2 weeks Ago By Jared Rubado
BEMIDJI – If goals only counted 5-on-5, the Bemidji State women’s hockey team might still be playing against Minnesota Duluth. Unfortunately for the Beavers, special-teams goals count. Caitlin Kraemer scored short-handed and on the power play to push the Bulldogs to a 2-0 win over BSU on Friday night at the Sanford Center.
It’s a win that snapped a six-game losing streak for UMD. “Systematically, I thought it was our most consistent 60 minutes we’ve had quite a long time, so we’re really happy with that,” BSU head coach Amber Fryklund said of even-strength play. “We talked a lot this week about defensive-zone coverage .
.. along with our breakouts.
Our defense was awesome today. They had good gaps, they were able to break the puck out efficiently, so I’m really proud of that.” Bemidji State came out of its series against Minnesota State last weekend liking where its power play was heading.
However, the Beavers’ first attempt on the 5-on-4 veered off course. Kraemer received a two-line pass from Tova Henderson, walked across the blue line and sniped the low-left corner of the net to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 four and a half minutes into the game. “We weren’t moving our feet in that first (power play),” Fryklund said.
“We got stuck in our zone and didn’t have support coming back. We got caught flat-footed. It’s just kind of a reset there.
I thought our power plays (after that) had some good puck movement, we just couldn’t pop one.” Kraemer burned BSU again, this time on the Bulldogs’ first power play. She finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Olivia Wallin and Clara Van Wieren to double the lead midway through the second period.
“On the penalty kill, we knew that was coming,” Fryklund said. “They were able to capitalize. But I liked our response on our other penalty kill and how we were able to kill it off.
” Bemidji State had a few chances to cut into the Bulldogs’ lead in the middle frame, including a 2-on-1 rush with Morgan Smith and Isa Goettl. Smith fed a behind-the-back pass to Goettl, who missed wide of goaltender Tindra Holm. “We had two grade-A chances there in the second period that we’d love to have back,” Fryklund said.
“The message to our team is, 5-on-5, that was a 0-0 game. Special teams also play a factor. It’s just about building on some areas in which I thought we grew.
Coming back tomorrow, a big area of focus for us is how we get more pucks to the net.” Minnesota Duluth dressed just nine forwards and five defensemen. It limited BSU to nine shots on goal, blocking 16 attempts en route to a skid-snapping win.
“They were getting in our shots lanes, and obviously, we were taking too much time with the puck before getting (shots) off,” Fryklund said. “Certainly, we can get pucks off quicker and change the angle of our shots. But also, it’s just recovering pucks in the offensive zone and winning battles so we have more zone time.
“We need to get pucks behind them and make them skate 200 feet. That’s an opportunity for us that we can maybe take advantage of tomorrow.” Bemidji State (5-24-1, 3-20-0 WCHA) sophomore goaltender Eva Filippova made 24 saves in the loss.
She missed nearly the entire first half of the 2024-25 season with an injury before making her first appearance in relief on Nov. 22 against UMD (16-11-2, 11-10-2 WCHA). Now, Filippova is rounding out an impressive trio of underclassmen goaltenders for the Beavers.
“She just continues to work hard in practice and continues to take feedback,” Fryklund said. “Coming back from her injury, she just continues to get better every week, and it’s great to see that out of her. She played a lot of minutes for us last year.
Coming back after that injury, she continues to be confident in the net.” UMD 1 1 0 – 2 BSU 0 0 0 – 0 First period – UMD GOAL: Kraemer (Henderson, Mobley) SHG, 4:30. Second period – UMD GOAL: Kraemer (Wallin, Van Wieren) PPG, 6:48 Third period – No scoring.
Saves – Filippova (BSU) 24; Holm (UMD) 9..
