No. 9 St. Cloud State women's hockey sweeps Bemidji State, moves to 6-0 in WCHA

ST. CLOUD — The No. 9 St. Cloud State women’s hockey team stacked two more wins this weekend, sweeping Bemidji State with wins of 2-1 and 3-1.  

The Huskies are now 8-2 on the season, extending their program-best WCHA start to 6-0, with an accompanied 17 points atop of the league standings. A stark contrast from last season, having won 12 games all season and just seven intraconference matchups to the tune of 27 WCHA points throughout the season.

“It does feel really special for me and the other girls that have been here for four to five years; we’ve seen it all,” senior captain Alice Sauriol said. “It feels like the program has taken a step forward. Every sweep in the WCHA is just super hard, and it’s a grind. Bemidji is a good team, so getting any sweep in our conference is a huge win.”

Sauriol had three assists on the weekend for the Huskies, bringing her season total to 13.

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“Everyone’s producing and having good shifts,” Sauriol said. “The gives me confidence on the ice, knowing that the next shift is going to step up. It’s fun to get points on the ice, but [I’m] more so thinking about the WCHA points right now.”

In Friday’s 2-1 win, it was the Beavers that struck first to take a 1-0 lead, but senior center Sofianna Sundelin quickly equalized the game before fifth-year defender Regan Bulger got her first career goal shortly after to go up 2-1.

The top-shelf goal would hold on to become the game winner as both teams would draw a stalemate across the final two periods.

“It was a little bit of a grindier game,” Bulger said. “Our D1 [defensive zone] was a little bit of a mess. The puck bounces weren’t always going our way, so it was just bringing it back to the basics and trying to make a five foot pass instead of a 20-foot pass.”

Junior goalie Emilia Kyrkkö had 25 saves in the win, holding strong in the waning minutes to firm-up the win.

To lock up the sweep on Saturday, freshman forward Sophie Olson got her first career goal in the first period while Sundelin added her seventh of the season in the second period to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.

Despite a flurry of accurate shots throughout the final period, St. Cloud failed to extend the lead any further as senior forward Talya Hendrickson got the Beavers on the board with less than five minutes left to play.

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“I’m normally pretty good at shaking off goals,” freshman goalie Alexis Ehrman said. “Especially in the last five minutes, you cannot let anything get to you. I’m really good at resetting after the goal and focusing on the next shot, and it’s really good to know you have a team that’s going to dial it in for the last five minutes and not let anything through.”

In the end, senior left winger Payton Holloway would secure the sweep with an empty netter in the waning moments for her second goal on the season. Ehrman tallied 23 saves in the win.

“It wasn’t our best weekend ever,” Sauriol said. “But we got two wins, and I was happy with how we came out strong [in Game 2]. We blocked shots and did everything we could to stay in the moment to win, but still not fully satisfied with how we’ve come out to play.”

As the Huskies prepare to host No. 3 Wisconsin at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30 and 1 p.m., Saturday Oct. 31, the goal production and offensive zones will certainly need to improve to split the weekend against the mighty Badgers.

You can reach St. Cloud Times sports reporter David Jacobs and send story ideas and tips to djacobs@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @davidrjacobs10, and on Instagram @ByDavidJacobs.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: No. 9 St. Cloud State women's hockey sweeps Bemidji State, moves to 6-0 in WCHA