Where do I begin? The last time I blogged we were in the middle of a women’s hockey road trip in Madison taking on the then #5 Badgers…and five weeks later that same UW team is now ranked #1 in the country.

Much has happened since that dinner at Rosarrio’s.

And it’s all been very, very good for the Bemidji State Beavers! The BSU women’s hockey team has had a season of “firsts” and have proven to the rest of the country they are a force to be reckoned with this season.

After kicking off the season on the road with back to back road trips, we would finally end up back home in Bemidji to open up the Bemidji Regional Event Center. I was so looking forward to “breaking in” the fancy new press box and getting to broadcast the very first BSU hockey game on the radio from the new hockey home. I think everyone else was pretty excited about that weekend too.

On October 15th, the then #1 team in the country Mercyhurst arrived for the opening game at the brand new hockey home of the Beavers, the BREC. Both Beaver hockey teams would fall to top ranked teams on opening night. The women lost 4-0 and the men lost to UND 5-2 on Friday. The next afternoon the ladies bounced back, as they have a history of doing. They would record their first ever win over a top team. It was an exciting 5-3 win that started off with the Beavers taking a 4-0 lead before the Lakers would finally answer. Sophomore center Sadie Lundquist would become the first BSU women’s hockey player to score at the BREC (8:34 of the 1st period) while junior goaltender Alana McElhinney would get her first win of the season and probably the biggest of her career as she stopped a record 56 shots on net. The win was also the first Beaver hockey win at the BREC.

Following that weekend, the Beavers would have an exhibition series against the Minnesota Whitecaps, a team made up of former college superstars and Olympians (like Jenny Potter of Team USA). We headed up to Eveleth, home to the US Hockey Hall of Fame, on Friday night. The Caps would win game one 3-1, and again the Beavers would bounce back on Saturday. BSU would win handily by a score of 5-1. Sophomore wing Emily Erickson put away a hat trick (it’s really too bad the win and statistics don’t count).

Finally back to WCHA play! At least that was what I was thinking when the Huskies came to town on Halloween weekend. If you haven’t listened to one of my game broadcasts from the beginning, then the following story may not make any sense, but here goes…I put together a “hockey open” each week to kick off my pregame show. It’s basically highlights, coach and player soundbites over a song that tells the story of the previous game. Since it was Halloween weekend, I had tucked away a couple of tunes to use depending on what happened on Saturday. One of those songs was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” which I owned on vinyl when I was in high school. Little did I know on Friday night, St. Cloud State was about to make that song a possibility. The Friday game got off to a fun start as Senior forward Erin Cody recorded her first hat trick of her career…and a natural hat trick to boot! She scored an even strength goal, a short-handed goal and a powerplay goal all in the first period. The Huskies, however, answered back with 2 goals in the third period and every Beaver fan there was sitting on the edge of their seat until the final whistle.

The next night, BSU dominated SCSU again. Cody added to her weekend total of 5 goals and 2 assists and the Beavers won 4-0. Junior goalie Zuzana Tomcikova recorded the shutout. And again the BSU women’s hockey team would continue to make their place in history with another “first”…the first sweep by a Beaver team at the BREC.

I’m not one to usually look back and dwell on one moment in time, but I couldn’t help but think about the win over #1 Mercyhurst as we all prepared for one of the biggest challenges of this season when the Beavers hosted their nemesis, the UMD Bulldogs. Like before, the Beavers had to battle a nationally ranked team and one they had never beaten in 49 previous meetings. I kept thinking, this is the year that our ladies can get it done and they didn’t let me down, that’s for sure!

“50” must have been the lucky number because the Beaver finally did it, they beat those darn Bulldogs! What an exciting game! It would be scoreless for over 53 minutes until Erickson found the back of the net and put BSU up 1-0. The Beavers got stellar goaltending again by Zuzka as she would get her 3rd shutout of the season and her 11th of her career. It was a game that no BSU hockey fan will soon forget, at least I won’t forget it.

Another “first” for this year’s BSU women’s hockey team!