WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Beavers looking for some revenge against Ohio State
BEMIDJI – The Bemidji State women have had some rough series this season. But Oct. 26-27’s series against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, might have taken the cake.
The Beavers (5-17-2, 4-15-1-0 WCHA) were swept by the Buckeyes by a combined score of 14-2 – including a 10-1 drubbing in the Saturday series finale.
“That was a tough one to swallow, especially that second game,” BSU head coach Steve Sertich said. “They looked like the Montreal Canadians and we looked like a peewee team. I think that still sticks in everybody’s throat.
“We should feel like we have to do something about that. But more importantly, we just need the points.”
The Buckeyes (15-9-2, 10-8-2-2 WCHA) come to the Sanford Center Friday and Saturday at 2:07 p.m. They’re fourth in the conference with 34 points and, up until last week, were ranked in USCHO.com’s top-10 poll. They were No. 9 before being swept against Minnesota-Duluth last weekend.
The Beavers, meanwhile, had the week off after being swept at Minnesota-Duluth two weeks ago.
Sertich hopes the week off will help BSU.
“With a week off I hope that helped us physically and mentally for this, because it’s a big series,” he said. “We have to get points at home. We’ll have to play well. Ohio State has a nice hockey team. They’ve had a great year. But I’m hoping that we bring our A game on Friday and Saturday and get some points.”
The Buckeyes are led by Ally Tarr, who leads the team with 26 points (8 goals, 18 assists), as well as Taylor Kuehl (12g, 10 a). Kuehl has a big series against the Beavers in October, scoring four goals in the two games and gaining five points total.
The Beavers are currently led by seniors Emily Erickson and Sadie Lundquist, who have scored 14 points each.
Natasha Kostenko has also heated up recently, getting a point in seven of her last nine games, including an assist in BSU’s 4-2 loss to UMD Jan. 19.
Sertich said he thinks the Beavers will be motivated to get back at it coming off a sweep at Duluth and thinking about October’s OSU series.
“For where we’re at in the middle of winter, coming off a couple losses in Duluth, the girls are pretty resilient,” he said.
“Probably moreso than me, actually. But I’m positive that they’ll have some jump this weekend. We need it.”
