Sep. 20—BRAINERD — It was a fun weekend to be a Bemidji State women’s hockey player.
Ahead of their exhibition against Minnesota at the Essentia Health Sports Center, the Beavers spent Friday evening at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa. They engaged in team-building activities, which included a scavenger hunt.
BSU players and staff were split into teams, retrieving parts to assemble bikes. Bemidji State head coach Amber Fryklund said the bikes were donated to a women’s shelter in Brainerd.
“We did a scavenger hunt, and it was controversial,” Fryklund quipped. “One team took all of the parts, so when other teams came to get theirs, they were all gone. But we put the bikes together, and Isa Goettl won the bike race.”
The Beavers’ resort stay preceded their first taste of in-game action this season against the Gophers.
“It’s a great way to start the year as a team,” Fryklund said. “We made it a little bit of a team bonding trip. … It’s always fun playing in a community rink. In Brainerd, I know there are lot of hockey ties to this community. It’s close to Bemidji. It was a great opportunity to play in the middle of us and Minnesota.”
The U of M beat Bemidji State 5-1 on Saturday afternoon. The two teams also played five minutes at 3-on-3 and did a shootout. Players from both teams held an autograph signing in the lobby at the Essentia Health Sports Center after the game.
Minnesota’s Sienna D’Alessandro and Ava Lindsay scored within two and a half minutes of each other early in the first period. The Beavers responded with 8:50 left in the frame on a 2-on-1 goal. Isa Goettl finished off a one-time pass from Kate Johnson to put the Beavers on the board.
Abbey Murphy scored a 4-on-4 goal for the Gophers with seven and a half minutes left in the second period to make it 3-1. Lindsay scored her second goal late in the second period to extend the lead again. Tereza Plosova scored Minnesota’s fifth and final goal in the third period.
“In the first period, we had really good jump,” Fryklund said. “We were on our toes and getting in faces and were hard on pucks. We were really good in the first period at that. In the second period, we got a little tired, and you could see it in our play. We started playing more on our heels.
“Minnesota is unreal, of course, with their lineup. They took advantage of that. Being that it was the first game, we need to raise the conditioning level. Our energy on the bench was good, though. They’re owning their roles.”
Two rookie goalies started the game. BSU freshman Ashlynn Hazlett and U of M freshman Layla Hemp were teammates last season on the Minnetonka High School girls hockey team. Hemp was relieved by senior Sophia Johnson, who also played for the Skippers in high school.
Haszlett’s biggest save came in the second period when she gloved down Plosova on a breakaway. She finished the game with 19 saves on 23 shots through two periods.
“For her, this is certainly nerve-racking,” Fryklund said. “I talked to Katilin (Groess) about how last year she was thrown in against Ohio State in her first game. Having the opportunity to get Ashlynn her first start in an exhibition game, get one under her belt, it’s important. We really liked what we saw out of her. She held her own.”
Everybody played for BSU except junior Talya Hendrickson and goaltenders Ava Hills and Eva Filippova. Fryklund was impressed with what she saw from the vast group of newcomers.
“The line of Paige Smith and Addie Morris played a great game,” Fryklund said. “They went out there and provided a lot of energy and were hard on pucks. Lola Macuiba and Katy Comstock on (defense) had a phenomenal game. Kasey Senden had a good game, Carmen Bray had a good game.”
Fryklund was impressed with the entirety of the defensive corps. She also pointed out freshman Maddie Kaiser, who played on the Beavers’ top line with Morgan Smith.
“She did a great job, as did some of our returners,” Fryklund said. “Izzy Fairchild could’ve had a couple of goals today. Obviously, there’s some things we have to work on, which is to be expected, but our energy and how hard we were on pucks were a big positive.”
As Bemidji State heads into its first regular-season series next weekend against Wisconsin, the defending national champion, Fryklund will continue to look for opportunities to showcase women’s hockey on a local level.
Last year, the Beavers played in the U.S. Hall of Fame Museum Face-Off Classic, the U of M’s Field Trip Day and Hockey Day Minnesota. It’s become a point of emphasis to bring the Division-I game to rural communities.
“We’ve had so many opportunities to do these things, and they’ve all been so much fun,” Fryklund said. “Our players really enjoy them. It’s important for us to bring the WCHA league to these communities and take every chance we get to keep doing it in the future.”
Minnesota 5, Bemidji State 1
BSU 1 0 0 — 1
UM 2 2 1 — 5
First period — UM GOAL: D’Alessandro (Hovland, Plosova) 6:19; UM GOAL: Lindsay (Primerano, Graham) 8:36; BSU GOAL: Goettl (Johnson, Bray) 11:10.
Second period — UM GOAL: Murphy (unassisted) 12:28; UM GOAL: Lindsay (Distad, Hovlund) 16:12.
Third period — UM GOAL: Plosova (Bouveng, Hovland) 3:18.
Saves — Hazlett (BSU) 19; Groess (BSU) 10; Hemp (UM) 7; Johnson (UM) 2; Clark (UM) 5.
