By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Friday, as the Cardinals host St. Catherine in the first game of their two-game conference series. Game time at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena is set for 7 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-4-0 MIAC, 7-8-0 Overall) vs. St. Catherine Wildcats (2-6-0 MIAC, 3-11-0 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | Game Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—January 12-13, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: Thanks to a pair of goals by Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.)—and a very timely first collegiate goal by Delaney Wolf (Bismarck, N.D.)—the Cardinals collected a 3-2 victory last Saturday and earned a split in their two-game conference series against Concordia at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. The Cobbers had won the opener 6-3 the previous night | CC Recap 1 * CC Recap 2
• St. Catherine—January 12-13, 2018 * St. Paul, Minn./Northfield, Minn.: The Wildcats picked up a pair of conference wins over St. Olaf last weekend, posting a 5-3 victory at Drake Arena on Friday, before completing the sweep with a 6-2 win the following day at the Northfield Ice Arena | STO Recap 1 * STO Recap 2
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Catherine—A Year Ago:
• February 17, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: Despite scoring the game's first goal, Saint Mary's spent most of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Catherine playing catch-up. And no matter how hard the Cardinals tried, they could not quite catch the front-running Wildcats. St. Catherine scored three unanswered goals—erasing a 1-0 first-period deficit—and held off a late Saint Mary's charge in handing the Cardinals a 5-3 conference setback at Drake Arena | Recap
• February 18, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: For the second time in as many days, Saint Mary's scored the game's first goal in its rematch with St. Catherine. And, for the second straight day, the Wildcats retaliated by scoring three unanswered goals in dealing Saint Mary's a 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The Cardinals and Wildcats head to Drake Arena in St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday for the second game of their two-game MIAC series. Opening faceoff is set for 2 p.m.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Schedule | 2017-18 Statistics
• Friday's game against St. Catherine is the third straight home game for the Cardinals. After winning just once in 12 home games a year ago (1-8-3), four of the Cardinals' seven wins this season have come at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … With their three goals in both games against Concordia last weekend, the Cardinals have now scored three goals in four straight games. … The Cardinals last three wins have been decided by one goal—3-2 over Concordia and Lake Forest and 2-1 over Saint Benedict. … The Cardinals' win over Concordia last Saturday was their seventh of the season. Saint Mary's owned just six wins all of last year. … Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.) scored two goals and Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) recorded the other against Concordia last Friday, while Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) netted a pair of goals and Delaney Wolf (Bismarck, N.D.) scored the other in last Saturday's rematch with the Cobbers. … The two-goal game was the first of Ryan's collegiate career. … Wendt has now posted three multiple-goal games this season—the junior recorded her first collegiate hat trick—scoring the Cardinals' first three goals in their 5-3 win over Marian on Oct. 27. She 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 Henderson scored three times against Hamline on Feb. 20, 2017. … Wendt has scored more goals this season (8) than she had in her first two collegiate seasons combined (5). … Henderson has now scored in three of the team's last four games. … Along with her goals in both games against Lake Forest on Jan. 6-7, Henderson also had an assist in each game vs. the Foresters—it was her first two multiple-point games of the season, and the 10^th and 11^th of her collegiate career. … Wolf's goal against Concordia last Saturday—the game-winner at 13:27 of the third period—was her first as a Cardinal. … Wolf became the third player to score her first collegiate goal this season, joining Mady Bodick (Savage, Minn.) and Lauren Rogers (Barrington, Ill.). … Wendt heads into this weekend's games against St. Catherine as the team-leader in goals (8) and points (13). … Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) owns a team-best eight assists, one more than Ryan. … Moser and Ryan are second to Wendt in points with nine each, while Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) and Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.) both have eight. … Moser picked up a pair of assists in last Saturday's 3-2 win over Concordia and has now posted three two-assist games this