Lauren Bench (born November 21, 1997) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

for the

Minnesota Frost The Minnesota Frost are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that competes in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They are one of the six charter franchises of the league. The team plays its home games at Xc ...

of the

Professional Women's Hockey League The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; , LPHF) is a women's professional ice hockey league in North America. The league comprises eight teams, four each from the United States and Canada. The teams play a Season (sports), regular season ...

(PWHL). She previously played for

MoDo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team currently plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan after losing to HV71 after the play out following the 2024/25 se ...

of the

Swedish Women's Hockey League The Swedish Women's Hockey League (), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016–17 season. The league has ...

(SDHL). She played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

at Bemidji State and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Early life

Bench attended

Burnsville High School Burnsville High School (BHS) is a four-year public high school in Burnsville, Minnesota, United States. Burnsville is a southern suburb about 15 miles south of Minneapolis. The school is part of Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191, whic ...

Burnsville, Minnesota Burnsville ( ) is a city south of downtown Minneapolis in Dakota County, Minnesota. The city is situated on a bluff overlooking the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. Burnsville and nea ...

, where she was a four-sport letterwinner for the Blaze, earning five varsity letters in hockey, three in softball, two in golf, and one in alpine skiing.

College career

Bench began her collegiate career for Bemidji State during the 2017–18 season. During her redshirt freshman year, she appeared in 19 games for the Beavers and posted an 8–9–0 record, with a 2.71

goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

(GAA) and .903

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

with two

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

. During the 2018–19 season in her redshirt sophomore year, she appeared in 23 games and posted a 9–11–2 record, with a 2.51 GAA and .909 save percentage. She set Bemidji State's longest shutout streak of 165:55 after not allowing a goal in eight-consecutive periods. Following the season she was named to the All-WCHA Third Team. During the 2019–20 season in her redshirt junior year, she started 31 games and posted a 13–16–2 record, with a 2.25 GAA and .919 save percentage. Her 13 wins tied for the third most wins in a single season in program history, while she posted the sixth best GAA and seventh best save percentage in a single season. On February 29, 2020, she set a program and WCHA single-game record with 70 saves in a game against Minnesota Duluth. On April 9, 2020, Bench announced she would transfer to

to pursue a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Sport and Exercise Science Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

. She graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry/biotechnology and a minor in biology from

Bemidji State University Bemidji State University (BSU) is a public university in Bemidji, Minnesota, United States. Founded as a preparatory institution for teachers in 1919, it provides higher education to north-central Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Coll ...

. She finished her career at Bemidji State with a 30–36–4 record, with a 2.45 GAA, .912 save percentage and 10 shutouts. She ranked fifth in program history with 73 games played, fourth in career wins (30), fifth in career minutes played (4,266:00), third in career shutouts (10), fourth in career goals against average (2.45), tied for fourth in career save percentage (.912) and fifth in career saves (1,794). During the 2020–21 season in her redshirt senior year, she appeared in 15 games and posted a 9–6–0 record, with a 2.26 GAA and .920 save percentage in a season that was shortened due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She ranked third in the WCHA in save percentage and fourth in GAA. She led the Gophers to a 3–1–0 record during the month of November. She made 126 saves on 131 shots faced and her three wins led all goaltenders nationally, while her 1.26 GAA was third in the nation, and her .962 save percentage ranked fourth. She was subsequently named the Hockey Commissioners Association national goaltender of the month and WCHA goaltender of the month for the month of November 2020. On June 17, 2021, Bench announced she would use her extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic and return to Minnesota for the 2021–22 season. During her fifth and final year, she appeared in 26 games and posted a 14–6–1 record, with a 1.98 GAA, .919 save percentage and three shutouts. She led the team in wins, saves (491), and shutouts and ranked fourth in the WCHA in wins and fifth in conference GAA (1.98). She finished her career tenth in Minnesota program history in saves (838) and second in program history in saves per game (22.05).

Professional career

After graduating, Bench joined

of the SDHL. During the 2022–23 season, in her first professional season, she appeared in 26 games and posted a 14–12–0 record, with a 2.29 GAA and a .919 save percentage. On June 23, 2023, Bench signed a one-year contract with the

Montreal Force The Montreal Force () were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), based in Montreal, Quebec. The team was established in 2022 and debuted in the 2022–23 PHF season. The Force played only one season, as ...

of the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

(PHF). The PHF ceased operations on June 29, 2023, as a result she never played a game for the Force. On December 12, 2023, Bench signed a reserve player contract with

PWHL Minnesota The Minnesota Frost are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that competes in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They are one of the six charter franchises of the league. The team plays its home games at Xc ...

for the 2023–24 season, where she was the team's fourth goaltender. On February 14, 2024, she was signed to a standard player agreement contract with Minnesota. She didn't appear in a game for Minnesota during the season and won the inaugural Walter Cup.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bench, Lauren 1997 births Living people American women's ice hockey goaltenders Bemidji State Beavers women's ice hockey players Ice hockey players from Minnesota Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey players Modo Hockey (women) players Sportspeople from Eagan, Minnesota Walter Cup champions 21st-century American sportswomen Minnesota Frost players