UMD WILL HOST NO. 7 BOSTON UNIVERSITY IN FIRST-EVER MEETING THIS WEEKEND

Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Bulldogs will be looking to upset No. 7 Boston University this weekend.

The Univeristy of Minnesota Duluth women?s hockey team will host No. 7 Boston University at AMSOIL Arena this weekend in what will be a first meeting between the two programs.? Saturday?s game is ?Cram the Am?, as the Bulldogs will try to set a regular season attendance record.? Discounted one dollar tickets are available at UMD until Friday at 4 p.m.? Both Saturday and Sunday?s games will start at 3:07 p.m.

UMD NOTES VS BOSTON UNIVERSITY

THE SERIES: The Bulldogs and No. 7 Terriers will meet for the first time this weekend at AMSOIL Arena.

UMD has gone 17-4 all-time against opponents out of the Hockey East, including earning a split against BU foe Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. earlier this season.? The Bulldogs were 3-1 against Hockey East members BC and Connecticut in 2011-12.

The only team that both squads have in common so far this season is BC.? BU has gone 1-1-1 against the Eagles this year, picking up a 4-2 win two games into the season on the road on Oct. 5.? The Terriers were pummeled by BC on Halloween (Oct. 31) at home 7-1 before tying the Eagles on Nov. 3 in Chestnut Hill by an overtime score of 5-5.

The Bulldogs split with BC back on Oct. 25-26, with a 3-2 win in the opening game on Eagle home ice.? BC bounced back the following day (Oct. 26) to earn the 3-2 win and even the series.

LAST WEEK:? UMD picked up its third Western Collegiate Hockey Association sweep last weekend in Bemidji, Minn. by defeating Bemidji State University 4-2 Friday night and 4-1 Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs erased a two-goal second period deficit Friday night by scoring four consecutive goals, an offense awakening that was started by Pernilla? Winberg?s tally at 13:22 of the second stanza.? Blueliner Emma Stauber scored the first goal of her UMD career at 2:53 of the third period to even the score at 2-2 and sophomore winger Zoe Hickel put the Bulldogs ahead for good 4:18 later on the power play, batting down the eventual game-winner.? Sophomore Jenna McParland cashed in UMD?s insurance policy with an empty net goal with 42 seconds remaining in the game to build the final 4-2 score.? The game was the first of the season that senior blueliner Jessica Wong, who has been battling an injury all season, was forced to miss.

Saturday afternoon the Bulldogs continued their late Friday night scoring blitz, putting three goals on the board before the Beavers could even muster one in the middle of the third period.

Rookie forward Aleksandra Vafina scored her first goal of the game (and her career) 12:15 into the opening period on the power play.? Hickel, who had already assisted on Vafina?s first period goal, netted one of her own at 11:22 of the second stanza.? Junior Jamie Kenyon stretched the Bulldogs lead to 3-0 at the 6:10 mark of the third period, the seventh goal against BSU in four periods of play, dating back to Friday night?s contest.? Vafina then recorded her second goal of the game late into the third period to push UMD?s final triumph to 4-1.

NOTES FROM THE BEMIDJI STATE SERIES:? UMD is now 54-3-2 all-time against the Beavers, and with the six points is now just three points out of fourth place in the WCHA with a total of 18 points.

--Zoe Hickel?s back-to-back game-winning goals was the first by a Bulldog since Emmanuelle Blais scored back-to-back game-winners Jan. 30-31 against North Dakota in Grand Forks.

--BSU actually outshot the Bulldogs overall in the series 71-60, but UMD outscored the Beavers 8-3.

--Two Bulldog rookies got on the scoresheet for the first time last Saturday (Dec. 2) --? Aleksandra Vafina (two goals) and Marie Delarbe (assist).

--Vafina was one of two Bulldogs to record career-highs for points with her two goals.? Sophomore blueliner Emma Stauber had a goal and an assist for UMD Friday night (Dec. 1), a career-best.? The goal was also a first for Stauber at a Bulldog.

--The Bemidji State series wrapped a season-long three week road trip for the Bulldogs.? In fact, the three weeks of away games was the longest of its kind for UMD since it rolled off three-consecutive road series during the 2009-10 season.? That stretch started on Oct. 30-Nov. 14, 2009.? The Bulldogs faced Mercyhurst, St. Cloud State and Ohio State and went an identical 4-2.

HICKEL WCHA OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:? Zoe Hickel has been virtually impossible to miss on both the ice and the scoresheet for UMD lately.

The sophomore winger was named the WCHA?s Offensive Player of the Week Tuesday after helping the Bulldogs sweep Bemdiji State University over the weekend with two goals -- both of them game-winners -- and an assist.

A native of Anchorage, Alaska, Hickel extended her career-best scoring streak to six games with a total of four goals and four assists in those past six skates.? Hickel?s new offensive confidence helped the Bulldogs recover from a two goal deficit Friday night by scoring the game-winning goal on the power play 7:11 into the third period.? Saturday afternoon Hickel had two points in the first two perioda, assisting on the first goal of the game at the 12:15 mark before netting one of her own at 11:22 of the second stanza.

Overall, Hickel was +3 on the weekend with 10 shots, and currently leads UMD in scoring with 12 points and a team-high seven goals.? UMD is 4-1-1 when Hickel finds the back of the net.

