Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's hockey team will return home for the first time in nearly two months to play the St. Cloud State Huskies. Puck will drop at 7:07 p.m. and 3:07 p.m. on Jan. 17-18 at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
 
Minnesota State All-Time: The MSU women's hockey program, which started in 1998-99, is currently in its 22nd season of competition and has compiled a 190-495-68 (.297) record in 753 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 21st year as members in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold a 116-393-53 (.254) record in 562 games played.

Last Time on the Ice: Minnesota State (7-12-4, 2-10-2-2 WCHA) was swept this past weekend by #5 Ohio State by the scores of 6-0 and 8-4.

In the first game it was all Ohio State as the Mavericks could not get anything going offensively. Juniors Lisa Bruno and Tatum Skaggs scored the first two goals in the first period to give the Buckeyes the 2-0 lead. That lead grew to 5-0 by the end of the second period as junior Liz Schepers, senior Rebecca Freiburger and sophomore Gabby Rosenthal netted the goals for OSU. The final goal came on the power play in the third period as junior Emma Maltais lit up the lamp.

In game two the Mavericks battled through two periods of play before the Buckeyes put the game out of reach in the third period. MSU jumped out in front in the first period as senior Sofia Poinar finished a 2-on-1 break with freshman Kennedy Bobyck for her second goal of the season. OSU evened the score before the first period buzzer sounded as Maltais scored a short handed goal with MSU being on the power play. Five goals were scored in the second period with sophomore Sophie Jaques (PPG) and Skaggs putting the Buckeyes up 3-1 early on. Junior Jessica Kondas answered with a power play goal of her own to cut the lead back to one with her third goal of the season. Ohio State took back the two goal advantage with freshman Jennifer Gardiner hitting the back of the net. The Mavericks once again cut the lead to one as junior Mariah Gardner took a Buckeye turnover deep in the defensive zone and turned it into her sixth goal of the season. Within the first six minutes of the third period, Rosenthal, Gardiner and senior Jincy Dunne (PPG) scored for OSU breaking open the lead to 7-3. Freshman Danielle England scored her first collegiate goal on a rebound attempt less than a minute later. The Buckeyes scored the final goal as Schepers scored her second goal in the series.

In net, sophomore Abigail Levy (3-8-2) made 24 saves between both games, while freshman Calla Frank (4-4-2) made 42 stops in her two appearences.

Career Records: Senior Emily Antony notched her 39th career assist on junior Mariah Gardner's goal against Ohio State, which is tied for the 10th most all-time at Minnesota State. Antony has eight assists on the season along wit two goals for 10 points. 

Scouting St. Cloud State: The Huskies (4-16-3, 0-14-0-0 WCHA) currently sit at the bottom of the conference and has not collected a point on the season. SCSU was swept by then-#2 Minnesota last weekend, losing by the scores of 4-1 and 3-0

The Huskies' offense is led by freshman forward Klara Hymlarova, who leads the team with 14 points and 10 assists, while also scoring four goals. Senior forward Hallie Theodosopoulos leads the team with nine goals and also has three assists for 12 points on the season.

In net, St. Cloud State features junior Emma Polusny (3-14-3) who has started 20 of the 23 games. She has a 2.93 goals against average, .916 save percentage, 647 saves and one shutout on the season.

Facing St. Cloud State: The Mavericks have an all-time record of 35-41-14 against the Huskies, dating back to 1998. In the most recent match-ups this season, the Mavericks swept SCSU in St. Cloud by the scores of 1-0 and 4-1 and then tied 2-2 in the Minnesota Cup with MSU scoring in the 3-on-3 overtime period to earn third place.

Looking Ahead: Minnesota State will play one of its final two road series of the season, traveling to face the Bemidji State Beavers. The Mavericks and Beavers will play on Jan. 24-25 at Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn. The puck will drop at 6:07 p.m. and 3:07 p.m., respectively.