WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team returns to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Saturday, as the Cardinals entertain St. Norbert in a 2 p.m. nonconference matchup.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-0-0 Overall) vs. St. Norbert Green Knights (2016-17: 6-18-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | /documents/2017/10/27//whstnorbert_web.pdf?id=4969GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—October 27, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) scored her first collegiate hat trick, as the Cardinals gave first-year head coach Greg Moore his first collegiate coaching victory with a 5-3 win over Marian at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
• St. Norbert: Saturday's game against Saint Mary's is the season-opener for the Green Knights.
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Norbert—A Year Ago:
• October 29, 2016 * De Pere, Wis.: Saint Mary's and St. Norbert combined to score seven goals in the third period—including five in the final 1:33. Fortunately for the Cardinals, four of those seven third-period goals came off of their sticks, as Saint Mary's picked up its second win in as many games, beating St. Norbert 5-4 at the Resch Olympic Pavilion | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are now off until Nov. 10-11, when they kick off conference play with a pair of MIAC games against St. Thomas. Saint Mary's and UST will square off at 7 p.m. at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., on Nov. 10, before the two teams head to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for the 2 p.m. rematch the following day.
• St. Norbert: The Green Knights are back on the road on Tuesday, heading to UW-Stevens Point's K.B. Willett Arena for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against the Pointers.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Schedule | 2017-18 Statistics
• With their win over Marian on Friday, the Cardinals have now won their last three season-openers—including back-to-back victories over the Sabres each of their last two seasons. … Saint Mary's wins over Marian and St. Norbert a year ago marked the first time the Cardinals have opened the year with back-to-back wins since beating the same two teams to open the 2010-11 season. … Saint Mary's and St. Norbert scored seven third-period goals in their nonconference game a year ago—including five in the game's final 1:33. … With Friday's victory over Marian Friday, the Cardinals equaled their home win total from a year ago. Five of Saint Mary's six wins last season came on the road. Saint Mary's beat Saint Benedict 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 10 for its only win at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) recorded her first collegiate hat trick—scoring the Cardinals' first three goals in their 5-3 win over Marian Friday. … Wendt's hat trick was Saint Mary's first since Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) scored three times against Hamline on Feb. 20, 2017. … Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) assisted on two of the Cardinals' five goals against Marian Friday, earning the freshman her first collegiate multiple-point game. … Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) and Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.) scored Saint Mary's other two goals vs. Marian Friday. … Wendt's goal at 19:41 of the first period Friday was the Cardinals' first goal of the season. … Jamie Henderson's (Madison, Wis.) team-leading 11 goals last season marked her second straight season of 10 or more goals—she netted a career-high 13 goals in 2015-16. … Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.)—who recorded a career-high 56 saves in the Cardinals' 2-0 loss to Gustavus on Feb. 3, 2017—needed to make just seven saves in Friday's 5-3 win over Marian. … Corcoran, who led the team with a 3.01 goals-against-average and .901 save percentage, made 30 or more saves in seven of her 13 starts a year ago. … Saint Mary's scored single goals in the first and second periods against Marian Friday, before erupting for three third-period goals in the 5-3 win.
 
Scouting The St. Norbert Green Knights:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Statistics | 2017-18 Schedule
• The Green Knights enter the 2017-18 season on the heels of a 6-18-1 season a year ago. … SNC closed out the year dropping eight of its final 10 games last season—being outscored 25-11, with seven of those goals coming in a 7-0 win over Finlandia. … Eighteen of St. Norbert's 25 games were decided by two goals or less. … The Green Knights were held to one goal or less 17 times, going 2-14-1. … Two of SNC's six wins were 1-0 decisions, while the Green Knights' lone tie was a 0-0 stalemate against Concordia (Wis.). … Jill Kosteck and Natasha Smith closed out the year as the team's points leaders with 11 each. Kosteck also led the tema in goals with six, while Smith owned a team-leading eight assists. … Selena Stromer finished second to Kostock with five goals—including a team-high four power-play tallies. … Brianna Kelly and Leigh Grall shared the goaltending duties, each appearing in 13 games. Kelly posted a team-best 2.06 goals-against-average and a .900 save percentage, while Grall owned a 2.37 GAA and a team-leading .912 save percentage. … Both Kelly and Grall posted three wins in 2016-17. … St. Norbert was outscored 59-37 a year ago—including 18-10 in the second period and 24-16 in the third. … SNC played two overtime games a year ago—tying Concordia (Wis.) 0-0, and falling to Finlandia 2-1. … St. Norbert scored first in all six of its wins last season. The Green Knights were 0-12-0 when their opponent netted the game's first goal.