What's On Tap:  Minnesota State travels to Madison, Wis., this Saturday and Sunday to play the second-rated Badgers of the University of Wisconsin.

The Mavericks, now 3-23-4 (0-21-3 WCHA), take on No. 2 Wisconsin (28-1-1, 22-1-1 WCHA), a first-place team in the WCHA who is riding a 10-game winning streak. In their first meeting with UW this season, Minnesota State took two losses by way of 6-0 and 7-0.

Last Time on the Ice:  Last Friday and Saturday, the Minnesota State took a pair of losses to Western Collegiate Hockey Association opponent Minnesota Duluth.  Though the second game played more to UMD's favor, Minnesota State made the Bulldogs work for the win in Friday's contest.

In Friday afternoon's game, UMD would take an early lead at the 3:01 mark of the first period when Michela Cava tallied her first of three in the match.  Cava went to build on the Bulldogs lead in the first period, notching another at 10:27 when Lara Stalder founder for the second time that game.

Minnesota Duluth would go on to carry their 2-0 all the way through the second period and into the third frame though the Mavericks outplayed UMD in the rest of regulation.  Minnesota State took to the Bulldogs the rest of the time in regulation outscoring UMD 2-0 and outshooting them 21-7 in the final-two periods.

In the third stanza, junior Savannah Quandt (Mankato, Minn.) scored her career-high third goal of the season   at 9:52.  Sophomore Lindsey Coleman (Burnsville, Minn.) would collect her fifth point in five games in assisting on the play.  Just over seven minutes later, the Mavericks would tie the game at two apiece when Coleman again found a teammate in front of the UMD goal in Amanda Martin (Peoria, Ariz.) with 2:41 remaining in regulation.

In the extra session, it was all Minnesota Duluth as Cava would collect her hattrick at the 3:54 mark of overtime, beating Minnesota State goaltender, junior Brianna Quade (Newcastle, Ont.).

The shots ended at an even 24 apiece while Quade recorded 21 stops in the contest.

Minnesota State would take the game's first lead in the second game of the series when freshman Emily Antony (Plymouth, Minn.) added to her impressive second half of the season.  At the 6:16 mark of the first period, Antony would grab a loose puck in UMD's zone and put it past Bulldog netminder Kayla Black for her sixth tally of the season.  Minnesota Duluth tied the game with just 1:11 remaining in the opening frame as Cave poked the puck off of the stick of a Maverick defenseman in front of an unsuspecting Quade for a shorthanded marker.

Ashleigh Brykaliuk scored her first of three in the game at the 5:14 mark of the second period off of a Maverick turnover, to take their first lead of the match. Freshman Steph Keryluk (Verona, Wis.) would tie the game back up for Minnesota State on the power play as sophomore Anna Keys (Cottage Grove, Minn.) made a play to keep the puck in the zone, finding Amanda Martin to make a play to Keryluk.  The game-tying tally marked the first of Keryluk's career.

In the third period, it was all UMD as the Bulldogs went on to score three unanswered goals.  Stalder notched a goal on the power play at 16:38 while Brykaliuk put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal to finish her hattrick.
Quade ended the series with a total of 60 saves against the Bulldogs, while the Mavericks special teams went 1-4 in the two games.

Scouting The Badgers:  Wisconsin comes into the weekend owners of a WCHA-best record of 22-1-1 and a 28-1-1 overall record. Last weekend the No. 2 Badgers swept Ohio State on the road by scores of 2-1 and 2-0.  Wisconsin is led by head coach Mark Johnson who has compiled a 388-72-35 record in 13 seasons at the helm of the Badgers program. Sophomore Annie Pankowski leads the team with 46 points (18-28--46) while Emily Clark has accumulated 35 (18-17--35). Sarah Nurse and Jenny Ryan follow with 29 and 28 points, respectively. Junior  goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens owns a 25-1-1 record this season allowing .61 goals per game while amassing a save percentage of .966. The Badgers are averaging 3.8 goals per game while allowing 0.60 goals per game. They are also outshooting their opponents averaging 40.8 shots per game while allowing 17.8.

Last Time Around:  The Mavericks hosted the Badgers in October and lost the first series by scores of 7-0 and 6-0 at Verizon Wireless Center in Downtown Mankato.

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 162-394-52 (.308) record in 610 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 17th year as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold an 83-300-42 (.245) mark in 424 league contests. 

Picking Up the Pace:  Over the last 10 games Minnesota State has played, they have looked to their depth in providing some point production. Freshman Emily Antony has put up 12 points (4-8--12) in the last 10 games and nine (4-5--9) in the six.  Right along side Antony is Lindsey Coleman scoring six points (1-5--6) in the last six contests. Freshman Jordan McLaughlin has also come along, tallying five points (3-2--5) in the last six games.

Overtime Thrillers:  Minnesota State has taken five of their last 10 games to overtime.  In that stretch, the Mavericks are 0-2-3 and  is 0-2-4 overall in the extra session this season.

Looking Ahead:  Minnesota State will return home to play and host their final regular-season games next weekend after playing UW this weekend.  The Mavericks will play Bemidji State February 19th and 20th in Mankato at Verizon Wireless Center with puck drop at 7:07 p.m. on Friday and 3:07 p.m. on Saturday.

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