What's On Tap:  Minnesota State will play their last two games of the regular season this Friday and Saturday in Mankato against the seventh-rated Beavers of Bemidji State.

The Mavericks, now 3-25-4 (0-23-3 WCHA), take on No. 7 Bemidji State who is 20-9-3 (15-9-2 WCHA) on the season and is 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.

Last Time on the Ice:  Last Saturday and Sunday, Minnesota State took on the now 2015-16 WCHA Regular-Season Champions, No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers. The Mavericks took two losses in the series by scores of 4-0 and 8-1 at LaBahn Arena.

In Saturday's game, Minnesota State held the Badgers to one goal in the first period of the contest.  At the 16:57 mark, Sydney McKibbon tallied her first of the game to put Wisconsin up 1-0 and didn't look back from there on out.  

The Badgers went on to score two more goals in the second frame and one more in the third to cement the victory.  The Badger's notched their fourth and final goal as Sydney McKibbon scored on the power-play at 8:01 of the third period.
Minnesota State goaltender, Brianna Quade (Newcastle, Ont.) recorded 49 saves on 53 Badger shots in the loss.  Her 49 stops was one shy of a career high in a game.

In Sunday's matchup, it was Wisconsin who jumped on the board first at 11:40 of the first period with Courtney Burke tallying her first of five points in the game.  

Minnesota State's Katie Johnson (Anoka, Minn.) evened things up at 4:13 of the second stanza on the power play, scoring her fifth goal of the season as she put one past UW's goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens.  The period's scoring concluded when Emily Clark scored her first of two in the game at 15:39 on the power play.

In the third period, Minnesota State was penalized four times,  giving up one more goal on the power-play and one on a delayed penalty when the Badgers entered an extra skater onto the ice.  

All in all the Badgers score six goals in the third period to put the game out of reach.  

Quade ended the series with a combined 88 saves, while the Mavericks produced 25 shots on goal in the two games.  

Scouting The Beavers:  Bemidji State comes into the weekend the owner of an overall record of 20-9-3 and a 15-9-2 record in WCHA play. BSU sits in third place in the conference. The Beavers are coming off a weekend in which they swept Ohio State in Columbus 6-2 and 3-1.  The Beavers are 3-2-1 in their last six games played.

Bemidji State is led by head coach James Scanlan who is in his second season at the helm of the Beavers program. Leading the Beaver's offense is senior Kaitlyn Tougas who has culminated 26 points this season off of seven goals and 19 assists. Senior Ivana Bilic and sophomore Alexis Joyce are right behind Tougas with 19 points each, respectively.  An All-American last season, junior goaltender Brittni Mowat has fostered a 20-9-2 record in 31 games played this season, recording a .941 save percentage and giving up 1.62 goals per game.

The Beavers are averaging 2.2 goals per game while allowing 1.8 and  are averaging 27.8 shots per game while allowing 27.4

Last Time Around: Minnesota State met the Beavers earlier this season in Bemidji, Minn.  BSU swept the series in a 3-1 fashion both games.  

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 162-396-52 (.307) record in 612 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 17th year as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold an 83-302-42 (.244) mark in 426 league contests. 

Top-10:  Over the last 10 games Minnesota State has played, six of those games have  been against teams who are ranked either eighth or higher in the country.  Though the Mavericks have a 0-5-1 record in those six games, three of them have been one goal games.  Now this weekend,Minnesota State matches up against the seventh-rated Beavers making that stretch even greater at eight games against top-10 opponents in the last 12 games.

Single Season Approaches: On Minnesota State's All-Time single-season list, senior Katie Johnson ranks T-10th for assists with 16 in 2015-16.  Junior goaltender Brianna Quade ranks seventh with 897 saves in 2015-16.  Also, Emily Antony is just three points outside of the top-10 list for points by a freshman with 15 this season.

Looking Ahead:  Minnesota State will take to the road next weekend in the first round of the 2016 WCHA Playoffs.  With No. 2 Wisconsin winning the league's regular-season title, the Mavericks will make the trek back to  Madison next weekend for a best-of-three series.

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