In the ever-changing tides of collegiate athletics, player retention has become a necessary focus.
For the Bemidji State women’s hockey team, player retention is dependent on what head coach Amber Fryklund and her staff are striving to build.
The Beavers are coming off a six-win season, one year after they had four wins. They’ve had 15 wins total in their last three seasons, along with several coaching changes.
However, like several Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams, Bemidji State has kept most of its top players from a year ago. It’s also been the beneficiary of adding impact players, like Minnesota transfer Isa Goettl and Union transfer Meredith Killian in 2024.
“It comes down to how we approach our program as a staff,” Fryklund said. “It shows in our relationships with the players in our recruiting process. We’re unique in the WCHA, so we have to make sure we’re recruiting players who want to be a part of a building process and fit that culture.
“We’re very intentional about our players and helping them reach their goals and aspirations. We’re player-development focused, and we take pride in that.”
Fryklund isn’t unrealistic. She knows it’s next to impossible to keep every player from entering the transfer portal each offseason.
While BSU was able to hang on to most of its young core, it still lost rising-junior defenseman Riley Reeves to St. Lawrence, rising-sophomore defenseman Julia Zielinska to Sacred Heart and alternate captain Mya Headrick to the University of New Brunswick in U Sports.
Bemidji State’s Isa Goettl (9) shoots the puck during the second period against Minnesota State on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, at the Sanford Center.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
Along with an
incoming class of eight freshmen,
Bemidji State is bringing in a pair of WCHA defenders and another goaltender.
Carmen Bray played all 36 games for St. Cloud State last season. She’s played in 52 games in two seasons and has one goal and eight assists. She’s expected to fill a key role for BSU, which lost Makenna Deering, Kendra Fortin, Reeves and Killian on the blue line.
“She’s played in a lot of different situations in her college career, and she brings that understanding of the WCHA and to play defense in the WCHA every weekend,” Fryklund said. “Culturally, she’s a great kid and a great fit, and she’s a great teammate.”
Bray played at RINK Hockey Academy prior to suiting up for the Huskies in 2023-24. It’s a development program out of Kelowna, British Columbia, with strong BSU ties.
“Eva (Filippova) and Hailey (Armstrong) come from that program,” Fryklund said. “It’s a program that does a good job of preparing players for college hockey, particularly the WCHA. She’s going to be a great add to our blue line. She can get pucks through traffic and can make a good breakout pass. She also plays physical.”
Fryklund added another rising-junior defenseman who will change WCHA schools. Elly Klepinger transferred to the Beavers from Minnesota. After graduating from Minnetonka, Klepinger played five games for USA Hockey’s U18 team in 2023.
Her two-year stint with the Gophers wasn’t as fruitful, playing in just 27 games. Fryklund, though, sees her as an important piece to the BSU puzzle.
“With her experience playing at Minnesota and who she is as a person, she certainly has experience on the blue line,” Fryklund said. “She has a lot of talent, and she’s going to bring that to our blue line. She’s going to fit into our team culture, and I’m excited for what she brings depth-wise.”
The third BSU transfer comes in the form of a goaltender, and it’s a matter of circumstance.
In June 2024, Bemidji State had three rostered goalies – Kaitlin Groess, Josie Bothun and Filippova. The Beavers added freshman Lauren Mooney just weeks before the season started due to Filippova and Bothun’s injuries.
Bothun graduated after medically retiring last winter, and Filippova is back on the shelf after suffering a significant lower-body injury that will keep her out until at least midway through 2025-26. Mooney is headed back to Canada to play U Sports, which left Bemidji State with just two goaltenders to open the season.
Bemidji State goaltender Kaitlin Groess (1) guards the net during the second period against St. Thomas on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, at the Sanford Center.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
Without the ability to rely on Groess and Minnetonka freshman Ashlyn Hazlett to stay healthy until Filippova is healed, the Beavers picked up Ava Hills out of Saint Anselm.
“We can’t play with just two healthy goaltenders,” Fryklund said. “With that in mind, we had to bring one in. Ava has good size and played at two great programs coming into college. … She’s got good movement and competes. We’re really excited about that. Like Carmen and Elly, she fits in culturally as well.”
Hills is a Milford, Massachusetts, native who played four games in two years for New Hampshire before playing 22 games for Saint Anselm last season. She posted a .937 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average.
Eying a step or two forward
Fryklund gave an honest assessment of her first season as Bemidji State’s head coach. While she’s pleased with the Beavers’ commitment to individual and collective growth, she’s not satisfied with where they finished in the WCHA.
“We were three wins away from sixth place,” Fryklund said. “You look back at games you should’ve won, and there’s some opportunity there. We talk about that a lot with our team, how close to where we want to be. Three wins is a lot in the WCHA, but it’s not unreachable. We took some time with our team to really dive into that after the season. It comes down to the work they put in their offseason training.”
While the improvement in the win column from a year ago was marginal at best, BSU still showed significant strides in Fryklund’s first season. The Beavers scored 14 more goals than they did in 2023-24. They also scored nine more power-play goals.
In 2023-24, Bemidji State was scored on 181 times, compared to 148 goals against last season. BSU took fewer penalties, drew more power plays and saw individual statistics rise.
Bemidji State’s Morgan Smith (21) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first period against Lindenwood on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, at the Sanford Center.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
While that hasn’t translated into better WCHA positioning yet, the Beavers hope to make the 2024-25 season the start of a consistent trend in the right direction.
“I’m proud of how we played,” Fryklund said. “Statistics don’t tell the whole story. We made progress throughout the whole year, especially how we played defensively. Our power play was outstanding. There’s some great building points that we can continue to build on, and that’s exciting. We’ve struggled to score goals, but I think you’re starting to see more offensive opportunities. You can see growth there.”
Fryklund’s coaching career has included several high-level positions, most notably in the form of an
at the 2025 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.
She treated her first season at the helm of Bemidji State women’s hockey like she would any other: an observant sponge.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a variety of different experiences,” Fryklund said. “I think in that first year, you spend a lot of time listening, taking it all in. You’re trying to learn from every situation. You’re leaning on the experiences you’ve had and the philosophy and the beliefs you hold. I don’t know if there was anything unexpected, but every day was an opportunity to reflect and have growth.”
Fryklund credited her staff – Emma Sobieck, Sarah Bobrowski, Alexis Joyce, Emily Meyer, Heidi Kreuger and Connor Laschinger – for their support through a transitional season.
“As coaches, you try and create that environment by building close relationships,” Fryklund said. “Our staff has spent a lot of time doing that and has put in the work to help our players reach those individual goals in and outside of hockey. When that happens, our team gets better.”
Collegiate athletics will continue to evolve throughout Fryklund’s tenure. The transfer portal isn’t going away. As Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) moves to the forefront of amateur sports, it’ll begin to trickle its way into women’s hockey as well, providing another obstacle for the small-town Beavers competing against Big Ten programs.
Another wrinkle in the fold is the looming
When approved by Judge Claudia Wilken, roster limits will be imposed for schools that opt in. That limit is currently at 26 players for men’s and women’s hockey, but there’s a belief that an amendment to the settlement will allow programs to grandfather in their current roster size to prevent schools from cutting depth athletes in all sports.
Bemidji State has not indicated if it’s opting in or out. It has until June 27, though it’s a date that’s been pushed back multiple times.
Currently, BSU women’s hockey has 27 players, due to the goaltending injury conundrum. If the settlement is approved with the grandfathering in, and if Bemidji State opts in, Fryklund wouldn’t have to cut any players before the 2025-26 season.
Bemidji State’s Olivia Dronen (3) shoots the puck during the second period against Minnesota State on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, at the Sanford Center.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
“We’re in a unique situation because of our goaltending situation,” Fryklund said. “If we were capped at 26 players this year, that would hurt us. For a lot of schools, 26 players is a lot. Some carry 23 or 24. On the men’s side, they generally carry a bigger roster. We’re really young, too, so that’s part of it as well.
“Nobody wants to cut kids, but some schools are doing it. That’s the business side of college athletics. For us, we’re going to wait and see where the dust settles and see where we go from there.”
Fryklund’s notion of the impending House settlement is a product of her coaching philosophy. She values player development above all else, and it translates beyond the sheet of ice at the Sanford Center.
Ultimately, Fryklund is proud of the community impact the Beavers showed last season.
“It starts with Kendra (Fortin) and her Hockey Humanitarian (Award) nomination,” Fryklund said. “Our players crushed it in the classroom. It’s just what they do in our community with their volunteering, specifically with Bemidji girls hockey. We talked about gratitude in our program, and they have it. We coordinate some of those opportunities, but our players go out of their way to find more, stuff we don’t even know of, and I’m certainly proud of that.”