What's On Tap: Minnesota State women's hockey travels to Columbus, Ohio for a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with Ohio State on Friday and Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:07 p.m. CST on Friday and 12:07 p.m. CST on Saturday.   

Looking Back at Last Weekend: The Mavericks (6-22-3, 3-19-2-0 WCHA) were swept in a two-game WCHA series by No. 4 Minnesota on Friday night and Saturday afternoon at Verizon Wireless Center. The Mavericks lost 5-0 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday.  

Assisting on the Play: The Mavericks recorded four assists on their three goals against No. 4 Minnesota on Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Sara Bustad (3-2--5), junior defenseman Anna Keys (2-6--8), senior defenseman Anna Fiegert (1-3--4) and sophomore forward Steph Keryluk (0-1--1) each tallied one assist in the game. 

Fierce Freshmen: Freshman Jordan Jackson (1-1--2) scored her first career goal for Minnesota State on Saturday afternoon, Her goal, which came at 14:21 of the second period, got the Mavericks on the scoreboard against No. 4 Minnesota. Jackson also garnered four blocked shots and a +1 rating — tied for the highest plus-minus amongst Mavericks over the weekend with sophomore forward Steph Keryluk (0-1--1). Freshman forward Demi Gardner (3-0--3) scored her third goal of the season — the most amongst Maverick freshmen —  against Minnesota on Saturday. Freshman forward Sofia Poinar (1-0--1) ranks fourth on Minnesota State and leads the freshman class with 76 face-off wins in 2016-17.

Clogging the Shooting Lanes: The Mavericks lead the WCHA and are second in the nation with 468 blocked shots in 2016-17. Minnesota State garnered 36 blocked shots over the weekend. The top five Mavericks in blocked shots this season are: junior defenseman Anna Keys (63), senior defenseman Anna Fiegert (50), sophomore defenseman Megan Hinze (43), Junior defenseman Emma Wittchow (37) and sophomore forward Jordan McLaughlin (37).

Sophomore Surge: The sophomore class leads all of the Mavericks' classes in goals (17), assists (27) and points (44). Sophomore forwards Emily Antony (7-7--14) and Corbin Boyd (2-10--12) lead all Maverick sophomores in points in 2016-17. Boyd leads the team in assists and Antony paces the team in goals and points.

2,000 Career Saves: Senior Brianna Quade became the fifth goaltender in Maverick history to record 2,000 career saves at No. 1 Wisconsin on Jan. 28. Quade, who now has 2,070 career saves in 72 games played, joined Danielle Butters (2,632), Alli Altmann (2,750), Britni Kehler (3,156) and current Minnesota State women's hockey assistant coach Shari Dickerman (Vogt) (3,590) — the all-time Maverick save leader — as the only Maverick netminders to eclipse 2,000 career saves.

Defense on Offense: Senior defenseman Anna Fiegert (1-3--4), sophomore defenseman Megan Hinze (5-1--6) — the WCHA Defensive Player of the Month for December — and junior defenseman Anna Keys (2-6--8) have scored the Mavericks' last three game-winning goals. Fiegert, Hinze and Keys garnered the game-winning goals against Bemidji State on Dec. 3, former-No. 3 ranked Minnesota Duluth on Dec. 10 and Union on Dec. 17, respectively. 

Scouting Ohio State: The Buckeyes (11-15-4, 5-15-4-2 WCHA) are 0-3-2 in their last five games, including a loss (3-1) on Friday and a tie (2-2) on Saturday against St. Cloud State in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State won the shootout on Saturday — its second shootout win of the season. 

Ohio State is led on offense by sophomore forward Maddy Field (8-13--21), who leads the team in goals, assists, points, power play goals (3), power play assists (2), power play points (5) and shots on goal (108), and is tied for the team lead with two game-winning goals.

In net, sophomore goaltender Kassidy Sauve leads the nation with 934 saves — 139 more than the next-highest save total. Her .944 save percentage ranks second in the WCHA and third in the nation. Sauve also has six shutouts — the second most in the WCHA in 2016-17.

Last Time Around: The Mavericks are 1-1-0 this season against the Buckeyes.  The Mavericks lost the first meeting 2-1 on Nov. 18 before rebounding to win the second game 2-1 on Nov. 19 at Verizon Wireless Center.