What's On Tap: The Minnesota State women's hockey team hits the road for one final weekend before the start of the playoffs. The Mavericks will travel to Grand Forks to take on the University of North Dakota this weekend.

The Mavericks (3-28-1, 1-24-1 WCHA) look to stop a five-game losing skid this weekend against UND (18-11-3, 14-9-3 WCHA). MSU and UND will face off Friday night at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday at 4:07 p.m.

Last Time on the Ice: The Mavericks traveled to St. Cloud for a rare Monday night game against the Huskies. The Mavericks and Huskies were tied through two periods of play, but the Huskies came out on top by a final of 3-1.

Freshman Nicole Schammel continues to prove she is one of the best freshman in the WCHA. Schammel gave the Mavericks a 1-0 at 9:14 of the second period after receiving a pass from senior Kathleen Rogan and sticking one pass SCSU netminder Julie Friend for a short-handed goal. Jenna Redford tied up the score at 14:27 with her first goal of the season.

In the final period Abby Ness scored a power play goal and an empty net goal to give the Huskies a 3-1 win. Senior Erin Krichiver pushed aside 31 Husky shots on the night.

Looking at North Dakota: North Dakota comes into this weekend one of the hottest teams in the WCHA. Since the break UND has gone 9-2-1 and ranked 7th this week in the USCHO.com poll and 8th by the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. UND owns an overall record of 18-11-3 and a 14-9-3- league ledger. Most recently, UND swept St. Cloud State with a couple of shutout victories.

North Dakota is led by head coach Brian Idalski who is in his eighth season at the helm of the hockey program. In eight seasons at UND he boasts a record of 131-127-28. UND has five players that have recorded 20 points led by junior Becca Kohler (F, 6-0, St. Thomas, Ont.) who has 10 goals and team leading 17 assists. Sophomore Amy Menke (F, 5-6, Shakopee, Minn.) and senior Josefine Jakobsen (F, 5-7, Aalborg, Denmark) are tied for the team lead in goal with 13 each. Junior Meghan Dufault (F, 5-3, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is second on the team with 26 points after recording nine goals and 17 assists. Junior Shelby Amsley-Benzie (G, 5-7, Warroad, Minn.) boasts a .953 save percentage, the highest in the NCAA, nad a goals against average of 1.25 which ranks fifth in the NCAA.

Offensively, UND averages 2.50 goals per game and 28.5 shots per game while allowing 1.62 goals per game and 26.3 shots per game.

Last Time Around: The last time these two teams met was the Mavericks first series of the season. UND ended up sweeping the Mavericks at All Seasons Arena by scores of 5-0 and 2-1, respectively.

Minnesota State All-Time: The MSU women's hockey program - started in 1998-99 - is currently in its 17th season of competition and has compiled a 161-377-48 (.317) record in 586 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 16th year as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and boast an 90-298-40 (.260) mark in 426 league contests.

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