What's On Tap:  After tying and dropping one to Ohio State last weekend, Minnesota State will make its way to Grand Forks this Friday and Saturday to play two Western Collegiate Hockey Association matches against No. 8 North Dakota.

The Mavericks, now 3-20-3 (0-17-2 WCHA), take on an eighth-ranked North Dakota January 29-30 at Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,640).  In their first meeting with North Dakota this season, Minnesota State fell to the recently-named Fighting Hawks by scores of 2-1 and 4-2 in Mankato.

Last Time on the Ice:  Last Friday and Saturday, the Mavericks Skated their way to a 3-3 tie and a shootout before dropping the back end of the series to the Buckeyes 8-3 in Mankato.

In Friday afternoon's contest, the Buckeyes got on the board first, scoring two goals one minute and 17 seconds apart from each other late in the opening period.  

Minnesota State's pair of freshmen in Emily Antony (Plymouth, Minn.) and Jordan McLaughlin (Grand Rapids, Minn.) were able to even things up in the second and third period at the 12:13 and 13:45 marks.  At 12:14 of the second period, McLaughlin and linemate Lindsey Coleman (Burnsville, Minn.) set up Antony for her third marker of the season.   

In the third frame, McLaughlin was able to tally her third goal of the season with Coleman and Antony setting up the play.  At 15:22, Melani Moylan contributed to the Buckeye scoring  attack, beating Minnesota State goaltender, junior Brianna Quade (Newcastle, Ont.) on the glove side.  Minnesota State tied the game up for the second time in the contest at 18:45 of the third period.  Sophomore Amanda Martin (Peoria, Ariz.) notched  the first goal of her career when defenseman Anna Keys (Cottage Grove, Minn.) grabbed a pass from fellow blue-liner Megan Hinze (Carver, Minn.) and found Martin in the slot on the power play with 1:45 remaining on the clock.  

The clock would wind down to the end and all the way through overtime without another puck hitting the back of a net.  The Mavericks fell in the shootout following the overtime period 2-1 with Antony being the only Maverick to sneak one past Buckeye netminder Alex LaMere.  

At the end of it all, Minnesota State had outshot the Buckeyes by a clip of 35-20 and going 1-4 on their power-play opportunities compared to Ohio State's one-for-two succession.  Quade ended the game with 17 saves while LaMere counted 32.

In the latter game of the series, it was Ohio State who skated away with three points in the WCHA standings. Like the first game, Ohio State scored twice to take the go-ahead lead in the first period, but the Mavericks responded with two of their own to even things up with Antony and senior Katie Johnson (Anoka, Minn.) getting Minnesota State on the board.

In the second stanza, OSU took the lead at the 4:40 mark when Katie Matheny tallied her second of the game.  Minnesota State answered right back at 12:29 with Antony scoring her second of the game and fifth of the season.  From there on out it was all Ohio State who scored five more goals including two power-play goals and one short-handed marker throughout the rest of the way.  Sophomore Katie Bidulka (Oakville, Ont.) made her third appearance of the season in the third period.

The final on the score board at the end of the game was 8-3 with Ohio State holding an advantage in shots on goal at 28-21.

Scouting North Dakota:  UND is coming of a weekend in which they were swept by No. 2 Wisconsin by scores of 1-0 and 3-1.

North Dakota  is led by head coach Brian Idalski who is in his ninth season at the helm of the program and owns a 101-57-14 overall record and a 74-45-13 conference record over the past four seasons. UND's top scorers thus far are junior Amy Menke (13-13--26) with seniors Becca Kohler (10-11--21) and Megan Dufault (6-14--20) following.  Senior Shelby Amsley-Benzie is the leading netminder producing a 1.59 goals against average and a .930 save percentage in 20 games.

Inside the MSU-UND Series:  This weekend's series between North Dakota and Minnesota State will mark the 55th and 56th meetings of the programs.  MSU holds a 24-22-6 record all-time vs. UND.

Last Time Around:  Minnesota State hosted UND earlier this season on October 9th and 10th, 2015.  UND went on to take the series by way of 2-1 and 4-2.

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 162-391-51 (.309) record in 606 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 17th year as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold an 83-297-41 (.246) mark in 420 league contests.

Picking Up the Pace:  Over the last four games Minnesota State has played, they have looked to their depth in providing some point production. Freshman Emily Antony has put up seven points (3-4--7) in the last four games and five (3-2--5) in the last two.  Right along side Antony is Lindsey Coleman who has tallied four points (1-3--4) in the last four games and three in the last two (3 assists).

Looking Ahead:  After taking to Grand Forks this weekend, Minnesota State will return home to host Minnesota Duluth on February 5-6 at Verizon Wireless Center.

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