What's On Tap:  After taking a tie and a loss to St. Cloud State last Friday and Saturday, Minnesota State will take to the road for their first away series of the 2016 calender year against a third-rated University of Minnesota this weekend.

The Mavericks, now 3-17-2 (0-14-1 WCHA), will faceoff with the Minnesota Gophers for the second time this season on January 16th and 17th.  In the first series-meeting of the season, Minnesota (17-3-0, 13-3-0 WCHA) won the first game by a score of 12-1 and the second game by way of 2-1.

Last Time on the Ice:  Last Friday and Saturday, the Mavericks returned to Western Collegiate Hockey Association action as they hosted the Huskies of St. Cloud State at Verizon Wireless Center.

In Friday afternoon's contest, it was St. Cloud State who took the reigns early scoring just 42 seconds into game play.  Lexi Slattery took a pass from Molly Illikainen on a play that was started by Julia Tylke.  Slattery skated to the slot in Minnesota State's defensive zone and shot the puck past what looked like a screened Minnesota State goaltender, junior Brianna Quade (Newcastle, Ont.).  The rest of the period played to the Mavericks hand as Minnesota State outshot the Huskies 10-6 in the first frame.

With a scoreless second period taking the game into the third, it was freshman Jordan McLaughlin (Grand Rapids, Minn.) who tied things up at one apiece for MSU.  The game-tying play was set up when freshman Emily Antony (Plymouth, Minn.) brought the puck behind the Husky net and fed sophomore Lindsey Coleman (Burnsville, Minn.) out front.  Coleman then tapped the puck to McLaughlin, who snapped a shot past an out-of-place SCSU goaltender, Katie Fitzgerald at 2:51 of the final regulation period.  The Huskies and Mavericks would skate their way to a 1-1 tie the rest of the regulation and all the way through overtime.

In the shootout, St. Cloud State came away the victors as they put two goals away to Minnesota State's one.

In Saturday's matchup, the two teams skated their way to overtime for what ended up in SCSU's favor.  Minnesota State jumped on the scoreboard first as sophomore  Amanda Conway (Naperville, Ill.) netted the team's first goal at 4:27 of the first period.  Over the next 10 minutes, St. Cloud State tied the game up twice as Vanessa Spataro notched the score at 1-1 with sophomore Hannah Davidson (Kincardine, Ont.) resuming the lead for Minnesota State at 14:26 of the first period, Hannah Potrykus put one in past Quade to end the first stanza at 2-2.  

In the second period, the Huskies took their first lead of the game at 17:53 on the extra-attacker advantage.  

In the third, it looked as though SCSU would come away with a regulation-time victory, but freshman Lena Duesterhoeft (Munich, Germany) disrupted things with a blast from the point with the Maverick goaltender pulled with just 29 seconds to go.  

In overtime, it  took just one St. Cloud State shot to shake things up as Illikainen  found the back of the net with 43 seconds remaining to win the game.

At the end of the series, the Mavericks had outshot the Huskies by a combined clip of 59-52 with Quade making 48 stops on the weekend.  On special teams, it was SCSU who claimed an advantage going 1-3 in the series compared to Minnesota State's 0-1.

Looking at the Gophers:  Minnesota owns an overall record of 18-3-0 and are 13-3-0 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action. The Golden Gophers are coming off a weekend of WCHA play in which they swept Ohio State by scores of 9-0 and 3-1.

The Golden Gophers are led by head coach Brad Frost who is in his ninth year at the helm of the program. Frost has compiled a record of 276-45-21 in his career as the bench boss for Minnesota.

Junior Dani Cameranesi (21-23--44) leads the team in scoring with senior Hannah Brandt (20-21--41) and freshman Sarah Potomack (9-30--39) on her heals. Senior Amanda Leveille owns a 14-3-0 record and holds a goals against average of 1.54 and a save percentage of .918

As a team the Gophers are averaging 5.7 goals per game while allowing just 1.3.  They have killed off 80.7 percent of their penalties and are 29 of 60 on the power-play (48.3%).  The Gophers lead the country in goals scored with 119 and are ranked fifth in defense, giving up just 28 goals in 21 games.

Last Time Around: Minnesota State hosted the Gophers Nov. 27-28 in Mankato.  Minnesota swept the series by scores of 12-1 and 2-1.

Minnesota State All-Time: The MSU women's hockey program - started in 1998-99 - is currently in its 18th season of competition and has compiled a 162-388-50 (.311) record in 602 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 17th year as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold an 83-294-40 (.248) mark in 416 league contests.

2016 Nations Cup:  Minnesota State defensemen, junior Anna Fiegert (Landshut, Germany) and freshman Lena Duesterhoeft (Munich, Germany) competed in the 2016 Women's Nations Cup for Team Germany, January 4-7, 2016.  Germany went 1-2 in the tournament losing to Finland 5-1, defeating Switzerland 5-2, and taking a loss to Russia 2-1 last Thursday.
 
Looking Ahead:  After traveling to Minneapolis this weekend, the Mavericks will return home to play a 7-15-0 (3-13-0 WCHA) Ohio State in Mankato at Verizon Wireless Center, January 22-23.

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