Women’s Hockey battles No. 2 Gophers at Ridder arena

The Bemidji State University women’s hockey team continues Western Collegiate Hockey Association play and travels to No. 2 University of Minnesota for a two-game series at Ridder Arena. The Beavers (0-7-1, 0-3-1-0 WCHA) and Gophers (7-2-1, 5-2-1-0 WCHA) clash Nov. 2-3 with puck drop for game one scheduled for 6:07 p.m., Friday followed by a 4:07 p.m. puck drop, Saturday.

The Beavers and Gophers will meet for the 89th and 90th meetings in the two program’s histories dating back to 1998. Minnesota has dominated the series record and is 72-9-7 against BSU and 39-5-4 in Minneapolis. The Beavers and Mavericks last met during the 2017-18 season where the Beavers went 1-3-0 against the Gophers with BSU’s lone win coming on the road in a 4-2 upset over the then sixth-ranked Gophers. The Beavers were led by Jacqueline Kaasa who totaled a career-best two goals and two assists in the game. Kaasa leads all active skaters with 6 points (2g-34) in 11 career games against Minnesota while Mak Langei follows with four points (1g-3a) in four games. Head coach Jim Scanlan is 5-14-1 all-time against Minnesota.

A Look At The Gophers
Minnesota enters the weekend’s action leading the WCHA standings with 16 points and are 5-2-1-0 in league play. The Gophers are ranked second in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls after starting the season 7-2-1 in the team’s first 10 games. The Gophers traveled to No. University of Wisconsin last weekend for the first Border Battle of the season and split its series with the Badgers. Minnesota began the series with a 1-0 shutout of the Badgers in game one but fell in game two, 4-1. Minnesota was led by sophomore defenseman Emily Brown in the series who totaled a goal and assist and was named the league’s Defenseman of the Week.

The Gophers come into the weekend averaging the second most goals per game in the league at 3.30 goals per game to and third in goals against and allow just 1.60 goals per game. Minnesota averages 6.5 penalty minutes per game to rank fourth but have killed off just 17-of-22 chances to rank sixth in penalty kill percentage (.773). The Gophers’ power play has seen the second most chances in the league and in 31 attempts, they have scored five times for fourth in the conference (.161).

Minnesota is led on offense by senior Nicole Schammel who is tied for third in the league in scoring and through 10 games, has recorded 12 points (3g-9a). She Is followed by sophomore Grace Zumwinkle with nine points (4g-5a) to tie for eighth while senior Kelly Pannek has added seven points (3g-4a). Zumwinkle leads the Gophers with four goals while Schammel’s nine assists leads the team and is tied for second most in the league. The Gopher’s blueline is led by junior Patti Marshall and sophomore Emily Brown. Marshall leads Minnesota’s defense with seven points (1g-6a) while Brown follows closely with six point (2g-4a). In net, the Gophers have split time between junior Sydney Scobee and sophomore Alex Gulstene who each have started five games. Gulstene boasts the league’s best goals against average at 1.20 and is a perfect 5-0-0 on the season while Scobee is 2-2-1 with a 1.79 goals against average. Gulstene also leads the Gophers with a .945 save percentage, third best in the league, while Scobee has posted a .913 save percentage.

Bemidji State Notes

The Beavers are back on the road at Minnesota after hosting Minnesota State University, Mankato at Sanford Center last weekend.

The Beavers went 0-1-1 against the Mavericks and earned just one point against the Mavericks after forcing a shootout in a 0-0 tie in game two.

Redshirt sophomore Lauren Bench started both games against Minnesota State and allowed just two goals in the series after stopping 52-of-54 shots including a 33-save shutout in game two.

Bemidji State is 9-72-7 all-time against Minnesota and went 1-3-0 against the Gophers in last year’s meetings.

In the Beavers and Gophers last series at Ridder Arena, Bemidji State earned a split against sixth-ranked Minnesota after falling to the Gophers 3-2 in overtime in game one and won game two, 4-2.

In head coach Jim Scanlan’s 20 meetings with Minnesota, he is 5-14-1.

Seniors Emily Bergland and Melissa Hunt have played the most games against the Gophers with each totaling 15.

Junior Jacqueline Kaasa has the most points among active skaters against the Gophers and in 11 games has six points (2g-4a) including a four-point effort in their last meeting.

Sophomore Mak Langei follows with four points (1g-3a) in four games.

Lauren Bench has been the lone goaltender to see time against Minnesota and is 1-2-0 with a 2.90 goals against average and .899 save percentage.

The Beavers are led on offense this season by Emily Bergland, Abby Halluska, Kara Werth, Tina Kampa and Briana Jorde. Each have posted three points in eight games with Bergland, Halluska, Werth and Kampa tallying a goal and two assists while Jorde has three assists.

The Beavers have seen a different goal scorer for nine of their 10 goals this season with Paige Beebe being the lone Beaver with two goals.
Senior Emily Bergland scored her 31st career goal earlier this season and looks to crack BSU’s all-time goal scoring list and trails 10th on the list, Kelly Hart, by just two goals.

Bergland leads all active skaters with 56 career points (31g-25a) while Haley Mack follows with 38 points (15g-23a).