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION:? While the Bulldogs were out on the road the past three weeks, their fortune is not the only thing that has improved.

Prior to the St. Cloud series back on Nov. 16, UMD was averaging just 1.50 goals a game and giving up 2.30.? Since then, the Bulldogs have improved their goals per game average to 2.25 tallies a skate and although they are allowing 2.31 goals against, UMD has closed its scoring margin from a weaker -0.80 six games ago to just a -0.06 now.

The Bulldogs are also putting more shots on net, averaging 27.4 compared to the 24.5 they were before the road stand started.

WINNING BEFORE WINTER BREAK:? The Bulldogs have been pretty successful in their last series before the winter break over the past 13 years.

UMD is 18-5-3 heading into the winter break, and have gone 11-5-3 at home in Duluth.? The Bulldogs have been more impressive on the road before the holidays, posting an undefeated 7-0-0.

MILLER?S NEW MILESTONES:? Bulldog head coach Shannon Miller, currently in her 14th season behind the bench of UMD, is inching closer to some new milestones.

Miller, who currently owns an overall record at UMD of 341-109-36, is just nine victories shy of reaching 350 wins.? Already the third-winningest coach in NCAA Division I history, only one other coach has currently reached 350 victories -- Katey Stone from Harvard, who has had 18 seasons to reach 378-164-32.

Miller is also now just 14 games away from her 500th game at the helm of the Bulldogs.

BULLDOG NOTES:? So far this season, UMD has spread out its scoring, with four players having recorded nine points or more...Zoe Hickel leads the Bulldogs with 12 points and seven goals, while sophomore Jenna McParland has 11 points with five goals...Emma Stauber leads UMD with a plus/minus rating of +7...11 of UMD?s 18 available skaters have now logged more than 50 games over their respected careers, with four having skated in more than 120 contests...The third period still continues to be a tricky defensive period for the Bulldogs...UMD has allowed 37 overall goals and 18 of them -- almost half-- have occurred in the final stanza...By comparison, UMD has scored 15 of its 37 goals in the third period...The Bulldogs are allowing the third fewest goals in WCHA play, averaging 2.29 goals against in league action.

UMD SIGNS FIVE DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD:? The Bulldogs announced the early signing of five players Wednesday, including forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk (Canada U-18) and blueliner Sidney Morin (USA U-18) out of Minnetonka, Minn.? The Bulldogs also signed forward Demi Crossman (USA- U-18),? forward Maria Lind (Team Sweden ) and defenseman Lina Backlin (Sweden U-18).

Brykaliulk hails from Brandon, Manitoba and was a gold medallist with Canada?s U-18 team last year at the World U-18 IIHF Championships in Czech Republic.? The 5-8 forward was named to Team Canada?s U-18 team that will compete in the IIHF Under-18 World Championship Dec. 29, 2012 to Jan. 5, 2013 in Heinola and Vierum?ki, Finland, and currently plays for the Westman Wildcats of the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey league. Currently this season she has 20 goals and 13 assists for 33 points in 28 games and owns a +36 plus/minus rating. Brykaliulk is a three-time Team Manitoba player (2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, 2011 Canadian Under-18 Championships in Saquenay, QC, 2012 Canadian Under-18 Championships in Dawson Creek, BC).

Morin is a Minnetonka, Minn. product who has won two Minnesota State High School Championships with Minnetonka High School (2012, 2011) as a defenseman.? Currently the Skippers assistant captain, she helped vault them into the State semi-final game this past February by netting the game-tying goal, and then followed that up with an assist in overtime to send Minnetonka into State Final.? Morin finished the 2011-12 regular season with five goals and 19 assists for 24 points in 25 games, and was +34.? She was the team?s 3rd leading scorer overall and the top point-getting blueliner.? Morin was recently named to Team USA?s U-18 team that will be compete in the IIHF U-18 World Championship Dec. 29, 2012 to Jan. 5, 2013 in Heinola and Vierum?ki, Finland.

A native of Livonia, Michigan, Crossman is the daughter of former Western Michigan alum and former Los Angeles Kings entry round draft pick Jeff Crossman.? A silver-medalist with Team USA?s U-18 Team at the World U-18 IIHF Championships in Czech Republic last year, the 5-7 forward was also selected to compete in the 2011 U-18 Series, a three-game stint against Canada back in August of 2011 in Rockland, Ontario.? Crossman is currently in her fifth year with the Honeybaked U-19 team based out of Detroit Michigan.

Lind hails from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden and currently skates for the MODO hockey club of the Swedish Women?s Elite League.? A forward, Lind registered 12 goals and a plus/minus rating of +12 last year with MODO. Lind played for Swedish U-18 team in the U-18 World Championship in 2010-2011 held in Stockholm, Sweden and was a member of the Swedis national team that competed at the recent Four Nations Cup in Finland.

Backlin is a native of Gavle, Sweden and a two-time member of the Swedish U-18 National team that competed at the World Women?s U-18 Championship in both 2011-2012 in Czech Republic and in 2010-2011 in Stockholm, Sweden.? Currently playing for Bryn?s IF of the Swedish Women?s Elite League, Backlin was a member of the Swedish national team that recently competed at the Four Nations Cup in Finland.? She also won a gold medal this past January at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

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