WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team, hoping to lock up a berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs, kicks off a key, regular season-ending conference series against St. Olaf on Friday, hosting the Oles in a 7 p.m. contest at the SMU Ice Arena.
Last Action: The Cardinals dropped a pair of one-goal losses to league-leading Gustavus, falling to the Gusties
3-2 at the SMU Ice Arena on Friday and
1-0 in St. Peter, Minn., on Saturday. St. Olaf, meanwhile, is coming off a split of its conference series against Saint Benedict, shutting out the Blazers
3-0 on Friday in Northfield, Minn., while falling in the rematch
4-2 in St. Cloud, Minn.
Last Meeting — Jan. 23-24, 2009: The Cardinals collected three of a possible four conference points against the Oles a year ago, tying St. Olaf
3-3 in the opener at the SMU Ice Arena, then scoring three unanswered goals in collecting a
3-1 win the following day in Northfield, Minn.
Playoff Picture: The Cardinals enter the weekend holding on to the fifth and final playoff spot with 17 points, two points behind St. Olaf and one point in front of Bethel. A sweep of the Oles would give SMU the fourth seed and a home game against the No. 5 seed. If the Cardinals split against St. Olaf, SMU would need Bethel to lose of its final two games against Hamline.
Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: Saturday's 1-0 loss to Gustavus was SMU's fourth straight one-goal game (4-3 and 1-0 wins vs. Saint Benedict and 3-2 and 1-0 losses to the Gusties). … SMU has now played 15 one-goal games this season. …
Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) stopped a career-high 42 shots in last Friday's 3-2 loss vs. Gustavus, then did that effort one better on Saturday, kicking out 47 GAC shots in Saturday's 1-0 loss. …
Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn.) scored both of SMU's goals vs. Gustavus last Friday off of assists from
Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.). … Olson scored her team-leading 11th and 12th goals of the season vs. Saint Benedict on Feb. 12. … Olson has now scored two or more goals three times this season — including a career-best five-goal outburst against Marian on Jan. 9. … With their two points last Friday, Fiek and Olson pushed their team-leading point total to 20. … Olson's 12 goals are the most scored by a Cardinal since the 2006-07 season, when Melissa Mondo led the team with 15 goals. … Fiek's team-leading 12 assists, meanwhile, are the most in a season since Laura Mueller led the team with 13 during the 2006-07 season. … SMU boasts four players with 10 or more points — Fiek (20), Olson (20),
Katie Cachey (Orland Park, Ill.) (15) and Stenseth (11). … The Cardinals have scored first in 14 of their 23 games, going 10-3-1 in those 14 games. On the flip side, SMU's win over Saint Benedict on Jan. 12 was the first time this season SMU has won when its opponent scored first (1-6-0).
St. Olaf Ole Notes: Saturday's loss at Saint Benedict snapped the Oles' three-game unbeaten streak. … The Oles enter tonight's contest against SMU 4-2-1 in their last seven games. … St. Olaf held a commanding 39-23 advantage in shots on goal vs. CSB Saturday, but had just the two goals to show for their effort. … Kim McClintick and Lauren Tomford lead the team in goals (11), while Kristen Latta boasts a team-best 13 assists, and Nicole Stumpf and Katie Traci share the team lead in points with 20 each. … St. Olaf has three players with 10 or more goals — McClintick (11), Tomford (11) and Stumpf (10) — while Latta (13), Traci (11), Stumpf (10) and Jessica Laurianaitis (10) all have 10 or more assists. … The Oles also have 10 players with at least 10 points. … St. Olaf's 78 goals this season have come from 19 different players, while 22 players have recorded at least one point. … Jessica Ptachick and Erin McNamara have shared the goaltending duties, combining to record a 2.04 goals-against-average and a . 928 save percentage. … St. Olaf has scored first in 11 of the team's 23 games, going 9-2-0. When the Oles' opponent scores first, St. Olaf is just 4-7-1.
