After 13 years growing up together playing hockey, sisters Lauren Williams and Alex Williams took a faceoff against each other for the first time in an official game.
"Faceoff Lauren Williams vs Alex Williams won by UND," is what the play-by-play read from the Dec. 5, 2009 Western Collegiate Hockey Association game between Bemidji State and North Dakota.
"She's definitely good at taking face offs," said Lauren Williams before pausing. "I'll give her that one."
The sisters, Lauren, a sophomore winger at Bemidji State, and Alex, a senior center at North Dakota, have been playing hockey since they were 7 and 9 years old.
They will likely face off at the collegiate level for the last time when Bemidji State plays North Dakota in a home-and-home series beginning Friday night at 7:07 p.m. at John Glas Fieldhouse.
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Neither will admit that any type of rivalry exists, but there is definitely a sense of competition between the two.
Shortly after losing that faceoff to her sister, Lauren was called for a body-checking penalty against Alex. However, as Lauren explains, it really had nothing to do with any kind of rivalry.
"If I see Alex out there I definitely don't hold back," Lauren commented. "You get so focused on the game that you don't really notice who you're playing against."
"I was a little upset that Lauren would do that, but if it was anyone else I probably would have gotten angry," Alex added.
Alex and Lauren grew up in Eagan and their father Brian played hockey for the North Dakota men's hockey team from 1982-86 and ranks 12th on the all-time scoring list at UND.
While attending different colleges the two still keep in contact and keep up on each other's progress with hockey.
Even though Lauren will have two more years left at Bemidji State following the end of this year, Alex doesn't see herself becoming a Beaver fan in support of her sister.
"I'm Lauren's biggest fan, but I was born a Sioux fan and always will be," Alex said. "But I will be cheering for her next year and I hope to make it to most of her games."
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When talking about going into this final weekend against her sister, Lauren didn't think that she would be too distracted by it. Bemidji State (9-14-7 overall, 8-9-7-3 WCHA) is looking to lock up its highest WCHA finish in school history against North Dakota (6-18-4 overall, 5-17-2-0 WCHA).
"It's kind of sad that she will be done, but I don't think it will really faze me for the game," Lauren said. "I have never held back against her, and I don't plan to. We really need four points from them this weekend to hold our spot in fourth or even move up in the league."
