BEMIDJI – Mya Headrick is one of the few Bemidji State women’s hockey players who played the last time the Beavers swept an opponent.
“It was my freshman year against Lindenwood,” said Headrick, a junior forward.
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She’s right.
BSU’s last sweep came at the Sanford Center Sept. 23-24, 2022, in nonconference play against the Lions. However, Headrick hasn’t been on the right side of a sweep in WCHA play.
Few current players have.
It hasn’t happened since Jan. 28-29, 2022. Bemidji State handed St. Thomas a pair of losses by scores of 4-3 and 4-0 at the Sanford Center. But on Saturday, the sweepless streak of 1,022 days snapped.
The Beavers hung on to beat the Tommies 4-3 one night after a 4-1 triumph.
“We’ve grown tremendously,” Headrick said. “It’s crazy to see we have every person on our team working their butts off every day in practice. It’s just nice to see the growth in our program and how far we’ve come since I was a freshman.”
It didn’t come without some stress. BSU took a 4-1 lead into the third period. Ella Boerger scored eight and a half minutes into the frame before Lauren Stenslie cut the deficit to one on the power play with 5:37 left in regulation.
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“It’s never easy,” head coach Amber Fryklund said. “St. Thomas made a great push. They worked really hard and made us work hard, too. Having that lead certainly helped. But yeah, killing penalties at the end of the game in a close game, it gets a little crazy out there. But our team handled it really well. They stayed composed, they blocked shots, they competed and they were able to hold them off there at the end.”
Fryklund loved the Beavers’ fast start on Friday night. She was even more enthused on Saturday.
Hailey Armstrong benefitted from a favorable bounce off a UST skate 20 seconds into the contest to put BSU ahead 1-0, scoring her team-leading sixth goal this season. Six minutes later, Mya Headrick finished off a pristine give-and-go sequence with Autumn Cooper to double the lead.
“It started with Shelby (Sandberg), she backchecked all the way and (forced) a turnover,” Headrick said. “She set up me and Coop, and (Cooper) gave me a nice pass. I buried it.”
“To have two goals right away and get that start, it builds momentum for your team,” Fryklund said. “It builds confidence, it lets you breathe a little bit. That was a really important part of our game today, to get that lead.”
Bemidji State’s third line picked up from where it left off on Friday night. Raeley Carney pulled a loose puck off the goal line behind freshman goaltender Kaitlin Groess. Ten seconds later, Kate Johnson scored on a breakaway to put the Beavers ahead 3-0.
“(Headrick) talked about Sandy backchecking that got them that goal, Rae Carney was down in the crease preventing a goal from going in – those are game changers,” Fryklund said. “Those individual efforts on the defensive side go unnoticed sometimes. But today and yesterday, the importance of those battles won really helped us have offensive opportunities.”
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St. Thomas picked up its pace in the second period, and it was rewarded for it. Maddie Jurgensen tapped home a loose puck with six minutes left in the middle frame to cut the Tommies’ deficit to two.
UST had a 14-8 edge in shots on goal in the second period, but it still trailed by three heading into the intermission. Sandberg regained BSU’s three-goal lead two minutes after St. Thomas scored by tipping in Meredith Killian’s shot from the point.
“I felt it, it hit my stick a little bit,” Sandberg said. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah. I think that’s me.’ I get very excited whenever I score, I do a little jump. It was just exciting because it helped us eventually get the win.”
Sandberg’s goal proved to be the sweep-clincher.
“We were very excited and very motivated,” Sandberg said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. We did a lot of things well yesterday, and we just brought that over into today’s game.”
The win notched Fryklund’s first sweep as the Beavers’ head coach. When the clock showed a collection of zeros after the third period, she felt the excitement for her players.
“I’m so proud of them for their effort,” Fryklund said. “We’ve been working really hard. Our players have stayed buying into the process. To see them rewarded for their hard work, it’s rewarding for our staff.”
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Fryklund also felt humbled for the opportunity to be part of a collaborative coaching staff with Emma Sobieck, Sarah Bobrowski, Alexis Joyce and Emily Meyer.
“I’m so grateful to work with such great (coaches)” Fryklund said. “Eveyrone contributes in every way. We’re so collaborative, we support each other. We’re all in this, right? We’re grateful for this opportunity to get to work together and do something we love – lead this team together as a staff. Every day we come to the rink, you just feel so grateful.”
Bemidji State 4, St. Thomas 3
UST 0 1 2 – 3
BSU 3 1 0 – 4
First period – BSU GOAL: Armstrong (unassisted) 0:20; BSU GOAL: Headrick (Cooper) 6:13; BSU GOAL: Johnson (unassisted) 17:34.
Second period – UST GOAL: Jurgensen (Sauer, Maxwell) 14:01; BSU GOAL: Sandberg (Killian) 16:11.
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Third period – US GOAL: Boerger (Lindman, Karl) 8:51; UST GOAL: Stenslie (Hause, Clough) PPG, 14:23.
Saves – Groess (BSU) 39; Malecha (UST) 21.
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