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Women's Hockey
Playoff Preview: Bethel Heads to Gustavus for Familiar MIAC Semifinal Matchup
MIAC Women's Hockey Playoffs Homepage
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Bethel University women's hockey team heads south down Highway 169 to St. Peter, Minnesota for a matchup with the Gustavus Adolphus College Golden Gusties in the semifinal round of the MIAC Women's Hockey Playoffs. The No. 5 seeded Royals (12-12-2) took down the No. 4 seeded Concordia College Cobbers in Moorhead, Minnesota on Thursday night by a 4-3 score to advance to Saturday's semifinals. The Royals found themselves down 3-1 midway through the third period but mounted a big comeback to tie the game and eventually win in overtime.
Event info: For those fans traveling to St. Peter tickets can be purchased at the door at the Don Roberts Ice Rink, located on the Gustavus campus. 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 Gusties will provide a live stats feed
here and live video feed
here. The puck drops at 2 p.m.
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.
What's Next: The winner of Saturday's contest in St. Peter will advance to the MIAC Championship game to be held next Saturday, March 3rd at the highest remaining seed. Bethel is looking to make their third championship game appearance in the last four years and fourth overall appearance in the championship game. Gustavus is looking for their first trip the MIAC championship game since 2014 when they lost to St. Thomas.
Been there, done that: The last time the Royals and Gusties matched up in the playoffs came in 2014-15 when Bethel traveled to St. Peter as the No. 5 seed to face the No. 1 seeded Gusties, the same matchup as this year. Bethel took it to Gustavus on February 28, 2015 by scoring four first period goals and adding two more in the third period for a 6-3 victory. The Gusties won each of the previous four playoff matchups with Bethel, taking tightly contested wins in the semi's three years in a row, all by one goal, after beating Bethel in the 2011 MIAC championship game.
Series History: Gustavus has long been a power in MIAC women's hockey, winning 15 MIAC regular season championships in the 21-year history of the program, and it took Bethel 33 tries to beat the Gusties for the first time. That win came in the regular season finale of the 2013-14 season. Since that win the Royals are 5-6 against the Gusties, including a three-game winning streak from the 2015 MIAC Playoffs to a regular season sweep in 2015-16. Gustavus has rebounded to win the last four matchups however, sweeping the regular season series last year and this year.
Freshman Stepping Up: The Royals last two goals of the game against Concordia on Thursday night came from a pair of outstanding freshman. Forward
Bri Stafne scored the game tying goal with just over five minutes left. The goal for Stafne was her 12th of the season and 25th point despite missing four games this year to injury. Freshman defenseman
Kennedi Mitchell scored the game winner in overtime, her third score of the year to go along with 13 assists. Mitchell's impact on the Royals has been felt all over the ice as the Elk River, Minnesota native leads Bethel with an impressive +16, +/- on the year.
