UMD/St. Lawrence Preview, UMDBulldogs.com

NO. 3 BULLDOGS AND NO. 4 ST. LAWRENCE TO CLASH IN CANTON FRIDAY

Last Updated: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 3:19 PM


The No. 3 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team may have wrapped up the 2007 portion of its Western Collegiate Hockey Association schedule on top of the league, but that won't stop the Bulldogs from stepping out of conference play in a big way this weekend. UMD will travel to Canton, N.Y. to face No. 4 St. Lawrence University Friday and Saturday at Appleton Arena (3,000 capacity) in a rematch of the 2006 NCAA Quarterfinals with plenty of future playoff ramifications. Both contests will start at 6 p.m. CST.

THE SERIES: The Bulldogs, who are now 14-3-1 and 13-3-0 in WCHA play, hold the advantage over the Saints with a 7-3 all-time record. That record is slightly jaded, however, as St. Lawrence has beat UMD in its last two outings, and the Bulldogs are 1-3 in their previous four skates with the Saints, dating back to the 2003-04 season.

The two teams met most recently in the the 2006 NCAA Quarterfinals in Canton, where UMD fell 1-0. The Bulldogs and Saints also dueled in the 2005 NCAA Quarterfinals at Wessman Arena in Superior, Wisc., as St. Lawrence uprooted favored UMD 3-2 in overtime. Both teams were 2007 Frozen Four participants, with the Bulldogs playing in the NCAA Final game. The Saints have played in the last four Frozen Fours, but have yet to win the most coveted prize in college hockey.

LAST WEEK: WCHA-leading UMD swept its sixth league opponent last weekend, with a 7-2 downing of Ohio State Saturday at the DECC. Forward Sara O'Toole and defenseman Heidi Pelttari had two goals and one assist in the series-opening offensive outbreak. Four different players scored in Sunday's 4-0 shutout of the Buckeyes, while goaltender Kim Martin grabbed her fourth clean-sheet of the season. Three players racked up four points in the series, and in the process, the Bulldogs put a mind-bending 99 shots on the OSU goal over the weekend.

The Saints, who are currently in second place in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference with a record of 7-1-0 and 13-3-0 overall, swept Maine last weekend in Canton. St. Lawrence rolled out a 2-0 win Friday night, and uncorked a 9-1 victory the following evening. Junior forward Marianna Locke, this week's reigning ECAC Player of the Week, recorded five points -- three goals and two assists -- over the weekend, including both game-winning tallies. Four of Locke's five series points were earned in Saturday night's offensive stockpile.

THE COACHES: Shannon Miller, who currently is the only coach in the WCHA to have racked-up 214 wins, is in her ninth season behind the Bulldog bench.

As the only head coach UMD has ever employed, Miller has amassed an impressive overall record of 214-60-25 and has led the Bulldogs to six NCAA playoff appearances and three straight NCAA Championship titles (2001, 2002 and 2003). She has led UMD into four NCAA Frozen Four berths, including the 2007 NCAA Championship game. No other hockey program in the country has won three consecutive NCAA titles.

For her efforts, Miller was named the 2000 and 2003 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year and the 2003 American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) Women’s Division I Coach of the Year. Along with the incredible NCAA runs, her Bulldogs have captured two WCHA regular season titles (2000 and 2003) and three WCHA playoff titles (2000, 2001 and 2003).

During Miller’s time at the Bulldog helm, UMD has produced eight first-team All-Americans, 11 Patty Kazmaier Award Finalists, two WCHA Players of the Year, three WCHA Student-Athletes of the year and one CoSIDA Academic All-American.

Paul Flanagan is in his ninth season as the head coach of the Saints. Flanagan has guided St. Lawrence to four consecutive Final Four berths (2004-2007).

TUOMINEN AND PELTTARI EARN WCHA WEEKLY HONORS: Saara Tuominen and Heidi Pelttari joined the ranks of eight other previous Bulldog selections this season, ten now in just ten weeks, to be exact.

Tuominen, a sophomore from forward from Ylojarvi, Finland, scored two goals and two assists in UMD's weekend sweep of Ohio State. She scored one goal and had an assist in last Saturday's 7-2 win, and then tallied one goal and assist Sunday in the Bulldogs' 4-0 victory. Tuominen currently leads both UMD and the WCHA in scoring with 27 points.

Pelttari, a sophomore defenseman, recorded four points in UMD's clean sweep of the Buckeyes. The product of Tampere, Finland, scored back-to-back goals for the Bulldogs last Saturday, and added an assist in UMD's 7-2 series-opening triumph, while dishing out another assist in the Bulldogs' 4-0 blanking of OSU last Sunday. The defenseman was also +5 in the series, and leads all UMD blueliners in scoring this season with 12 points (3g, 9a).

GOLDEN GOAL GAVRILOVA: Freshman forward Iya Gavrilova currently holds the Bulldogs longest scoring streak, dating back to Nov. 23 against Minnesota State. The Krasnoyarsk, Russia native has scored in UMD's last six games (5-7=12), including five goals in the last four outings, four of which have been game-winning tallies. She ranks fifth in the NCAA in that category.

NET DETECTORS: As the highest scoring offense in the WCHA (3.83 goals per game), and the fourth ranked offense in the NCAA, it's no wonder the Bulldogs boast some of the leading point-getters in the conference and country. Sophomore forward Saara Tuominen ranks No. 1 in the WCHA (and tenth in the NCAA) in point scoring after combining ten goals and 17 assists for 27 total points. Tuominen also ranks first in the league in assist scoring (ninth in the NCAA) with just under an assist a game (0.90). Freshman forward Iya Gavrilova is ahead of all conference freshman in scoring with 24 points (9-15=24), while rookie forward Haley Irwin checks into the second spot with 19 points (9-10=19). Gavrilova check in at the No. 3 spot among rookies in the country, averaging 1.33 PPG, with Irwin sliding in at the sixth spot nationally with a 1.19 PPG average. Four of the top 11-point scoring leaders in the WCHA are also, impressively enough, Bulldogs.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: The Bulldogs, who have six players in the points column in double-digits, remain a team that has shared the offensive burden 18 games into the season. UMD's top-producing line of Iya Gavrilova, Saara Tuominen, and Elin Holmlov have tallied 68 of the Bulldogs'176 points between them (25-43=68).

UMD has also gotten some offensive firepower in some unsuspecting places. The Bulldogs boast six skating freshman who have posted 71 points as an underclass unit. The UMD blueliners have also chipped in, having added 31 total points.

BULLDOG NOTES: No currently rostered UMD player has ever been on the winning side of a Bulldog-Saint showdown...After last weekend's sweep, UMD is now 8-1-1 (.850) at the DECC this season, and leads the WCHA with the best away record of 6-2-0 (.750)...UMD has given up more goals (14) in the second period than any other stanza...The Bulldogs remain three points ahead of Minnesota in the race for first place in the WCHA heading into the holiday break.

SAINTS NOTES: St. Lawrence maintains the highest scoring offense in the NCAA, averaging 4.31 goals a game (UMD is fourth, averaging 3.83)...The Saints are led by a pair of senior forwards, Sabrina Harbec (8-21=29) and Chelsea Grills (9-17=26).

ON THE AIR: Both games will be featured live on the B2 Networks, at www.b2livetv.com. The contests will also be covered with a radio feed over the internet. Visit http://www.stlawu.edu/sports/w_hockey/index.html on the day of the game, and the available link will be on the right hand side of the page.