Lady Mavs try to Bounce back against Beavers
Daniel McElroy ® Sports Editor |
Photo by Mansoor Ahmad ® Photo Editor |
The Minnesota State University women’s hockey team is looking to bounce back this weekend in their home series against Bemidji State University.
The Mavericks stand above the Beavers with a record of 4-9-1 to the Beavers 2-8-2. Three of the Mavs’ four wins came against BSU, finding wins at home and on the road.
MSU is coming off a series sweep against the No. 3-ranked Ohio State University Buckeyes, in a series that Calla Frank made a career-high 52 saves in their 3-0 loss.
In a team that struggled to find the back of the net recently, freshman Jamie Nelson, sophomore Kelsey King, and senior Brittyn Fleming look to turn that around as the Mavericks top goal scorers.
Nelson, the former WCHA freshman of the Week, leads the Mavericks in points with 5-4-9. Nelson is second among freshmen in the scoring standings, and leads the rookie shot blocking standings with 19 blocked shots. Nelson tied a career-high in shots blocked in one game with three in Friday’s loss, and added another two blocked shots in Saturday’s loss. Nelson was able to put up one of the two goals the Mavs scored last weekend in Columbus, with the help of King.
King is tied with Nelson in scoring with the same stat line of 5-4-9, scoring an unassisted goal in the Mavericks 7-2 loss last weekend. King has scored three goals and one assist in the last three games. King sits at fourth in total shots on goal in the WCHA with 53, with her career-high shots in a single game coming against the last meeting with BSU at eight.
Fleming leads the Mavericks in shooting percentage with .148 and is third on the scoring list for the Mavericks with 4-3-7. Although having a quiet showing lately, Fleming hopes to bounce back in this weekend’s series against a team she has two goals and two assists in four games this year.
Frank holds a 3-7-1 record this season record, good for a .341 win percentage. In 11 games so far this season, Frank has a .909 save percentage with 2.98 goals against average. Frank recorded her first shutout of the season in the last meeting against the Beavers, stopping all 23 shots she faced, and only allowing one goal on 19 shots the day before in the Mavericks 2-1 win. Freshman goaltender Lauren Barbro replaced Frank in the last game against Ohio State after allowing four goals in the first period, making Frank thirsty for a win in this series against the Mavericks conference rivals.