WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff action on Thursday, as the Cardinals host Bethel in a 7 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena
 
The Matchup:
• #4 Saint Mary's Cardinals (9-7-2 MIAC | 11-11-3 Overall) vs. #5 Bethel Royals (8-7-3 MIAC | 13-9-3 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | GameDay Tournament Program | MIAC Tournament Homepage
 
MIAC Tournament Schedule:
Quarterfinal: Thursday, Feb. 26 - 7 p.m.
• No. 5 Bethel at No. 4 Saint Mary's | Winona, Minn.
Semifinals: Saturday, Feb. 28 - 2 p.m.
• No. 4/5 winner at No. 1 Gustavus | St. Peter, Minn.
• No. 3 Concordia at No. 2 St. Thomas | Mendota Heights, Minn.
Championship: Saturday, March 7 - Time: TBA
• Lowest remaining seed at Highest remaining seed | Location: TBA
 
How The MIAC Field Got Here:
• #1: Gustavus (15-2-1 MIAC, 19-4-2) locked up the regular-season championship, top seed, and home-ice advantage throughout the Playoffs prior to the final week of the regular-season. The MIAC championship is the 10th in the last 11 years for head coach Mike Carroll and the Gusties, who had a nine-year run of titles snapped by St. Thomas last season.
• #2: St. Thomas (12-9-4, 11-3-4 MIAC) lost to Saint Benedict last Friday, but still locked in the No. 2 seed and a semifinal home game thanks to Friday's other results. St. Thomas finished off its regular season with a 3-1 win over the Blazers last Saturday.
• #3: Concordia (10-12-3, 9-6-3 MIAC) dropped both of its games against St. Catherine during the final weekend of the regular season, but its 21 points ended up being good for third place in the standings, so the Cobbers avoided the quarterfinal round and will travel to face the second-seeded Tommies in the semifinals on Saturday.
• #4-5: Saint Mary's (11-11-3, 9-7-2 MIAC) also sealed its spot in the tournament last Friday, despite a 3-2 loss to Hamline. The other two teams with postseason hopes—Augsburg and St. Catherine—both swept their final series, but Bethel's win over the Gusties and Saint Mary's edge in the tiebreakers ended the Playoff dreams of the Auggies and Wildcats on Friday night. For good measure, the Cardinals sealed their bid with a 2-1 win in Saturday's regular-season finale against the Pipers. The Cardinals win, coupled with Bethel's loss to Gustavus, helped Saint Mary's leapfrog the Royals into fourth place, as Saint Mary's finished with 20 points to Bethel's 19.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel—Earlier This Year:
• January 16, 2015: Mackenzie Klimek (Hastings, Minn.) scored her first goal of the season—with less than two minutes remaining in regulation—as Saint Mary's collected a 2-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over Bethel at the Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn. | Recap
• January 17, 2015: The Cardinals headed into their rematch against Bethel unbeaten (3-0-1) in their last four meetings with the Royals at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena—with all four games being decided by one goal or less. And thanks to Lindsay Paschke's (New Prague, Minn.) second-period goal and the stellar goaltending of Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.), the Cardinals pushed both of those streaks to five in a row with another one-goal home victory, a 1-0 decision | Recap
 
Saint Mary's—Their Last MIAC Playoff Appearance:
• March 2, 2010: St. Olaf scored once in the first period and twice more in the second and held on for a 3-1 victory at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
 
Bethel—Their Last MIAC Playoff Appearance:
• March 1, 2014: An historic season—in which Bethel posted a program record 17 wins— came to a disappointing end for the Royals, who dropped a 3-2 decision at No. 8 Gustavus in St. Peter, Minn. | Recap

