UMD Women’s Hockey to Open WCHA Play Against MSU-Mankato

Puck drop for Friday's game at Amsoil Arena is set for 3 p.m.

DULUTH, Minn. – The UMD women’s hockey team will be back at home at this weekend and already, people are buzzing about the Bulldogs.

UMD split their season opening series last week with third-ranked Clarkson, continuing the tradition of playing one of the toughest schedules in the entire country. And for the Bulldogs, they wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

“It was meant to be that way. It was showing that we wanted to play our first game against a tough team and we did. Having that challenge, it gives us a lot of confidence that we split the weekend with them and going into the rest of the season, we’ll carry that with us,” said forward Gabbie Hughes.

This week, the Bulldogs will welcome MSU-Mankato to town to open conference play. The Mavericks are coming off a tough series against Minnesota, which makes them a formidable opponent for UMD.

“I think they have a lot of depth so we have to be ready for that. They’re a good team. I don’t focus too much on the scores from the weekend. That’s over. That was a different set of teams. Now we have to focus on what we want to do and focus on ourselves and where we can get better from last weekend, even though we had a good weekend,” head coach Maura Crowell said.

Puck drop for Friday’s game at Amsoil Arena is set for 3 p.m.