ABOUT MINNESOTA DULUTH: The Bulldogs enter the weekend with a 5-6-1 overall record. UMD was also 5-6-1 after 12 games last year before hitting its stride to finish the season 21-14-1 and just missing out of the eight-team field for the NCAA Tourmant.
The Bulldogs swept St. Cloud State on the road last weekend with back-to-back 4-1 victories.
With multiple injuries forcing key players to miss games early in the season the Bulldogs seem to be hitting their stride once again as they look to get back into the mix for home ice in the WCHA playoffs this weekend.
Sophomore Jenna McParland leads the way in points with nine and is tied with fellow sophomore Zoe Hickel for the team lead in goals (four).
The Bulldogs have two freshmen goaltenders in net, but Kayla Black has started all but one game and has a 4-6-1 record with a .922 save percentage and a 2.09 goals against average. Sofia Carlstrom did make her first collegiate start last weekend and allowed just one goal with a .966 save percentage.
TUNE IN: This weekend's games will be broadcasted on The Fan 1440 AM (Friday and Saturday) with broadcaster Darrin Looker calling the action. Audio webcasts will also be available through www.UNDSports.com.
A live blog will be open for fans during the game at www.UNDSports.com or you can get live updates by following UNDWHockey through twitter. Live stats for the game can be found through www.UNDSports.com.
There is a pay per view webcast available through www.UNDSports.com.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: North Dakota trails the all-time series 33-5-0, but the two squads have made for very competitive games over the past two seasons as neither team has swept a two-game series including splitting each series at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
LAST ACTION: North Dakota entered last weekend winless (0-2-1) in Bemidji State's new Sanford Center, but evened that record when it left at 2-2-1 with 3-1 and 7-3 victories. UND has now won 11 of its last 13 games overall against the Beavers.
UND outshot the BSU 11-4 in the first period but only took a 1-0 lead into the intermission off Allison Parizek's first goal of the season.
Michelle Karvinen would connect for her first goal of the season, early in the second period, which would prove to be the game-winner. BSU would cut the lead to one goal shortly after, but Monique Lamoureux would regain the two-goal cushion in the final minute of the second period. The two teams would play to a scoreless third period.
The series finale got off to a strange start as each team scored in the first two minutes, ten seconds of the game on each team's first shot on goal for the lone scoring of the first period.
The second period got off to an even quicker start as BSU struck first 20 seconds in and UND answered at the 40-second mark of the middle frame. Unlike the first period though, UND would carry the momentum of the quick answer to six unanswered goals in the period.
BSU would end the bleeding with a power-play goal late in the third period, but UND held on for the comfortable win. Jordan Slavin also scored her first goal of the season.
POLL POSITION: UND is ranked No. 10 in this week's USCHO.com Division I Women's Hockey Poll.
THE TEAM I REMEMBER: North Dakota averaged 4.19 goals per game last year, but had failed to score more than four in any game so far this season. It ended that streak on Sunday including scoring six goals in a single period.
Senior Jocelyne Lamoureux led the team with seven points on the weekend including a hat trick and a five-point game on Sunday. Senior Monique Lamoureux led all defensemen with a four-point weekend and had a team-high +7 plus/minus rating.
SPECIAL (M) K: UND welcomed the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year back to the lineup in Michelle Karvinen after missing the first 10 games of the season due to off-season leg injury. Karvinen scored in each game and tallied six total points.
WITHOUT ICE CREAM: UND celebrates road sweeps with ice cream on the trip home, but it had been over a year since it got to celebrate its tradition. Before last weekend, UND had not swept a road series since at St. Cloud State on Nov. 4-5, 2011.
BACK IN BLACK: North Dakota sported its new black jerserys in its 7-3 win over Bemidji State.
TURKEY DAY HANGOVER: UND has not historically had a great amount of success on the weekend following Thanksgiving with a 3-8-3 all-time record.
FOUR NATIONS CUP: Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2012 Four Nations Cup in Finland. Jocelyne Lamoureux had one goal and four assists while Monique Lamoureux added one goal and three assists and was named her team's player of the game against Sweden.
ONE STEP CLOSER: Sophomore Josefine Jakobsen and Denmark went 3-0 in the Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Latvia. The Danes will now advance to the Final Olympic Qualification Group C Tournament in Poprad, Slovakia, held Feb. 7-10.
WHEN FRIENDS BECOME FOES: Four teams in Denmark, Japan, Norway and Slovakia will compete in the Final Qualification Group C Tournament in Poprad, Slovakia, held Feb. 7-10. UND's Josefine Jakobsen, who competes for Denmark, will compete to advance to 2014 Olympics against collegiate teammates Jorid Dagfinrud and Andrea Dalen when they face off against Norway. Jakobsen and Dalen are also roommates in Grand Forks.
