The Bemidji State women's hockey team will wrap up the regular season this weekend at John Glas Fieldhouse against Minnesota-Duluth at 2 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.
With only two games left to play, four teams will battle for the final two WCHA home playoff berths as just three points separate third place Wisconsin and St. Cloud State, the fifth place Beavers and sixth place Ohio State in the standings.
Bemidji State currently sits in fifth place in the WCHA just one point shy of a share for third with St. Cloud State and Wisconsin.
The Beavers (10-15-7-overall, 9-10-7-3 WCHA) have an opportunity to finish fourth in the conference, which would be the highest finish in school history.
Minnesota-Duluth (22-8-2 overall, 18-6-2-1 WCHA) stands two points out of first-place Minnesota, so there is still a chance the Bulldogs can catch the Gophers for the regular season title and the top seed in the playoffs.
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Minnesota will host Wisconsin this weekend.
The top four finishers in the final regular season standings will earn home ice for best-of-three series opening round next weekend.
The four first-round playoff winners will then earn trips to the 2010 WCHA Final Face-Off which will be held March 6-7 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.
A total of 45 players have been nominated for the 2010 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented annually to the top player in women's college hockey.
The list was announced this week by USA Hockey.
Nominations for the award, which is presented by The USA Hockey Foundation, were made by NCAA Division I women's ice hockey head coaches.
Named to the list was Bemidji State goalie Zuzana Tomcikova, who is currently playing for Slovakia in the Vancouver Olympic Games.
She currently has a .941 save percentage on the season while recording a 1.97 goals against average.
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She also has five shutouts on the season.
Tomcikova is expected to return to the team for the WCHA playoffs next week.
