Beavers look to end losing skid by hosting Minnesota State
The Bemidji State University women’s hockey team hosts its first Western Collegiate Hockey Association series by facing Minnesota State University, Mankato at Sanford Center. The Beavers (0-6-0, 0-2-0-0 WCHA) and Mavericks (3-3-0, 1-3-0-0 WCHA) clash for the two-game series Oct. 26-27. Puck drop for game one is scheduled for 6:07 p.m. Friday followed by 3:07 p.m. puck drop, Saturday.
The Beavers and Mavericks will meet for the 78th and 79th meetings in the two program’s histories dating back to 1999. Bemidji State holds the series record at 40-27-10 including 20-11-7 in Bemidji. The Beavers and Mavericks last met during the 2017-18 season where the Beavers went 3-1-0 against the Mavericks and 2-0-0 at home. In their last action, BSU and MSU split their regular season series in Mankato with the Beavers falling 3-1 in game one but rebounded with a 5-3 win in game two. Senior Emily Bergland leads all active skaters with 8 points (5g-3a) in 12 career games against the Mavericks while Paige Beebe (1g-5a) and Clair DeGeorge (1g-5a) follow with six points in four games each. Head coach Jim Scanlan is 13-3-0 all-time against Minnesota State while four-year head coach John Harrington is 3-9-0 against the Beavers.
Minnesota State enters the weekend’s action tied for fifth in the WCHA standings with three points. The Mavericks earned their first conference win of the season after splitting their series with St. Cloud State University last weekend. Minnesota State began the series with a 3-1 win over the Huskies in game one but fell in game two, 2-1. MSU was led by Rebekah Kolstad, Emily Antony, Corbin Boyd and Brittyn Fleming who each recorded two points in the series.
The Mavericks come into the weekend averaging 1.67 goals per game to stand sixth in the league while allowing just 1.67 goals against per game for third best in the WCHA. Minnesota State stays off the penalty sheet on a consistent basis and is the least penalized team in the league and through six games, average just 5.0 penalty minutes per game. The Mavericks’ special teams have seen little action to start the season but are tops in the league on the penalty kill. MSU killed off 13-of-13 penalties for a perfect 100 percent but have seen the fewest opponent power plays in the league (13). Their power play has struggled to start the season and are last in the league by coming up empty on all 14 of their chances (0-14).
Minnesota State is led on offense by senior Rebekah Kolstad and sophomore Brittyn Fleming who have each tallied four points in the team’s first six games. Kolstad leads the Mavericks with two goals while Fleming has tallied three assists to lead the team. The pair is followed by seniors Jordan McLaughlin and Corbin Boyd as well as freshman Anna Wilgren on the back-end. All three have totaled three points (1g-2a) in six games with Wilgren leading the Mavericks defense. In net, the Mavericks rely solely on freshman Abigail Levy. Levy has been excellent between the pipes for the Mavericks in her first six games and has posted a 1.65 goals against average and .945 save percentage to rank fourth and second in the conference, respectively.