What's On Tap: The No. 8-seeded Minnesota State women's hockey team travels to Madison, Wis., to face No. 1-seeded Wisconsin for a best-of-three series in the quarterfinal round of the 2017 WCHA Playoffs at LaBahn Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:07 p.m., on Friday, 4:07 p.m., on Saturday, and 3:07 p.m., on Sunday (if necessary). The winning team moves on to the 2017 WCHA Final Face-Off — held on March 4 and March 5 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.    
 
Looking Back at Last Weekend: Minnesota State (7-24-4, 4-21-3-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) split a two-game WCHA Series at Bemidji State over the weekend to close out the regular season. The Mavericks dropped the series opener 6-1 on Friday before rebounding for a 3-1 win on Saturday. 

WCHA Rookie of the Week: Freshman goaltender Chloe Crosby (1-1-0) was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week, as announced by association officials on Tuesday. Crosby, who made her first two collegiate starts over the weekend, earned the honor by making 71 saves with a .910 save percentage at Bemidji State. She stopped 41 shots, including 18 saves in the second period, and recorded a .976 save percentage to earn her first career win in the Mavericks 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon. Crosby tied for the WCHA lead in saves over the weekend and tied for fifth in the nation. Crosby's 41-save effort was the third 40-save performance by a Maverick netminder in 2016-17. Senior goaltender Brianna Quade (3-17-3) has eclipsed the 40-save plateau two times: at Wisconsin on Jan. 27 and at Ohio State on Feb. 10.        

Clogging the Shooting Lanes: The Mavericks lead the WCHA and are second in the nation with 532 blocked shots in 2016-17. Minnesota State, which is averaging 15.2 blocked shots per game this season, blocked a season-high 26 shots in its 3-1 win at Bemidji State on Saturday. The top five Mavericks in blocked shots this season are: junior defenseman Anna Keys (70), senior defenseman Anna Fiegert (53), sophomore defenseman Megan Hinze (48), Junior defenseman Emma Wittchow (44) and sophomore forward Jordan McLaughlin (39).

Sophomores Ascending: The Maverick sophomore class has tallied 18 goals, 30 assists and 48 points. Sophomore forward Emily Antony (7-7--14) leads the Mavericks in points in 2016-17. Sophomore forward Corbin Boyd (2-11--13) leads the Mavericks in assists and is tied for second with junior forward Lindsey Coleman (5-8--13) in points. 

Junior Scoring: The junior class leads all Maverick classes in points (49) and goals (19) and is tied with the sophomore class in assists (30). Junior forward Hannah Davidson (4-8--12) — the Mavericks' active career leader in goals (18), assists (26) and points (44) — scored the Mavericks' lone goal at Bemidji State on Friday. In the Maverick's 3-1 win at Bemidji State on Saturday, Junior defenseman Anna Keys (3-8--11) — who ranks fifth in program history in career points by a blue liner — junior forward Amanda Martin (1-1--2) and Junior forward Amanda Conway (2-1--3) each scored one goal. Martin's goal was the game-winning score — the first game winner of her collegiate career.  

Power Play Specialists: Sophomore defenseman Megan Hinze (5-2--7) leads the Mavericks in power play goals in 2016-17 with four — tied for the third most in the WCHA. Sophomore forward Emily Antony (7-7--14) is second on the team with three power play goals. Five Mavericks are tied with one power play goal each: freshman forward Demi Gardner (4-2--6), junior forward Hannah Davidson (4-8--12),  junior forward Amanda Martin (1-1--2), junior defenseman Anna Keys (3-8--11), and junior forward Lindsey Coleman (5-8--13).  

Scouting Wisconsin: The Badgers (27-2-4, 22-2-4-3 WCHA), who enter the 2017 WCHA Playoffs with the top scoring offense (3.94 GF/GP) and the top scoring defense (0.91 GA/GP) in the nation, finished out the regular season by going 2-0-3 in their last five games, including recording two ties at No. 4 Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday.  

Wisconsin is led on offense by junior forward Annie Pankowski (20-22--42) — the team leader in goals, assists and points. 

In net, senior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens (23-1-4) leads the nation in wins, win percentage (.893), save percentage (.961) and shutouts (13).
  
Last Time Around: The Mavericks are 0-4-0 this season against the Badgers. In their most recent series, Minnesota State was swept by Wisconsin by scores of 5-0 and 6-1 on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28, respectively, in Madison, Wis.