WCHA ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE Bruce M. McLeod Commissioner Carol LaBelle-Ehrhardt Assistant Commissioner of Operations Greg Shepherd Supervisor of Officials Mailing Address Western Collegiate Hockey Association 2211 S. Josephine Street, Room 302, ™ Denver, CO 80210 p: 303 871-4223. f: 303 871-4770. [email protected] October 13, 2009/For Immediate Release WCHA WOMEN’S OFFICE; WCHA DEFENDING WCHA ChaMPION MINNESOTA, MINNESOTA PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE Sara R. Martin DULUTH POST LEAGUE SwEEPS TO SET UP EaRLY SEASON Associate Commissioner p: 608 829-0104. f: 608 829-0105. [email protected] ShOwdOWN; THREE WCHA SERIES UPCOMING OcT. 16-18 Doug Spencer GOLDEN GOPHERS, BULLDOGS PLAY FOR FIRST PLacE IN MINNEAPOLIS; UM WINS TWICE AT Associate Commissioner for Public Relations OSU LaST WEEKEND; UMD SwEEPS SCSU AT HOME; BEMIDJI STATE SPLITS WITH DEFENDING p: 608 829-0100. f: 608 829-0200. NCAA ChaMP WISCONSIN BEHIND TOMCIKOVA ShUTOUT; MINNESOTA STATE GRabS TwO [email protected] Bill Brophy VICTORIES AT MaINE IN HEad COachING DEBUT OF ERIC MEANS Women’s Public Relations Director p: 608-277-0282. MADISON, Wis. – Defending conference champion Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth, coming off [email protected] league season-opening series sweeps, renew their intense intra-state rivalry and face-off this Friday Mailing Address and Saturday, Oct. 16-17, at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis in an early season showdown for the women’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association Western Collegiate Hockey Association lead. Game times are 7:07 pm CT on Friday evening and 4:07 559 D’Onofrio Drive, Suite 103 Madison, WI 53719-2096 pm CT on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Gophers enter the series with a 4-0-0 overall record and 2-0-0 conference mark following wcha WOMEN’S LEAGUE two WCHA victories over host Ohio State at Columbus last weekend, Oct. 9-10. Sarah Erickson scored Bemidji State University two goals to lead the Gophers to a 6-5 victory last Friday and then the sophomore from Roseau, Minn., University of Minnesota had three more goals last Saturday in a 5-1 decision over the Buckeyes. University of Minnesota Duluth Minnesota Duluth ran its 2009-10 overall record to 3-1-0 and league mark to 2-0-0 with a pair of home- Minnesota State University ice victories over St. Cloud State in the WCHA season debut for both clubs at the DECC. The Bulldogs University of North Dakota Ohio State University received goals from five different players and scored a 5-3 victory over the Huskies last Saturday (Oct. 10). St. Cloud State University Freshman Katie Wilson had a goal and two assists for the Bulldogs and helped overcome a three-goal University of Wisconsin night from the Huskies’ Caitlin Hogan. Then last Sunday (Oct. 11), Minnesota Duluth freshman goalie Jennifer Harss made 24 saves and collected her first shutout in a 2-0 victory over SCSU. HOME OF A RECORD 10 con’t CONSECUTIVE NaTIONAL ChaMPIONSHIP TEAMS 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009-10 WESTERN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION STANDINGS 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Conference Only Overall 2010 WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF Pts GP W L T SW Win% GF- GA GP Record Win% GF- GA March 6-7 • Ridder Arena 1 Minnesota 4 2 2- 0- 0 0 1.00 12- 6 4 4- 0- 0 1.00 20- 10 Minneapolis, MN Minnesota Duluth 4 2 2- 0- 0 0 1.00 7- 3 4 3- 1- 0 .750 13- 9 Wisconsin 4 4 2- 2- 0 0 .500 6- 4 4 2- 2- 0 .500 6- 4 visit us on the web at: 4 Bemidji State 2 2 1- 1- 0 0 .500 2- 3 4 1- 3- 0 .250 4- 13 wcha.COM North Dakota 2 2 1- 1- 0 0 .500 2- 3 2 1- 1- 0 .500 2- 3 6 Minnesota State 0 0 0- 0- 0 0 ---- 0- 0 2 2- 0- 0 1.00 7- 3 Ohio State 0 2 0- 2- 0 0 .000 6- 12 4 0- 2- 2 .250 11- 17 St. Cloud State 0 2 0- 2- 0 0 .000 3- 7 4 1- 3- 0 .250 8- 13 (shootout win = 1 additional point) THIS WEEK IN THE wcha Games for Friday, October 16: Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota (WCHA), 7:07 pm CT; Ohio State at Bemidji State (WCHA), 7:07 pm CT. Games for Saturday, October 17: Ohio State at Bemidji State (WCHA), 2:07 pm CT; Minnesota State at North Dakota (WCHA), 2:07 pm CT; Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota (WCHA), 4:07 pm CT. Games for Sunday, October 18: Minnesota State at North Dakota (WCHA), 2:07 pm CT. 2009-10 wcha WOMEN’S WEEKLY RELEASE/NO. 4/10-13-2009 In other conference action last weekend, Bemidji State split a pair LAST WEEK IN THE wcha of games with visiting Wisconsin, the defending national champions. Sophomore goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova had 35 saves in blanking Results of Friday, October 9 the Badgers, 1-0, in Coleraine, Minn., last Saturday, but Wisconsin Minnesota State 5 at Maine 2 (nc) came back to take a 3-1 victory in Bemidji on Sunday. Minnesota 6 at Ohio State 5 (WCHA) In non-conference play, visiting Minnesota State beat host Maine Results of Saturday, October 10 twice in Orono, winning 5-2 in Eric Means’ first game as the Mavericks’ Minnesota State 2 at Maine 1 (nc) new head coach and then completing the sweep with a 2-1 victory St. Cloud State 3 at Minnesota Duluth 5 (WCHA) over the Black Bears last Saturday. *Wisconsin 0 at Bemidji State 1 (WCHA) And in exhibition play on Oct. 10, the U.S. Women’s National Team Minnesota 6 at Ohio State 1 (WCHA) beat North Dakota, 11-1, in Warroad, Minn. #North Dakota 1 vs U.S. Women’s National Team 11 (x) In other Western Collegiate Hockey Association games this coming * Coleraine, MN; # Warroad, MN weekend, Ohio State (0-2-0, 0-2-2 WCHA) visits Bemidji State (1-3-0, Results of Sunday, October 11 1-0-0 WCHA) for a Friday, 7:07 pm CT face-off and a Saturday, 2:07 St. Cloud State 0 at Minnesota Duluth 2 (WCHA) Wisconsin 3 at Bemidji State 1 (WCHA) pm CT start while Minnesota State (2-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) plays at North Dakota (1-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) in a pair of matinees on Saturday at 2:07 pm CT and Sunday at 2:07 pm CT. Both Wisconsin (2-2-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) bring about the NCAA Regionals (sites, times TBA), followed by the and St. Cloud State (1-3-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) are idle this week. 2010 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four, set for Friday, March 19 and Sunday, Looking ahead to the weekend of Oct. 23-24, conference series March 21 at UM’s Ridder Arena. will find Ohio State at Wisconsin, Minnesota Duluth hosting North Since this season will be contested during an Olympic year, the Dakota, and Minnesota and St. Cloud State playing home-and-home. race for the league title may be more wide open than ever. There are In non-conference action, Bemidji State travels to Northeastern. two new coaches – Eric Means moves from being a men’s assistant at Minnesota State, Mankato to leading the Mavericks’ women and Tracey DeKeyser takes over at Wisconsin for Mark Johnson, who is A GLANCE AT THE 2009-10 SEASON taking a sabbatical to coach the U.S. Olympic team. The WCHA family will watch the 2010 Winter Olympics with great The Western Collegiate Hockey Association and it’s eight member pride, knowing that many familiar faces will dot various Olympic teams seek a record 11th consecutive national championship in 2009- team rosters. There are 17 underclassmen among the 36 former 10. Since the inception of the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four in 2001, WCHA stars who are on national team rosters as of Sept. 25. Here is three different WCHA teams have won the national championship. the list of WCHA players, underclassmen and alums, who hope to play The Badgers extended the string and kept the WCHA’s national title in Vancouver in the Winter Games in February. (Note: Team Finland streak alive in 2008-09 when they won their third national title by and Team Slovakia are not centralized so its members will play in the defeating Mercyhurst, 4-0, in Boston in the NCAA title game last March. The victory capped a memorable season for the WCHA, which placed three teams in the Frozen Four including league champion Minnesota, traditional power Minnesota Duluth and Wisconsin, which won the WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF, the league playoff championships. Last season’s (2008-09) success marked the 10th straight national championship won by a WCHA-member institution. Minnesota Duluth won the first three NCAA titles in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2008. The Badgers have won national crowns in 2006, 2007 in addition to last season. Minnesota took home the titles in 2004 and 2005, and the Golden Gophers also won the 2000 AWCHA Div. 1 national collegiate championship, prior to the inception of the NCAA tournament, giving the league nine straight national championships in nine years. The battle for the 2010 WCHA regular season championship will again consist of a 28-game schedule for each of the league’s eight clubs, with each team playing the other seven four times – twice at home and twice on the road. During the course of the season, there will be a total of seven weekends that will consist of all eight member teams engaged in WCHA play.