WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team concludes its two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against eighth-ranked St. Thomas on Saturday, as the Cardinals entertain the Tommies in a 2 p.m. matchup at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1-0 MIAC, 2-1-0 Overall) vs. #8 St. Thomas Tommies (1-0-0 MIAC, 5-0-0 Overall)
 
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Last Night:
• November 10, 2017 * Mendota Heights, Minn.: St. Thomas erupted for three goals in a two-minute span midway through the third period, as the Tommies dealt the Cardinals a 5-0 setback in the teams' MIAC opener at the St. Thomas Ice Arena | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas—A Year Ago:
• January 13, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: After being shut out in each of its two nonconference games against Lake Forest last weekend, Saint Mary's was in dire need of an offensive jumpstart. And Jane Hannula (Coon Rapids, Minn.) provided just such a spark. The Cardinal senior scored just 30 seconds into the opening period of Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against St. Thomas. Yet, while the Cardinals struck in the game's opening minute, the Tommies waited until the final seconds of regulation—scoring the game-tying goal with 5.3 seconds remaining to lift UST to a 2-2 tie with Saint Mary's at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
• January 14, 2017 * Mendota Heights, Minn.: A day after the Cardinals scored the game's first two goals—including one 30 seconds into the opening period—only to have St. Thomas rally for a pair of third-period goals to salvage a 2-2 tie, the two teams were at it again. Only this time it was the Tommies who raced out to the 2-0 lead, only to have the Cardinals return the third-period favor with a pair of goals—including Jane Hannula's (Coon Rapids, Minn.) game-tying tally with less than three minutes remaining—to send the game into overtime deadlocked at 2-2. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this overtime ended 23 seconds earlier than Friday's, as UST's Hannah Bird scored her first of the season to give the Tommies the 3-2 win | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in conference play next weekend with a pair of games against Augsburg. Saint Mary's and the Auggies will square off at 7 p.m. at the Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday, before heading to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies step out of conference play on Tuesday, traveling to W.H. Hunt Arena in River Falls, Wis., for a 7:05 p.m. showdown against UW-River Falls.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Schedule | 2017-18 Statistics
• Friday's 5-0 loss to St. Thomas snapped the Cardinals' season-opening two-game winning streak. … With their wins over Marian and St. Norbert in their first two games of the season, the Cardinals opened their season 2-0-0 for the second straight year—having also opened the 2016-17 season with back-to-back wins over Marian and St. Norbert. … With their sweep of Marian and St. Norbert on Oct. 27-28, the Cardinals have already surpassed their home win total of a year ago. … Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) recorded her first collegiate hat trick—scoring the Cardinals' first three goals in their 5-3 win over Marian on Oct. 27. The Cardinal junior followed that up with a pair of goals in Saint Mary's 3-1 victory over St. Norbert the following day. … Wendt's hat trick was Saint Mary's first since Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) scored three times against Hamline on Feb. 20, 2017. … Henderson, Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.), and Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) accounted for the Cardinals' other three goals in their wins over Marian and St. Norbert. … Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) assisted on two of the Cardinals' five goals against Marian on Oct. 28, earning the freshman her first collegiate multiple-point game. … Along with her goal, Cwik also recorded an assist in each game vs. Marian and St. Norbert and shares the team lead with Moser and Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.). … Wendt's goal at 19:41 of the first period Friday was the Cardinals' first goal of the season. … Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.)—who picked up the win against St. Norbert in her first collegiate start on Oct. 28, stopping 28 of the Green Knights' 29 shots—made a career-high 37 saves in Friday's 5-0 loss to St. Thomas. … 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 Saint Mary's 5-3 win over Marian on Oct. 27. … Corcoran, who led the team with a 3.01 goals-against-average and .901 save percentage last season, made 30 or more saves in seven of her 13 starts a year ago. … The Cardinals have netted four of their eight goals in the third period. … With their win over Marian on Oct. 27, the Cardinals have now won their last three season-openers—including back-to-back victories over the Sabres each of their last two seasons.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Statistics | 2017-18 Schedule
• With their win over Saint Mary's on Friday, the Tommies have pushed their season-opening winning streak to five. UST opened the season with back-to-back nonconference wins over Lake Forest, and followed that up with two straight wins over UW-Stevens Point last weekend, and Friday's 5-0 victory over Saint Mary's. … Friday's win over Saint Mary's was the first game not decided by two goals or less for the Tommies. … Three of UST's five wins have been by one goal. … Five of UST's last seven victories—dating back to postseason, have come by one goal. … St. Thomas' five goals vs. Saint Mary's Friday came from five different players—Rachel Werdin, Demi Coooper, Kaylee Druk, Allie Borgstrom, and Isabel Bianci. … Borgstrom and Bianci have now scored in back-to-back games. … Borgstrom heads into Saturday's rematch against Saint Mary's as the team's leader in all three offensive categories—goals (5), assists (3), and points (8). … Borgstrom and Maddy Fiedler (3) own eight of the Tommies' 16 goals this season. … Rachel Werden owns two of the Tommies' five game-winning goals—Borgstrom, Fiedler, and Bianci have scored the other three. … Kenzie Torpy has started four of the team's five games in goal, compiling a 1.00 goals-against-average and a .949 save percentage. Paige Kittelson has started UST's other game, allowing two goals (2.00 GAA) and making 23 saves (.920 save percentage). … Torpy stopped all 14 Saint Mary's shots on Friday for her first shutout of the season. … The Tommies have scored first in all five of their games this season. … St. Thomas has scored seven of its 16 goals in the second period, where the Tommies hold a 7-4 scoring edge. UST has outscored its opponents 2-1 in the first period and 6-1 in the third. … Friday's game against Saint Mary's was the third straight home game for UST, which is 10-5-1 on its home ice over the past two seasons.