BSU Women’s Hockey Returns to Ice with Road Series vs. Rival Minnesota State

BSU women’s hockey finally gets back on the ice this weekend as they take a road trip to play WCHA opponent and rival Minnesota State, a team that has two top-5 wins this season and is receiving votes in the national polls.

It will be the Beavers’ first competition in 19 days after being swept at 4th-ranked Minnesota Duluth. The team has been practicing during the off weeks, but Bemidji State is ready to get back to facing real opponents.

“We did a little green-and-white scrimmage on Saturday, but [it’s] not the same,” said BSU Head Coach Amber Fryklund. “Our small area games in practice have been getting pretty competitive lately, which is great. That just elevates everyone. But certainly Monday morning as a staff, we all came to the rink and it was like, ‘Let’s go, it’s game week.’ That was kind of our opening message to our team this week too, ‘It’s game week!'”

“We know that they’ve won against some tough opponents,” said sophomore forward Shelby Sandberg about Minnesota State. “I think we’re not going to underestimate them at all. And we’re going to bring all that we have because it would be really good to get a win against a tough opponent like Minnesota State.”

Last year, Bemidji State split with the Mavericks at home but were swept at Minnesota State. The last time Beavers won in Mankato was November of 2019.