BEMIDJI, Minn. – It's playoff time for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the Bemidji State University Women's Hockey team this weekend and the eighth-seeded Beavers make the long road trip to Columbus, Ohio to take on top-seed and defending national champions No. 1 Ohio State University.
 
The Beavers (5-28-1, 2-26-0 WCHA) battle the WCHA regular season champions Buckeyes (28-4-2, 23-4-1 WCHA) for a best-of-three quarterfinal series at the OSU Ice Rink. Game one will begin at 5:00 p.m. CT Friday, Feb. 23 with game two to follow Saturday at 2:00 p.m. If needed, game three will be played Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
 
Each game of the series will be streamed online at B1G+ with play-by-play provided by Ohio State Athletics. A Beaver Radio Network broadcast with Kelly Schultz on play-by-play will be available for each game and can be found on the radio dial at 94.3 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com.
 
Bemidji State Notes

• The Bemidji State-Ohio State series dates back to the inaugural season of Bemidji State Women's Hockey in 1998-99 and the two teams have faced off against each other in all 25 season of Bemidji State Women's Hockey.
• The Beavers and Buckeyes have faced-off against one another in 96 meetings with Ohio State owning the all-time series record at 54-29-13.
• The two teams have met just twice in the WCHA Playoffs but haven't faced one another since the 2003 WCHA Final Five for the play-in-game between the then seeded fourth Buckeyes and the fifth-seeded Beavers. Ohio State advanced to the next round after claiming a 4-3 overtime victory over the Beavers.
• The Beavers and Buckeyes also met in the 2002 WCHA Final Five where the Buckeyes earned a 5-3 victory over the Beavers in the play-in-game.
• Ohio State has been dominant playing at home and are 30-12-6 when hosting the Beavers. BSU's last win in Columbus was on Feb. 8, 2019, a 3-2 victory over the then-ranked No. 9 Buckeyes. The win was also Jim Scanlan's 82nd win as head coach to become the winningest coach in program history.
• Ohio State has also been dominant as of late and have won nine of the last 10 meetings. The last Bemidji State win in the series was on Feb. 11, 2022 when Paige Beebe scored with just one second remaining on senior day to earn a 3-2 victory for the Beavers.
• Ohio State downed the Beavers in all four meetings during the regular season this season and are currently on a five-game winning streak versus the Beavers.
• The Buckeyes out-scored the Beavers 21-3 during the regular season including 12-1 in Columbus.
• Kendra Fortin, Genevieve Hendrickson and Calli Forsberg all scored goals for the Beavers versus the Buckeyes with Adriana Van De Leest, Makenna Deering and Raeley Carney each adding assists. No Beaver has multiple points versus OSU this season.
• Versus Ohio State this season, junior Hannah Hogenson paces the Beaver netminders with 179:12 minutes and is 0-3-0 with a 4.35 goals against average and .885 save percentage. Sophomore Abbie Thompson played in 39:48 of the last game versus OSU before being replaced by freshman Madison Faucher for her first collegiate time between the pipes.
• Senior Reece Hunt paces the Beavers with six career points (1g-5a) versus the Buckeyes and also leads the team with 14 games played. She is followed by sophomore Kendra Fortin with two points (1g-1a) while seven Beavers have recorded a point.
• Hogenson paces the team with 278:09 minutes played versus OSU and is 0-5-0 with a 4.53 goals against average and .891 save percentage.
• Bemidji State will have the tall task of knocking off the top-seed in the WCHA Playoffs, No. 1 team in the nation, WCHA regular season champ, defending WCHA Playoffs champions and defending national champions.
• Bemidji State has held the eight-seed in the WCHA Playoffs just four times in its program history and has never upset the No. 1 seed. Since the league expanded to the eight-team playoff in 2005, an eighth seed has never upset the top-seed in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs.
• The Beavers finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 5-28-1 record and six points in the league standings with a 2-26-0 conference record. The Buckeyes claimed the 2022-23 Julianne Bye Cup after finishing as the league's top team with 70 league points and went 28-4-2 during the regular season.
• The Buckeyes enter the playoffs as the top-ranked team in both the DCU/USCHO.com and USAToday/USAHockeyMagazine top-15 national polls.
• Ohio State also enters the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the nation and has won 16 of its last 19 games (16-3-0).
• Bemidji State has had its issues scoring the puck this season and finished the regular season last in goals for (38) and goals allowed (148).
• BSU is seventh in the WCHA with a power-play percentage of .127 (10-of-79) and went 0-for-6 on the power play last weekend against University of Minnesota Duluth.
• The Beavers have gone four games without a power-play goal and are scoreless in their last 16 power-play attempts.
• The Beavers also rank seventh on the penalty-kill with a percentage of .788 (82-of-104). The Beavers allowed three power-play goals in five chances in last week's series.
• The Beavers are the second-most penalized team in the conference with 286 penalty minutes and average 8:24 penalty minutes per game.
• Ohio State owns the best power-play percentage in the conference and in the nation. They have converted at a .348 clips (32-of-92) and have scored the most power-play goals in Division I.
• The Buckeyes penalty kill is fourth in the conference and owns an .833 penalty kill percentage (65-of-78). OSU is one of the least penalized teams in the conference and are second with just 78 opponent power-plays allowed.
• Bemidji State is second in the WCHA in blocked shots with 491 and blocked 27 shots last weekend.
• Bemidji State is led on offense by senior Reece Hunt who has totaled 10 points off six goals and four assists. After scoring just three goals through the first 29 games, she has scored three goals over the last five games to finish the regular season.
• Sophomore defenseman Adriana Van De Leest follows with eight points and has collected eight assists to lead the team. She has just one point (1a) over her last 16 games.
• Hunt and sophomore Claire Vekich lead the team with six goals and has posted six points. Vekich also leads the team with four power-play goals which is tied for eighth in the WCHA.
• The Beavers have seen 19 different goal scorers this season including nine with two or more goals.
• Sophomore Taylor Larson paces the team with 53 blocked shots and is eighth in the conference.
• Junior Hannah Hogenson leads BSU netminders and has played in 78.1 percent of the teams minutes in goal this season. She is 3-24-1 with a 4.16 goals against average and .877 save percentage. She leads the conference and is ninth in DI with 791 saves.
• Head Jim Scanlan is coaching in his 310th, 311th and 312th games this weekend and is 118-170-21 in his nine seasons at the helm of the Bemidji State program.
• Scanlan is 11-20-2 all-time coaching against the Buckeyes.

For more information on the Bemidji State women's hockey program, tickets or schedules, visit BSUBeavers.com, follow the Beavers on Twitter or Instagram (@BSUBeaversWHKY), or like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers).
 
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's and women's hockey membership in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
 
--bsu--