After the final buzzer sounds Saturday night, red carpet will be rolled out on the ice and Minnesota-Duluth will hold a special ceremony for its final game at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.
The UND women's hockey team would like nothing more than to make it a somber moment for the Bulldog women, who are bidding farewell to the only arena they've ever called home.
The Bulldogs and Sioux will faceoff at 7:07 tonight and Saturday in the final Western Collegiate Hockey Association series in the building, which opened in 1966. The men said goodbye last weekend and now it's the women's turn.
"There's a lot of history there," UND coach Brian Idalski said. "There have been a lot of great teams there, both on the men's and the women's side. We haven't really talked about it (the closing of the building), but that's obviously a nice place."
Duluth will open up a new building, Amsoil Arena, on Dec. 30, with a game against the Sioux men.
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The Bulldogs can only hope it will bring the same fortunes as the last building. The Bulldog women won two national championships in front of their fans at the DECC and they've consistently been at the top of the women's college hockey world while calling it home.
This year isn't any different. The defending national champs enter the weekend ranked No. 4 nationally. They split with the Sioux earlier this season.
"I'm sure they'll be sharper than they were (in October)," Idalski said. "It will be another good weekend. . . a good test for us. Their top line is playing extremely well and they are getting great goaltending. It doesn't get any easier for us."
The Sioux (8-6-2, 7-5-2 WCHA) continue to be banged up.
They will again play without forwards Stephanie Roy and Margot Miller, who have each been out with injuries. Idalski also held Jocelyne Lamoureux out of the end of Sunday's game against Wisconsin for precautionary reasons.
"It's a tough week; it's a tough time," Idalski said. "It will be interesting. The season is never a straight climb. There are always peaks and valleys. This is definitely a little stretch for us, where character-wise, we're going to have to battle through. How we handle the adversity of this week will probably go a long ways in telling how the rest of the year will go for us."
UND is coming off of a pair of losses to Wisconsin and Idalski said that getting some points against the Bulldogs would be a good Christmas present.
"I thought we turned the puck over way too much last week," Idalski said. "I think we're going to face the same kind of speed from Duluth. I'd like to see us handle that a little better. We exerted a lot of energy chasing the puck back down after we turned it over. We can't do that this weekend."
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Reach Schlossman at (701) 780-1129; (800) 477-6572, ext. 129; or send e-mail to bschlossman@gfherald.com .
