BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Western Collegiate Hockey Association Playoffs get underway this weekend with  the First Round matchups and the eighth-seed Bemidji State University Women's Hockey team travels to top-seeded University of Wisconsin for their best-of-three series.
 
The Beavers (6-28-1, 4-24-0 WCHA) travel to Madison, Wis., to face the No. 1 Badgers (31-1-2, 25-1-2 WCHA) and Julianne Bye Cup winners for the best-of-three series Feb. 28-Mar. 2
 
The four winners of the best-of-three First Round advance to the 2025 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff, held March 7-8 at AMSOIL Arena hosted by the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The winner of the 2025 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff receives the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Championship.
 
 
Each game will be streamed online on B1G+ with play-by-play provided by Wisconsin Athletics. A Beaver Radio Network broadcast is also available for each game online at www.beaverradionetwork.com or on the radio at 94.3 FM The Legends.
 
Bemidji State Notes

• Bemidji State finished the 2024-25 regular season with a 6-28-1 record and went 4-24-0 in WCHA play to earn the eighth-seed in the WCHA Playoffs.
• The Beavers see the Badgers for the second consecutive weekend after ending the regular season against UW last weekend in Bemidji.
• Wisconsin won the WCHA regular season title with a nearly unblemished 31-1-2 record and 25-1-2 record in league play.
• The Beavers meet the Badgers in the playoffs for the first time since the 2021-22 season and sixth time overall.
• BSU is 0-6-0 all-time against the Badgers in the WCHA Playoffs.
• Bemidji State went 1-14-0 on the road during the 2024-25 regular season.
• Never has a No. 8 seed upset a top seed in the WCHA Women's Hockey Playoffs in the conference's 26 seasons.
• The two teams met last weekend to end the regular season with Wisconsin earning the series sweep winning each game 6-1 at Sanford Center.
• The Beavers are 7-96-5 all-time against the Badgers and have lost 17 straight games to Wisconsin.
• When playing in LaBahn Arena, four of the Beavers seven wins have come and are 4-48-2 on the road.
• The WCHA announced this week its selections for the WCHA All-Academic Team and WCHA Scholar-Athletes with 15 Beavers earning WCHA All-Academic Team honors and 13 recognized as WCHA Scholar-Athletes.
• The Beavers have scored 56 goals this season, the most since the 2019-20 season.
• 14 goals have been scored on the power play, the most by the Beavers since 2017-18 (19).
• The Beavers are led by its underclassmen with seven of their top-10 scorers either freshmen or sophomores.
• Freshman Morgan Smith paces the Beavers with 20 points (11g-9a) while sophomore Hailey Armstrong follows with 18 points (10g-8a) and redshirt freshman Isa Goettl has added 15 points (6g-9a).
• Smith is the first 20-point scorer for Bemidji State since Reece Hunt (7g-13a) in 2021-22.
• Smith and Armstrong each reached double-digits in goals marking the first time since the 2019-20 season that BSU has had two double-digit goal scorers in a season (Haley Mack, Lydia Passolt).
• Morgan Smith is tied for second in the WCHA with seven power-play goals. She is tied for the second most power-play goals in a single season at Bemidji State trailing Sadie Lundquist's program record of eight set in the 2011-12 season.
• The Beavers are seventh in the WCHA with a power-play percentage of .163 (14-of-86).
• Bemidji State continues to be one of the top teams in the nation at blocking shots leading the WCHA and third in Division I with 574 blocked shots.
• Three of the league's top four shot blockers are Bemidji State Beavers including sophomore Riley Reeves who is second in the league and is fifth in the nation with 83 blocked shots.
• Freshman Kaitlin Groess leads the Beavers with 1141:46 minutes played in goal. She is 3-17-0 with a 3.78 goals against average and .890 save percentage.
• She has split time with sophomore Eva Filippova who is 2-9-0 with a 3.25 goals against average and .897 save percentage.
• Senior Alyssa Watkins was voted by her peers to captain the team during the season and is the 40th team captain in the program's history. She is joined by senior Genevieve Hendrickson and junior Mya Headrick who will serve as alternate captains.
• The Beavers' roster consists of 17 Minnesotan's, 19 from the U.S., five from Canada, and three from Europe.
• 2024-25 is the 27th season in Bemidji State Women's Hockey history and the program is 281-570-81 (.346) in 930 games played.

For more information on the Bemidji State women's hockey program, tickets or schedules, visit BSUBeavers.com, follow the Beavers on X or Instagram, or like them on Facebook.
 
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--