WCHA with six goals. She is three points and three goals away from tying her career high.

Armstrong netted the league’s only hat trick of the 2024-25 season on Oct. 18 against Lindenwood.

She is followed by redshirt freshman Isa Goettl (3g-3a) and sophomore Kate Johnson (1g-5a) who have each recorded six points.

Johnson paces the Beavers with five assists and has tied her freshman season total of six points in just 14 games this season.

43 of the Beavers’ 59 points this season have been scored by underclassmen.

The Beavers’ top six scorers through 14 games are underclassmen.

18 of the Beavers’ 24 goals have also been scored by underclassmen including five of their top six scorers.

Sophomore Riley Reeves paces the Beavers’ blue line with five points (2g-3a). She also is tied for the NCAA lead with 45 blocked shots.

The Beavers lead the WCHA and are fourth in DI with 242 blocked shots.

Reeves, Kendra Fortin and Olivia Dronen rank 1-2-3 in the WCHA in blocked shots.

Freshman Kaitlin Groess has earned the starters crease for the Beavers and has made 11 starts posting a 2.75 goals against average and .916 save percentage.

She has started the last six games for the Beavers and is second in the WCHA and 13th in DI with 653:54 minutes played in net.

Her 328 saves this season are most in the WCHA (sixth in DI) and is fifth in the league with a .916 save percentage.

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.

The Beavers will have one graduate and six seniors lead the team followed by three juniors, eight sophomores, and nine freshmen.

The Beavers’ roster consists of 15 forwards, eight defensemen and four goaltenders.

Senior Alyssa Watkins was voted by her peers to captain the team during the season and is the 40th team captain in the program’s history. She is joined by senior Genevieve Hendrickson and junior Mya Headrick who will serve as alternate captains.

Eight freshmen join the program for their first season in NCAA Division I women’s hockey. The group consists of five forwards, one defenseman and two goaltenders.

The Beavers’ roster consists of 17 Minnesotan’s, 19 from the U.S., five from Canada, and three from Europe.

2024-25 is the 27th season in Bemidji State Women’s Hockey history and the program is 278-552-81 (.350) in 911 games played.