One final salute to last season will be shared by the Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team and its fans this afternoon.
A spotlight will focus on three championship banners before the start of a nonconference game with the University of Connecticut of Hockey East at 3:07 p.m. at the DECC. In 2009-10, UMD won the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season and playoff titles, and the NCAA Division I championship (which earned the Bulldogs a trip to the White House in August).
"This is a special moment for us to be with our fans, the people who were with us every step of the way last season," said UMD coach Shannon Miller. "We won those championships on the road, so this is an exciting time to be at home and celebrate."
UMD clinched a share of the WCHA regular-season title, with Minnesota, by sweeping at Bemidji State on the final weekend. The Bulldogs then won the league playoff title by defeating Minnesota 3-2 on March 7 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis and took the NCAA championship in the same building March 21, outlasting Cornell University 3-2 in triple overtime. Miller's team was 20-6-2 in league play and 31-8-2 overall in winning a fifth Division I championship. The Bulldogs won their final nine games of the season, the last four by one goal.
"To be able to recognize what we did last year and see those banners in the rafters will be a happy moment for all of us," said UMD senior winger Laura Fridfinnson. "We want our fans to keep cheering us on for the rest of this season because that's where our focus is now."
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No. 3-ranked UMD (3-1) opened 2010-11 with a split at No. 6 North Dakota, followed by a home sweep of Minnesota State-Mankato, 5-2 and 6-0. The Bulldogs, tied for the WCHA lead with North Dakota at 3-1, are meeting Connecticut for the first time. UMD is tied for second in the league in scoring at 4.25 goals per game and is first in power-play percentage at 33.3, and is allowing 1.50 goals a game.
"We had a poor start to the first game against Mankato (allowing two goals) and after that we got serious," Miller said. "In the second game we were good from start to finish."
Connecticut, in Storrs, Conn., and UMD will play again at 3:07 p.m. Sunday.
