MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team hits the road on Friday for the first game of its two-game conference series against St. Thomas. Game time at the St. Thomas Ice Arena is set for 7 p.m.




The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-1-3 MIAC / 7-5-3 Overall)
St. Thomas Tommies (6-1-1 MIAC / 7-5-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals split their conference series against Bethel last weekend, falling to the Royals 3-0 in Blaine, Minn., on Friday, then bouncing back for a 2-1 conference win at the SMU Ice Arena on Saturday. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, picked up a pair of MIAC wins last weekend, sweeping Hamline 3-1 and 2-1.

A Year Ago:
January 29, 2010: One mistake in the third period, proved to be the Cardinals' downfall, as St. Thomas scored a powerplay goal five minutes into the third period to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Tommies to a 2-1 conference win over SMU at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn.

January 30, 2010: The Tommies scored three goals in the third period, erasing a 3-1 Cardinal lead and lifting UST to a 4-3 victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

Up Next:
The same two teams square off again Saturday afternoon — this time at the SMU Ice Arena. Puck drops at 4 p.m.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
The Cardinals' 2-1 win over Bethel Saturday snapped their season-high four-game losing streak. … SMU is still searching for its first conference win on a Friday — the Cardinals fell to 0-1-3 in conference play on Friday nights. … SMU's 3-0 loss at Bethel Friday also marked the first time this season the Cardinals have failed to score at least one goal. … Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) and Sheree Haslemore (Gore, New Zealand) scored SMU's two goals vs. Bethel in Saturday's 2-1 win. … Olson has now scored in three of the team's last four games, giving the Cardinal junior four goals on the season and a team-leading 13 points. … Olson also leads the team in assists (9), while Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Island, Mich.) and Brittany Therrien (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) share the team lead with six goals each. … Coolsaet recorded her first collegiate hat trick on Nov. 13 — scoring all three goals in the third period of SMU's 5-2 win over Concordia. … Five of Coolsaet's six goals have come in two games. The freshman forward recorded her first collegiate multiple-goal game with two goals in SMU's season-opening 5-0 win over Marian on Oct. 29. … Olson is one of three Cardinals with 10 or more points — Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire Wis.) and Coolsaet are the other two, boasting 11 and 10 points, respectively. … Eighteen of the Cardinals' 36 goals this season have come from freshmen. … SMU's two goals vs. Bethel Saturday snapped a streak of four straight games in which the Cardinals were held to one goal or less. … Goalie Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) finished with 24 saves to earn her team-leading sixth win of the season. … Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) stopped 39 shots — two shy of her career best — in Friday's 3-0 loss at Bethel. … Collier enters this weekend's games vs. St. Thomas with a 1.78 goals-against-average and a .930 save percentage, while Gustafson has a 2.28 GAA and a .943 save percentage. … SMU has scored first in eight of its 15 games, going 7-0-1. SMU is 0-5-2 when its opponent scores first. … The Cardinals opened the season with three straight wins. SMU's 3-0-0 start was its first since going 4-0-0 to open the 1999-2000 season — the program's second year of existence | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics

St. Thomas Tommies News and Notes:
The Tommies' 3-1 win over Hamline last Friday snapped their two-game losing streak and three-game winless streak. … With their 3-1 and 2-1 wins over Hamline, the Tommies have now held their opponents to one goal or less in all seven of their wins. … On the flip side, UST has scored just five goals combined in its other seven games (five losses and two ties). … UST has been shutout twice — 1-0 vs. Gustavus and 3-0 vs. UW-Superior, while the Tommies' have recorded four shutout victories — including three by the same 4-0 score. … Kaylee Keys and Meghan Parker lead the team with five goals each, while Taylor Schluter and Jaci Lang share the team lead in assists with five each. … Keys and Schluter are the team's points lead with eight apiece. … The Tommies' 29 goals have come from 13 different players, while 19 of the team's 21 players have recorded at least one point. … The Tommies have used three different goalies this season — Alise Riedel, Nicole Muske and Liz Maidl — with the trio combining to post a 1.41 goals-against-average and a .935 save percentage. … The Tommies lead all college hockey in penalty kill kills at .968, and have killed 61 of their last 62 penalties. They have allowed just 20 powerplay goals in 14 games. … UST has outscored its opponents 7-3 in the first period. … UST is 7-1-2 when scoring first, but the Tommies are still searching for their first win (0-4-0) when their opponent scores first. … St. Thomas is 50-14-5 against MIAC opponents over the last four season | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics