THIS WEEK: The No. 6 Fighting Sioux (9-4-1) return to the road this weekend with a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series against Bemidji State. Friday's game might feel like a bit of a home game as it is being played less than 30 miles away in Crookston, Minn., at the Crookston Civic Arena at 7:07 p.m. The two teams will then travel to Bemidji for the series finale on Saturday (7:07 p.m.) at the Sanford Center.
TUNE IN: This weekend's games will be broadcasted on 92.1 FM "The River" (Friday) and 1360 KKBJ (Saturday) with BSU play-by-play announcer Kelly Schultz calling the action. Broadcasts can also be heard on BeaverRadioNetwork.com.
A live blog with UND sports information director Derek Koenen will be open for fans during the game at www.FightingSioux.com or you can get live updates by following UNDWHockey through twitter. Live stats for the game can be found through www.FightingSioux.com.
ABOUT BEMIDJI STATE: The Beavers enter the series off to quick start on the season with a 9-4-2 record and are 5-4-1 in league play, currently in fifth place in the standings. BSU is currently receiving votes for both major top-10 polls.
Head coach Steve Sertich is currently in his sixth season with a career record of 56-114-26. He is assisted by Amber Fryklund and Shane Veenker. Former Sioux two-sport standout Casie Hanson is a volunteer coach.
The Beavers are led offensively by Sadie Lundquist and Emily Erickson who each have a team-leading eight points. Lundquist also leads the team with 23 points. The Beavers have the nations top-scoring defensemen and three of their top-five scores are blue liners in Montana Vichorek (7-11-18), Marlee Wheelehouse (5-10-15) and Erika Wheelehouse (4-11-15). BSU is also backstopped by one of the nations top netminders in Slovakian Zuzana Tomcikova who brings into this weekend a 2.04 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: UND leads the all-time series 19-17-3 and 5-4-1 in its last 10 games. The last time the two teams met was a thrilling series at Purper Arena in Grand Forks when the Sioux edged the Beavers in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. UND advanced to the WCHA Final Face-Off for the first time in program history. In the rubber match, Monique Lamoureux-Kolls was able to score in exactly 16 minutes into overtime. The 76 minute game was the longest played in program history.
LAST ACTION: The Sioux swept Minnesota State last weekend (5-3 and 6-1) to remain unbeaten at home with a 6-0-0 record. Jocelyne Lamoureux scored three goals and added two assists to maintain her place as the nation's leading scorer with 35 points. Allison Parizek gave the Sioux an offensive spark with her second shorthanded goal of the season in the third period, while adding an assist in the game. Monique Lamoureux-Kolls and Monique Weber each added a goal in the game.
Senior Alyssa Wiebe became the program's first to surpass 100 career points Saturday. She led the team with two goals and one assist as the Sioux jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Mavericks scored on the power play in the third period. UND answered with two more goals to conclude the game. Josefine Jakobsen had a pair of goals in the game.
POLL POSITION: UND is ranked sixth in both the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Women's Hockey Poll.
THE CENTURY CLUB: Alyssa Wiebe became the first player to reach the century club with all of her points as a member of the Fighting Sioux against Minnesota State. Both Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls collected their 100th career point during the 2010-11 season, joining Stasia Bakhit as the three players in program history to do so, after transferring to UND.
SHOOTING RANGE: The Fighting Sioux have turned the Ralph Engelstad Arena into a shooting range as they have outshot their opponents 218-118 in six games. They are also undefeated with a 6-0 record at home.
POINT STREAKS: Since getting blanked on the score sheet in the first game of the season at Boston University, Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls have scored at least one point in every game since. They each carry 13 game scoring streaks into this weekend and Lamoureux has 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points and Lamoureux-Kolls has 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points during that time.
WCHA HONORS: Candace Molle, who made a strong contribution at both ends of the ice as the host Sioux won back-to-back conference games against Minnesota State last weekend, has been named WCHA Women's Defensive Player of the Week for November 23.
Molle, a junior from Anchorage, Alaska, earned a +4 plus/minus rating while helping North Dakota limit the Mavericks to just one even-strength goal combined in a 5-3 victory last Friday (Nov. 18) and a 6-1 triumph last Saturday (Nov. 19). In addition to her strong play from the blue lines, Molle also recorded two assists and had four shots on goal.
Through 14 games played this season, Molle ranks among the top 10 scoring defensemen in the WCHA overall with nine points on one goal and eight assists.
FOUR NATIONS CUP: Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux Kolls earned gold medals with the U.S. National team at the Four Nations Cup held last week held in Nykoping, Sweden. Lamoureux concluded the tournament tied for second in scoring with eight points (3-4-7) while Lamoureux-Kolls was named the U.S. Player of the Game in the championship against Canada and was tied for fourth in the tournament in scoring with seven points (3-3-6). They also finished first and second in plus/minus rating at +8 and +7, respectively. Michelle Karvinen had one goal and one assist for Finland in the tournament.
In Division I action in Fussen, Germany, Norway went undefeated in four games as Jorid Dagfinrud went 3-0 in three starts and Andrea Dalen contribued one goal and two assists.
