Beavers head to No. 3 Gophers for WCHA series and Hockey Day in Minnesota

BSU Women’s Hockey faces No. 3 Minnesota and participates in Hockey Day in Minnesota

The Bemidji State University Women’s Hockey team returns to the road for the final series of its 13-game road streak and travels to face No. 3 University of Minnesota Friday-Saturday.

The Beavers (4-20-1, 2-16-0 WCHA) face the Golden Gophers (19-5-1, 13-4-1 WCHA) at Ridder Arena Friday, Jan. 24 for game one of their series and will then head outdoors to Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minn., to join the state-wide celebration of hockey for Hockey Day in Minnesota Saturday for game two. Game one at Ridder Arena is slated for 12:00 p.m., puck drop while Saturday’s festivities begins at 11:30 a.m.

Bemidji State faces Minnesota for the fourth and fifth meetings this season, most of any opponent.

The Beavers end a 13-game road streak this weekend.

Bemidji State participates in its second Hockey Day in Minnesota festival after Bemidji hosted the event in 2019.

Saturday will be the third time in program history the Beavers have played outdoors and are 0-2-0 on outdoor ice.

BSU competed against University of Wisconsin in the Culver’s Camp Randall Hockey Classic held at Camp Randall Stadium on Feb. 6, 2010 as well as Hockey Day in Minnesota on Jan. 19, 2019 as its two times playing outdoors.

The Beavers face their third consecutive top-15 nationally ranked opponent and fifth overall.

BSU is back in action after falling in two games to No. 11 St. Cloud State University last weekend in St. Cloud.

The Beavers fell just short of an upset over the Huskies in game two after scoring the first two goals but the Huskies stormed back to score three unanswered including the game-winning goal with 1:09 to play.

Bemidji State is 0-3-0 against the Gophers this season and last met Jan. 1 at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum Face-Off Classic where the Gophers earned a 4-1 victory.

The Beavers are hoping to end a 25-game losing streak to the Gophers, a streak that dates back to Nov. 2, 2018.

Bemidji State is 9-97-7 all-time against the Gophers and 5-49-4 when playing on the road.

Sophomore Kate Johnson (2g-2a) and senior Genevieve Hendrickson (1g-3a) lead all Beaver skaters each totaling four career points against the Gophers.

Johnson scored the Beavers’ lone goal in their last meeting on Jan. 1.

Just five WCHA series remain in the 2024-25 regular season and the Beavers will try to gain as many league points as possible in order to climb out of eighth in league standings.

Minnesota enters the weekend’s action second in league standings holding 39 points in conference play.

Bemidji State head coach Amber Fryklund is back with the team after traveling with Team USA at the IIHF U-18 Women’s World Championships where she helped Team USA earn a silver medal.

Minnesota enters the weekend ranked 3rd in both the USA Hockey/The Rink Live and USCHO.com national polls and have won its last four games.

The Beavers are led by its underclassmen with eight of their top-10 scorers either freshmen or sophomores.

Sophomore Hailey Armstrong, redshirt freshman Isa Goettl and freshman Morgan Smith pace the Beavers totaling 13 points each.

Armstrong leads the team with eight goals while Morgan Smith’s five power-play goals lead the team and are tied for the third most in the WCHA. The trio have scored the most points in a season for BSU since the 2021-22 season.

Goettl is tied with sophomore Kate Johnson for the team lead with seven assists.

Smith’s five power-play goals this season is tied for the 10th most in a single season in program history and trails program record holder Sadie Lundquist who scored eight in 2011-12.

Smith leads the Beavers with seven points while on the power play (5g-2a) while Goettl follows with five (2g-3a).

The Beavers’ power play ranks seventh in the WCHA converting on .169 percent (10-of-59) of their chances.

Bemidji State continues to be the top team in the nation at blocking shots leading the league and fifth in Division I with 413 blocked shots.

Five of the league’s top 10 shot blockers are Bemidji State Beavers including sophomore Riley Reeves who leads the league and is tied for third in the nation with 63 blocked shots.

Freshman Kaitlin Groess is the Beavers’ leading netminder posting a 3-12-0 record with a 3.36 goals against average and .901 save percentage in 15 games this season.

She has split time during the second half of the season with sophomore Eva Filippova who is 0-6-0 with a .881 save percentage and 3.87 goals against average.