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Women's Hockey
Playoff Preview: Royals Return to MIAC Playoffs Against Concordia
MIAC Women's Hockey Playoffs Homepage
MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Bethel University women's hockey team heads north up I-94 for a matchup with the Concordia College Cobbers in the quarterfinal round of the MIAC Women's Hockey Playoffs. The No. 5 seeded Royals (11-12-2) took three of four points from the Cobbers (9-11-5) in a mid-November series that was played in Bethel University Arena. The Royals mounted a third period comeback to take the lead in the series opener, just to see Concordia score late to tie it up, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. The next afternoon Bethel found themselves in a 2-0 hole after the first period but came roaring back with two in the second and the game winner with under five minutes remaining in the third for the 3-2 victory.
Event info: For those fans traveling to Moorhead tickets can be purchased at the door at the Moorhead Sports Center Hockey Arena, located a few blocks east of the Concordia campus at 324 24th Street South in Moorhead. The price for admission is $7 for adults, $3 for students, and free for kids five and under. For those unable to make it to the game, the Cobbers will provide a live stats feed
here and live video feed
here.
Playoff prowess: The Royals return to the MIAC Playoffs following a one-year hiatus in 2016-2017. Bethel has now been in the MIAC postseason seven of the last eight seasons and nine of the last eleven. The Royals own a 6-8 overall record in the postseason and have gone winless in just three of their eight previous trips to the playoffs.
Quarterfinal magic: Bethel owns a 3-1 record all-time in the No. 4/5 seed quarterfinal matchup, the lone loss came back in the first playoff game for Bethel in the 2007-08 season. The last time the Royals were the No. 5 seed in 2014-15, they destroyed No. 4 seeded Saint Mary's 7-1 then smoked No. 1 seed Gustavus 6-3, before falling in the MIAC Championship game to St. Thomas 3-2. In 2011-12 the Royals were also the No. 5 seed and went on the road to beat St. Olaf by a 5-4 score in overtime before losing to top seed Gustavus, also in overtime, by a 1-0 score.
What's ahead: The winner of Thursday night's contest in Moorhead will travel to top-seeded Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota on Saturday, February 24
th for a 2 p.m. semifinal matchup. A win over the Cobbers followed by a win over the Gusties would then place the Royals back in the MIAC Championship game on Saturday, March 3
rd, a place they were in consecutive seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Clutch streak: The Royals picked the right time to put their first winning streak together as they enter tonight's contest having won their last three games. Bethel only won back-to-back games twice (series sweeps of Aurora and Concordia-Wisconsin) prior to the current three-game winning streak, which includes a 7-1 win over St. Olaf and 2-1 and 1-0 victories over St. Kate's.
Scoreboard watching: Last Saturday's regular season finale in the MIAC was action packed with the Royals trying to not do any scoreboard watching. The rest of the MIAC games that day started at 2 p.m. while the Bethel-St. Kate's game was a 3 p.m. start, meaning all games were completed before the Royals began the third period of their contest. A win by Bethel guaranteed them of a spot in the MIAC playoffs but a win ended up not being necessary given that Saint Mary's was knocked off by St. Olaf 7-3, guaranteeing the Royals would get in as the No. 5 seed no matter the outcome of their game with the Wildcats. Bethel still had hopes however of getting to the No. 4 seed as a win, combined with a Concordia loss to Augsburg, would jump Bethel all the way to No. 4 and earn the right to host tonight's game. The Cobbers made sure that didn't happen however as they tied with Augsburg for the second consecutive game, coming back for a 2-2 draw and clinching the No. 4 seed. The Royals overtime game winner against St. Kate's was no less thrilling though, even if it didn't end up being necessary to get in the playoffs.
Senior sensation: Senior
Briita Nelson did her part to make sure her collegiate hockey career continued on for at least one more game as Nelson scored both game winners against St. Kate's to put the Royals into the MIAC playoffs. Friday night, Nelson put the Royals ahead with a second period shorthanded goal after stealing a Wildcats pass and creating a breakaway scoring opportunity. In Saturday's finale, Nelson brought the senior day crowd to its feet with a score 33 seconds into overtime, giving Bethel a 1-0 victory.
Super sophomore: Sophomore forward
Kaitlyn VanTassel leads the Royals with 33 points, which is just four away from Bethel's single season record of 37 held by two-time All-American
Cristina Masten, set in 2012-13. VanTassel scored 18 points in her freshman year giving her a two-year total thus far of 51 points, good for a tie for 13
th on Bethel's All-Time scoring leaders list. Masten holds that record as well with 123 career points from 2010-14.
Coming up huge: Senior goaltender
Maggie Straka missed a large chunk of the season to injury but her return has been just what the Royals needed as her return coincided with fellow senior goalie
Michelle Klimstra going down with an injury. Straka has played the last four games for Bethel, going 3-1. After allowing four goals in a loss to St. Olaf in her first action since January 5
th, Straka allowed just one the next night in a win over the Oles and then followed that up with a great performance in the series sweep of St. Kate's. She allowed just one goal and made 29 saves in a 2-1 victory on Friday then put together an amazing performance in 1-0 overtime win on senior day, making several spectacular saves to keep the Wildcats off the board until Bethel could get the overtime winner.
