The Bemidji State women's hockey team enters the postseason this weekend with a first-round Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at St. Cloud State.
The winner of the series advances to the WCHA Final Face-Off next weekend in Minneapolis, which will crown the playoff champion.
The best-of-three series between BSU and SCSU is set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if needed) at the National Hockey Center with all game times set for 7 p.m.
The Beavers finished the regular season 10-17-7 overall (9-12-7-3 WCHA) and tok the sixth spot in the final standings. St. Cloud State (14-12-8 overall, 11-11-6-4) finished third.
Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota were named co-champions with 43 points to lead all teams.
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This weekend's meeting between BSU and SCSU marks the first postseason meeting between the two teams. St. Cloud State won the regular season series 2-1-1.
The Huskies became the first team in WCHA history to finish in the top three of the conference standings other than Miinnesota, UMD or Wisconsin.
The Beavers welcome back star goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova from the Vancouver Olympic games for this weekend's series. She faced 199 shots in five games for Team Slovakia in Vancouver.
Erin Cody has carried the team's scoring load over the last 18 games with 14 goals and five assists in that span. She teams up with Erin Johnson (10 goals) and Annie Bauerfeld (7 goals) to provide most of BSU's offensive production. The trio has accounted for 45 percent of BSU's offense this season.
Regardless of how the season ends, BSU has taken major steps forward this season with 10 wins. It marks the most wins since the 2006-07 season and BSU nearly matched the combined win total of the last two seasons.
Other WCHA first round matchups this weekend are: No. 8 North Dakota at No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 7 MSU, Mankato at No. 2 Minnesota and No. 5 Ohio State at No. 4 Wisconsin.