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The Cardinals are making their first post-season appearance since the 2009-10 season, when Saint Mary's dropped a 3-1 decision to St. Olaf. … With their regular season-ending 2-1 win over Hamline last Saturday, the Cardinals have now played 12th straight games decided by two goals or less. … Saint Mary's 2-1 victory over Hamline last Saturday was their 11th of the season—the Cardinals' highest win total since going 11-11-3 during the 2010-11 season. … Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.) had a hand in three of the Cardinals' four goals in their two-game, regular season-ending conference series against Hamline—the junior had a goal in each game, while also assisting on Jane Hannula's (Coon Rapids, Minn.) goal in Friday's 3-2 loss. … Cwik, Breanna Peterson (Macomb, Mich.) and Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) all share the team lead in goals with six, one more than Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) and two in front of Hannula and Lindsay Paschke (New Prague, Minn.). … Peterson also owns the team lead in assists (9) and points (15). … Peterson finished with three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in the Cardinals' 4-2 win over St. Olaf on Jan. 30, marking the second time this season the senior forward has notched three or more points in a game—she recorded four points (1 goal, 3 assists) vs. UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 3. … Peterson has notched three or more points in a game five times in her collegiate career. … Peterson's three assists in Saint Mary's 4-1 victory over UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 3 were a career high. … Saint Mary's has four players who recorded multiple-goal games this season—Peterson, Henderson, Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.), and Molly Abraham (Sterling Heights, Mich.). Peterson became the latest to score two goals in a game with her two tallies vs. St. Olaf on Jan. 30—Fadness posted her first collegiate two-goal game in Saint Mary's 3-2 OT win over St. Catherine on Dec. 6, while Abraham recorded her first two-goal game as a Cardinal in Saint Mary's 3-2 win over Saint Benedict on Nov. 21, and Henderson recorded her multiple-goal game against UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 2. … The Cardinals have four players who have netted their first collegiate goal this season—Henderson, Abraham, Mandy Sailor (Ramsey, Minn.), and Kayla Pierson (Shorewood, Ill.). … The Cardinals have scored a season-high four goals in a game three times—beating St. Olaf 4-2 on Jan. 30, while topping UW-Eau Claire 4-1 in both of their nonconference games on Jan. 2-3. … Saint Mary's 50 shots on goal vs. Hamline last Friday were a season high, and the most since peppering UW-Eau Claire with 52 shots on Jan. 10, 2014. … Saint Mary's 2-0 win over Augsburg on Feb. 6 was the Cardinals' fourth shutout of the season, marking the second straight year in which Saint Mary's has notched four shutouts in a season. … Marah Shields (Milford, Mich.)—who posted her first two collegiate shutouts with a 31-save effort against Augsburg on Feb. 6, and a 19-save showing vs. Saint Benedict on Nov. 22—is the owner of a 2.31 GAA and .925 save percentage. … Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.) notched her second shutout of the season—and third of her collegiate career—with 23 saves vs. Bethel on Jan. 17. Herrmann's other shutout this season was a 43-save effort in a 0-0 tie against St. Thomas on Nov. 15. … Herrmann's 43 saves vs. the Tommies on Nov. 15 were a season high and one save shy of her career high. The junior stopped 44 shots against Concordia on Feb. 16, 2013. … Herrmann enters Thursday's playoff game against Bethel owning a team-leading 1.67 goals-against-average and a .936 save percentage. … The Cardinals have played six overtime games this season—going 2-1-3. … Saint Mary's tie vs. St. Thomas on Nov. 15 marked the second time in the last three seasons that the Cardinals have played to a 0-0 tie. Saint Mary's and Concordia battled to a 0-0 stalemate on Feb. 15, 2013. … The Cardinals boast four two-game series sweeps this season—the most since the 2003-04 season. The Cardinals have swept St. Olaf (4-2, 3-2), Bethel (2-1, 1-0), UW-Eau Claire (4-1, 4-1), and Saint Benedict (3-2, 2-0). … Saint Mary's has outscored its opponents 15-11 in the first period and 18-17 in the third, but the Cardinals have been outscored 21-12 in the game's middle period. … The Cardinals are 9-3-1 when scoring the game's first goal, while going 2-7-1 when their opponent scores first. … The Cardinals have played seven games against nationally ranked teams this season—Gustavus was ranked No. 6 heading into their MIAC showdown with Saint Mary's on Jan. 23-24; Adrian was ranked No. 7 when the Cardinals faced them on Jan. 9; UW-Superior was ranked No. 9 in the USCHO.com Top 10 when the teams met on Nov. 7-8; and St. Thomas headed into the teams' conference openers on Nov. 14-15 ranked No. 8.
 
Scouting The Bethel Royals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
Bethel—thanks to its 4-2 win over seventh-ranked Gustavus last Friday—earned its fifth consecutive appearance in the MIAC Playoffs. … The Royals have been eliminated from post-season play by Gustavus in each of their last four post-season appearances—the last three all by one goal. … The Royals head into Thursday's conference playoff opener against Saint Mary's having gone 3-1-1 in their last five games. Bethel had its three-game winning and four-game unbeaten streak snapped with last Saturday's 5-2 regular season-ending loss to conference champion Gustavus. … Fifteen of Bethel's 25 games this season have been decided by two goals or less. … The Royals have played three overtime games this season, with all three resulting in ties—including a 0-0 deadlock against St. Catherine on Jan. 31. … Kathryn Larson, who recorded her second hat trick of the season in Bethel's 4-2 win over Gustavus last Friday, enters post-season play as the team-leader in goals (19) and points (30). … Five of Larson's 19 goals have been game-winners, while the sophomore forward also boasts three power-play goals and a pair of shorthanded tallies. … Along with her two hat tricks, Larson has also posted a pair of two-goal games. … Caroline Kvisto has dished out a team-best 13 assists. Kvisto is one of five Royals with 10 or more assists—Larson, Kallie Johnson (11), Lauren Kolak (11) and Lindsay Burman (10) are the others. … Larson is also one of seven Royals with at least 10 points, with Johnson (19), Kvisto (19), Burman (17), Kolak (17), Megan O'Brian (15), and Natalie Simons (14) being the others. … Michelle Kimstra has started 19 of the team's 25 games in goal, compiling a 1.94 goals-against-average and .912 save percentage. … Maggie Straka has started BU's other five games and owns a 1.90 GAA and .895 save percentage. … Kimstra, who leads the team with 364 saves, has posted 35 of more saves twice this season, including a season-high 39-save effort against St. Thomas on Feb. 6. … Kimstra has been in goal for three of the Royals' four shut outs this season. … The Royals have scored a season-high seven goals twice—both times against St. Olaf. Bethel beat the Oles 7-0 on Jan. 23 and 7-4 on Jan. 24. … Bethel has scored five or more goals in a game five times this season. … The Royals have outscored their opponents in every period—including holding an 18-9 edge in the game's opening 20 minutes. … BU is 10-2-1 when scoring the game's first goal, but the Royals are just 3-7-1 when their opponent gets on the board first.