Bemidji State's women's hockey team has set their goals looking inward at progress and improvement, knowing it will have an outward impact on their results.
After finishing last in the WCHA, women's hockey's best college hockey conference, the last three seasons, head coach Amber Fryklund is optimistic her team is ready to take a step forward.
"We're excited and optimistic about a new season," said Fryklund.
That optimism in part stems from the 11 new players the program added including eight rookies and three transfers. While the team has only two seniors, their underclass players are a strength. Their returnees including Bemidji's top four scorers from 2024-25, including team leader Morgan Smith, as well as both of their top goaltenders from the 2025-25 season.
"There's a lot of energy, they're always with each other," Fryklund said of her roster. "The group brings a lot of energy and I think they're really committed to elevating our standards and elevating our program, and so there's a lot of energy and commitment to putting in the work to continue to grow our program right now."
Bemidji State has shown improvement each of the last three seasons despite not being able to get out of the WCHA basement, most notably improving their goals for and against last season, and showing improvement on their power play. Fryklund recognizes her team has gaps to fill to continue to climb the WCHA standings, closing the gap between teams like Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, and St. Thomas who sit outside of the WCHA's powerhouse programs in Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Minnesota-Duluth.
To make those moves, Fryklund and the Bemidji State Beavers women's hockey team are looking inward at what they can control.
"We focus on our process and that starts in practice and our preparation, what we do with our details on the ice and off the ice and that's a huge forcus for us is on us and what we can do," said Fryklund.
"We're really looking forward to again another opportunity to make another jump this year for our team and continue to move up the standings in our league."