WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team returns to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, as the Cardinals entertain Hamline in the first game of their two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-4-1 MIAC | 4-9-2 Overall) vs. Hamline Pipers (3-4-1 MIAC | 6-7-2 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals dropped a pair of conference games to league-leading St. Thomas last weekend, falling to the Tommies 3-1 at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., on Saturday, before dropping the rematch 5-0 a day later at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | UST Recap 1 * UST Recap 2
• Hamline: The Pipers came up empty in their conference series against Concordia last weekend in Moorhead, Minn., falling to the Cobbers 4-1 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday | CC Recap 1 * CC Recap 2
 
Saint Mary's vs. Hamline—A Year Ago:
• February 20, 2015 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Cardinals outshot Hamline 50-21, but with Mary Shefveland's near-perfect impression of a brick wall, it was the Pipers who made the most of their shots, as Hamline dealt Saint Mary's a 3-2 conference set back at Oscar Johnson Arena | Recap
• February 21, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals put an end to a three-game losing streak, getting goals from McKenna Parent (Anoka, Minn.) and Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.) en route to a 2-1 regular season-ending victory over Hamline at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. More important than snapping their three-game losing streak, however, was the fact that the victory over the Pipers gave the Cardinals some much-needed MIAC Playoff momentum—not to mention a home playoff game | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The Cardinals and Pipers hit the road on Saturday, traveling to Oscar Johnson Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for the second game of the teams' two-game conference series. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• This Friday's game against Hamline is Saint Mary's second straight home game. … Saint Mary's 5-0 loss to St. Thomas last Sunday snapped a streak of 13 straight games decided by two goals or less. Twenty-three of the Cardinals' last 27 games have been decided by two goals or less. … The Cardinals' games against St. Thomas last weekend marked the fourth straight game against a team ranked in the Top 5 of the latest USCHO.com national poll. Along with their two conference games vs. No. 4 St. Thomas, Saint Mary's dropped 2-1 and 4-2 decisions to third-ranked Lake Forest the previous weekend. … Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) scored the Cardinals' lone goal against St. Thomas last Saturday. The sophomore has now scored a goal in seven of the Cardinals' last 10 games. … Henderson is the team-leader in goals with nine and points with 13. … Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) picked up her team-leading seventh assist on Henderson's second-period goal vs. UST last Saturday. … McKenna Parent (Anoka, Minn.) posted her first collegiate two-goal game in the Cardinals' 4-2 win over Concordia on Dec. 4. … Henderson and Parent each recorded their first collegiate three-point games against St. Olaf on Nov. 21, while Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Lien both notched career-best two-assist nights in that same game. … Maddy Wallraff's (Blaine, Minn.) second-period goal against UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 2 was the first of her collegiate career. … Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.) made a season-high 38 saves against St. Thomas last Saturday—it was the fourth time in seven starts that the senior has stopped 30 or more shots. … Marah Shields (Milford, Mich.) and Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.) each finished with 18 saves vs. St. Thomas last Sunday. … Corcoran stopped 42 St. Norbert shots in her collegiate debut between the pipes on Nov. 28. … Shields posted 31 saves against UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 2, marking the third time in six starts the junior has finished with 30 or more saves. … Herrmann has made six starts in goal for the Cardinals, going 3-2-1 with a 1.83 goals-against-average and .944 save percentage, with Shields (6 starts, 2.56 GAA, 937 save percentage) and Corcoran (3 starts, 2.47 GAA, .924 save percentage) close behind. … Herrmann collected her first collegiate assist in the Cardinals' 1-1 tie against Bethel on Nov. 14. … Shields—who owns a team-best 216 saves—recorded a school-record 79 saves in the Cardinals' 2-0 loss to UW-Superior on Oct. 31. … The 79-save effort—which ranks No. 6 all-time in NCAA Division III history—is 24 saves more than the previous record of 55, set by Nikki Jung against Gustavus on Jan. 21, 2005. … Shields made 22 saves in the first period, 33 in the second, and 24 in the third en route to her 79-save performance. … The Cardinals have played four OT contests this season—but they are still searching for their first win (0-2-2). … The Cardinals' last overtime win was a 3-2 victory over St. Olaf on Jan. 31, 2015. … Saint Mary's played six OT games a year ago, going 2-1-3. … Both of Saint Mary's ties this season have been 1-1 decisions. … The Cardinals have scored first in all four of their wins this season (4-5-0). Saint Mary's is 0-4-2 when its opponent nets the game's first goal. … The Cardinals' five-goal effort against UW-Superior in their 5-2 season-opening win on Oct. 30 was the Cardinals' highest offensive output since netting five goals in a 5-3 win over Hamline on Feb. 23, 2014. … With their 5-2 win over UW-Superior on Oct. 30, the Cardinals snapped a four-game season-opening winless streak (0-3-1). Saint Mary's last season-opening win was a 5-0 victory over Marian on Oct. 29, 2010. … Saint Mary's is coming off an 11-win season a year ago—the Cardinals' highest win total since going 11-11-3 during the 2010-11 season.
 
Scouting The Hamline Pipers:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• Friday's game at Saint Mary's is the third straight road game for the Pipers, who are 3-5-1 away from Oscar Johnson Arena this season. … After putting together a season-high five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1), Hamline is now 2-5-0 in its last seven games. … Hamline's three goals against Concordia last weekend came from three different players—Jaci Reinke tallied the Pipers' lone goal in last Friday's 4-1 loss, while Dana Almquist and Brede Postier netted HU's two goals vs. the Cobbers a day later. … Postier and Jessica Goldberg head into Friday's showdown with Saint Mary's leading the team with four goals each—one more than Almquist, Jaimee Nowicki, and Chelsea Koehn. … Jena Kosley is the team's assist lead with six, and she shares the team lead in points (8) with Goldberg and Koehn. … Hamline's 28 goals have come from 13 different players, while 15 Pipers have recorded at least one point. … Nowicki and Britini DelCastillo share the team lead in game-winning goals with two each. … Hamline has had three players—Postier, Nowicki, and Jenny Magill—score two goals in a game this season. … The Pipers have netted seven power-play goals, while Koehn and Nowicki own HU's two short-handed tallies. … Hamline has used three different goalies this season, led by Jessica Cole, who owns a 1.71 goals-against-average and .939 save percentage in 11 starts. Mary Shefveland (3.76 GAA, .880 save percentage) has started four games for the Pipers, and Molly Dionne (6.03 GAA, .842 save percentage) has appeared in one game. … Cole, who leads the team in saves with 294, has collected three shutouts this season. … The Pipers have been outscored 37-28, including 14-6 in the game's middle period. … Hamline has scored four or more goals three times this season, including a season-high five goals in a 5-1 win over Saint Benedict on Nov. 20. … HU is 6-3-2 when scoring the game's first goal. The Pipers are winless (0-4-0) when their opponent scores first.