The first half of the women’s hockey season is in the books. It’s hard to believe how fast it flew by. Ask any of the seniors on this Beaver squad and they’ll tell you just how fast it has gone by.

It was a memorable first half for the Bemidji State women’s hockey team, to say the least. Three words come to mind when I look back: adversity, resiliency and family. However, the rest of the media and public will probably remember another moment, but I’ll mention that a little later on here.

The first road trip of the 2013-14 season was one I’m certain that five-year senior goaltender Jessica Havel would like to put behind her. No one wants to spend their first weekend of their final year of playing hockey in the emergency room 715 miles from home.

This is how I remember that weekend in St. Louis. I remember getting to the rink in St. Peters, Missouri for the first practice of the weekend. I found a table in the lobby where I could study my notes for our series against Lindenwood. I remember looking over to my left and seeing our assistant coach Amber Fryklund and equipment manager Andrea Nichols walking toward the exit of the rink with a doubled-over Havel. I found out later that they were headed to the emergency room. After a long night of waiting, the team found out that “Bessie” had made it through surgery, but not without a very scary moment. She had an aversion to the anesthesia. Thank God for good doctors!

Even with the thought of their teammate heavy on their hearts, the Lady Beavers came out of the first weekend with a win, a tie and an impressive performance by Havel’s backup, freshman goaltender Brittni Mowat. One could say Mowat was literally fed to the Lions in her first collegiate games.

We flew back home, relieved that Havel was able to travel back with the team and happy that she was feeling better. A weekend like that one surely brought this Beaver squad closer together. I could see it, there was something different about the camaraderie of this team after that series.

The first team to challenge the Beavers on their home ice was a very strong Robert Morris team. BSU got swept at home. Credit the Colonials who are currently at the top of the College Hockey America standings and are ranked #10 in the national polls. RMU would be Bemidji State’s biggest non-conference challenge of the season.

The weekend against RMU at the Sanford Center included a game in honor of Bemidji State’s Jennessa Philipczyk’s niece Lilah who is battling stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. The Beavers again banded together around a teammate and her family to help create awareness for childhood cancer and raise money for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund. This was just one more moment this BSU women’s hockey team grew closer as a “hockey family.”

After a rough first home series against Robert Morris, the Beavers bounced back in week 3 getting their first home win against Lindenwood. The 5-0 win was also the first shutout for Mowat. BSU finished the weekend sweep with a 4-1 win over the Lady Lions at the Sanford Center.

The Beavers were playing well, but then had to face two of the toughest teams in the county; the undefeated Minnesota Gophers and a top five North Dakota team.

Bemidji State headed to Columbus, Ohio riding a four-game losing streak. The Beavers were still looking for their first WCHA win. Anyone would understand that when BSU accomplished that feat, they would celebrate it. Well, anyone, but the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes didn’t like losing on their home ice.

The Beavers played so well in game one at the OSU Ice Rink. They captured a 3-2 win, their first in league play. Senior Tess Dusik scored a short-handed 3 on 5 goal in one of the greatest plays I have seen in my seven years covering BSU women’s hockey. The buzzer sounded. Game over. Beavers win! Senior captain Alex Ehlert turned from the blue line toward her goaltender Mowat to celebrate, and instead was jumped by two Buckeyes and tackled down to the ice. The Beaver bench came to Ehlert’s aid, then the Buckeyes raced off their bench. I had never seen anything like it. A women’s hockey brawl that made headlines across North America. After reviewing the video, the WCHA handed out a record number of penalties. 287 penalty minutes just for the fighting majors and game disqualifications plus the 16 minutes of penalties acquired during the 60 minutes of playing time. The record broke every penalty record set in NCAA hockey, on both the men’s and women’s sides of the game. Per foxsports.com “The previous record had been 268 penalty minutes, tallied by Boston University and Maine on Jan. 24, 2004. The record for a Division I women’s game was 83, set by Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth on Dec. 14, 2003.”

Some say bad press isn’t always “bad” press. My feelings are mixed on the topic. Good or bad press aside, it certainly got people talking about women’s college hockey.

Disappointingly, the brawl overshadowed two great games played by Bemidji State, one of which was played with only 10 players per side. More impressively for BSU, they took 5 out of 6 points against a Buckeye team that had won three of the previous four games at the OSU Rink.

The Beavers returned home with a new confidence. BSU also had a reputation they were hoping to put behind them.

They continued the first half with a home sweep over the MSU Mavericks; 4-1 and 3-2 during the weekend of November 15th and 16th respectively.

The Beavers headed to Duluth riding a two-game win streak, but fell 3-0 in the first game of the series against the Bulldogs. They finished up the series at the Amsoil Arena with an exciting 1-0 win that came in the final seconds on the powerplay. Sophomore Ivana Bilic who “quarterbacks” the Beaver powerplay sent a shot into the upper corner of the UMD net sending the goalie’s water bottle flying. Play continued on. No whistle from the referees. Time expired in the third period. I knew it had to be a goal. There was no other explanation for the water bottle to go flying and for Bilic to celebrate like she did. I looked over to the booth next to me in the press box and Tegan Rose, who was filming the game for our team, agreed it was a goal. That was one time I was thankful there was instant replay. Bilic’s goal came with just fifteen seconds left in the game. The Beavers had won only their second game ever in Duluth.

The first half wound down with an exhibition game against Team Russia. Bemidji State helped the fourth best team in the world prepare to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The game went back and forth with BSU’s Kaitlyn Tougas scoring the equalizer with just 1:36 left in the third period. Russia went onto win 5-4 in overtime. Not only was it a great game, but it was an experience this Beaver team won’t soon forget. They got to play against the host team for this year’s Winter Olympics. For me, it was equally a game I won’t forget. I had to learn how to pronounce all those Russian names and spit them out quickly during my radio play-by-play. You can listen back to the archive HERE. I got a little help from one of the Bemidji State men’s hockey players, Ruslan Pedan who hails from Moscow.

We wrapped up the first half with a very long road trip to Madison, Wisconsin to take on one of the best teams in the country. The Badgers were just too much for the Beavers to contain.

The first half break couldn’t come at a better time. The Beavers were a hurting bunch with a starting goaltender out with mononucleosis and a handful of players dinged up. Everyone was ready for the break. Time to heal up and regroup.

My “Hockey Open” from the first game of 2014 pretty much sums up the first half of the season for the Bemidji State University women’s hockey team.

Break is done. Back to the grind. The second half of the season is here.

This is the new year.