Beavers look to improve on 4-win season under new tutelage

The Bemidji State Women’s Hockey team scored just 42 goals all of last season, a little more than one goal a game. In order for them to compete against the strong competition in the WCHA, the Beavers will have to address that issue first and foremost.

The team is under new leadership with the hiring of Amber Fryklund. Fryklund has been a part of the Beaver program for 10 seasons and five as an assistant. She takes over for Jim Scanlan who held the position for a decade before stepping down after last winter.

Fryklund welcomes back a good bulk of the 2023-24 roster and adds some important pieces, including transfer Isa Goettl form the University of Minnesota. Goettl was a high-scoring spark plug for Andover in high school and should add to the offense for the Beavers.

Bemidji State is also home to several former Warroad stars who have big game experience. Kate Johnson, Talya Hendrickson and Genevieve Hendrickson all return to this year’s squad with hopes of helping put more pucks in the net like they did as Lady Warriors. 

Several freshmen also join the ranks to help bolster a class of new energy into the lineup.

The top returning scorer is Hailey Armstrong, who notched a team-leading nine goals last year. Armstrong is a sophomore who hails from British Columbia and will look to get into double-digit scoring in her sophomore campaign. 

Scoring wasn’t the only issue for the Beavers last season as they allowed a whopping 181 goals, more than five per game. Shoring up the defensive zone play will be a priority for Fryklund who has eight defensemen on the roster, seven of them with at least a year of game experience. Makenna Deering (South St. Paul, MN) returns for her senior season and is joined by senior transfer Meredith Killian who has 102 game sunder her belt with Union. Kendra Fortin (Thunder Bay, Ont.) is also a senior and sophomores Olivia Dronen (Moorhead, MN) and Ana David (Minneapolis, MN) come back as sophomores after getting ample playing time as freshmen. 

The Beavers finished with just four wins last season (4-30-2, so an improvement in the win column shouldn’t be difficult to achieve, but with a new coach at the helm it may take a couple years for Fryklund to right the ship and steer it in the direction she chooses.

Newcomers

Fryklund welcomes nine newcomers to this year’s roster, including seven freshmen. In addition to Goettl, Heidi Strompf comes in as a 22-year-old from Germany. Strompf has put up some decent numbers in her time overseas and should help solidify the blue line for the Beavers. Julia Zielinska also comes in from Poland as another defenseman who could make an immediate impact. 

Other additions include forwards Hannah Graves (Hermantown, MN), Avery Achterkirch (Rogers, MN), Morgan Smith (Manitoba), Autumn Cooper (Superior, WI) and Izy Fairchild (Hermantown, MN). 

Goaltending

The Beavers should have good competition in goal with two strong incoming freshmen, a transfer and  goaltender with who played more than half of the games a year ago.

Eva Filippova  (Russia) started 20 games for the Beavers last season and posted a 4.31 goals against average and a .880 save percentage. She will compete for minutes with transfer Josie Bothun (Forest Lake, MN) who transfers in from Penn State where she played in 111 games and had a .920 save percentage and 1.85 GAA. Incoming freshmen are Jori Jones Award finalists Kaitlin Groess from Centennial-Spring Lake Park and Lauren Mooney who played in Canada last year and in 31 games had a .929 save percentage and 1.85 GAA.

Outlook

Coming off a season where they won just four games, an improvement in the win column shouldn’t be tough to achieve. With a strong slate of newcomers and some seasoned veterans and depth at the goaltending position, the Beavers could reach double digits, which would be a huge step in the right direction for the program.

2024-25 Roster

NUMBER	NAME	POSITION	HEIGHT	YEAR	S/C	HOMETOWN	PREVIOUS TEAM
1	Kaitlin Groess	G	5-7	Fr.	L	Ham Lake, Minn.	Centennial/Spring Lake Park HS
2	Makenna Deering	D	5-6	Sr.	L	South St. Paul, Minn.	South St. Paul HS
3	Olivia Dronen	D	5-6	So.	R	Moorhead, Minn.	Moorhead HS
4	Meredith Killian	D	5-7	Sr.	R	St. Paul, Minn.	Union
5	Ana Davis	D	5-7	So.	R	Minneapolis, Minn.	Minneapolis HS
6	Hannah Graves	F	5-9	Fr.	L	Hermantown, Minn.	Proctor-Hermantown HS
7	Shelby Breiland	F	5-6	Sr.	R	Red Lake Falls, Minn.	Thief River Falls HS
8	Avery Achterkirch	F	5-4	Fr.	R	Rogers, Minn.	Rogers HS
9	Isa Goettl	F	5-1	R-Fr.	L	Andover, Minn.	Minnesota
10	Raeley Carney	F	5-7	Jr.	R	Wasilla, Alaska	Alaska All Stars
11	Genevieve Hendrickson	F	5-6	Sr.	L	Warroad, Minn.	Franklin Pierce
13	Talya Hendrickson	F	5-5	So.	L	Warroad, Minn.	Warroad HS
14	Kate Johnson	F	5-4	So.	L	Warroad, Minn.	Warroad HS
15	Shelby Sandberg	F	5-4	So.	R	Ham Lake, Minn.	Blaine HS
16	Alyssa Watkins	F	5-7	Sr.	R	Hermantown, Minn.	Proctor-Hermantown HS
17	Heidi Strompf	D	5-5	Jr.	L	Ingolstadt, Germany	ZHK Sarisanka Presov (SZHL)
18	Riley Reeves	D	5-8	So.	R	Woodbury, Minn.	Gentry Academy
21	Morgan Smith	F	5-8	Fr.	L	East St. Paul, Manitoba	Balmoral Hall (JWHL)
22	Autumn Cooper	F	5-7	Fr.	R	South Range, Wis.	Superior HS
23	Julia Zielinska	D	5-6	Fr.	L	Katowice, Poland	Kiekko-Espoo (Naisten Liiga)
25	Izy Fairchild	F	5-2	Fr.	L	Hermantown, Minn.	Proctor-Hermantown HS
26	Kendra Fortin	D	5-4	Sr.	R	Thunder Bay, Ont.	Etobicoke Jr A (PWHL)
27	Mya Headrick	F	5-8	Jr.	L	Garden River, Ont.	Etobicoke Jr A
29	Hailey Armstrong	F	5-6	So.	R	Dawson Creek, B.C.	RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna U18 (CSSHL)
30	Eva Filippova	G	5-5	So.	L	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna U18 (CSSHL)
33	Josie Bothun	G	5-6	Gr.	L	Wyoming, Minn.	Penn State
35	Lauren Mooney	G	5-10	Fr.	L	Caledon, Ontario	Burlington AA