season. … Hafiz and Cwik each recorded two-goal games against Saint Benedict on Dec. 1-2. Cwik scored twice against the Blazers on Dec. 1 to record his first multiple-goal game, while Hafiz scored both goals in Saint Mary's overtime win of the Blazers the following day. It was Hafiz's third two-goal game of her two-year collegiate career. … Ryan assisted on three of the Cardinals' six goals vs. CSB on Dec. 1 en route to her first collegiate three-point game, while Rogers added two assists to her second-period goal for her first three-point game in a Cardinal uniform. … Bodick recorded her first collegiate multiple-point game with a goal and an assist vs. St. Thomas on Nov. 11. … Moser assisted on two of the Cardinals' five goals against Marian on Oct. 28, earning the freshman her first collegiate multiple-point game. … Wendt's goal at 19:41 of the first period against Marian on Oct. 27 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 41 saves in last Sunday's 6-3 loss to Lake Forest. The 41-save effort was four more than Ziakas' previous career-best. … Ziakas has compiled a 3.52 GAA and .900 save percentage in her four starts this season. … Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.), who made 55 saves in two starts against Concordia last weekend, has made 30 or more saves six times this season. … Corcoran boasts a 2.38 goals-against-average and a .918 save percentage. … Corcoran made a season-high 36 saves in the Cardinals' 3-1 loss to UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 25. … The Cardinals have now scored 25 goals in their six wins this season, while managing a combined 10 goals in their eight losses. … The Cardinals are 3-2-0 when scoring first, while going 4-6-0 when their opponent nets the game's first goal. … Saint Mary's 2-1 win over Saint Benedict on Dec. 2 was the first overtime game of the season for the Cardinals, who went 1-1-3 in their five overtime games a year ago. … The Cardinals erupted for a season-high six goals in their 6-2 win over Saint Benedict on Dec. 2. … Saint Mary's six goals vs. the Blazers were the most since the Cardinals scored six times in beating St. Olaf 6-3 on Nov. 17, 2016. … The Cardinals, who snapped a three-game losing streak with their 6-2 win over Saint Benedict on Dec. 1, scored more goals against the Blazers in that Dec. 1 game (6) than they had in the previous five games combined (5). … The Cardinals' 3-2 win over Lake Forest on Jan. 6 snapped a 22-game winless streak against the Foresters (0-17-5). Saint Mary's last win over Lake Forest had been a 2-0 victory on Feb. 13, 2002. … 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 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. … Saint Mary's season-opening 5-3 win over Marian on Oct. 27 was the first collegiate coaching victory for the Cardinals' Greg Moore.
 
Scouting The St. Catherine Wildcats:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Statistics | 2017-18 Schedule
• Friday's game against Saint Mary's is the second straight road game for the Wildcats, who picked up their second road win of the season (2-7-0) with last Saturday's 6-2 victory at St. Olaf. … The Wildcats snapped their season-high 11-game losing streak with last Friday's 5-3 win over the Oles. SCU had not won since opening the season with a 3-1 win over Finlandia. … Seven of the 11 games during the Wildcats' 11-game slide were decided by two goals or less. … St. Catherine scored more goals in its sweep of St. Olaf last weekend (11) than the Wildcats had scored during its 11-game losing streak combined (9). … Emilee Anderson scored twice in SCU's 5-3 win over St. Olaf last Friday, while Mackenzie Ess, Laken Muller, and Brede Postier netted the Wildcats' other three goals. In Saturday's rematch, SCU's six goals were scored by six different players—Laken Muller, Lexi Muller, Anderson, Melissa Smith, Ashlyn Rakos, and Postier. … Laken Muller enters this weekend's two-game series against Saint Mary's as the team-leader in goals (6) and points (10), while sharing the team lead in assists (4) with Tori Thompson. … Postier and Ess have each scored a pair of power-play goals, while Thompson owns the Wildcats' other PP tally. … Lake Muller has netted the game-winning goal in two of the Wildcats' three wins. Smith has SCU's other game-winner. … St. Catherine has used three different goalies this season, led by Kristen Pechacek, who has started 11 of the team's 14 games, compiling a 2.66 goals-against-average and a .926 save percentage. Bryce Boreen (2.42 GAA, .927 save %) has made two starts, while Kelsey Miller (3.04 GAA, .900 save %) has one start. … Pechacek has stopped 361 shots this season, including  a season-high 51-save performance against Hamline on Dec. 2. … Pechacek has stopped 30 or more shots in seven of her 11 starts. … St. Catherine recorded single-game season highs for goals scored in its two games against St. Olaf last weekend, netting a then-season-best five in Friday's opener, before upping the ante by one goal in Saturday's 6-2 victory. … The Wildcats have scored first in all three of their wins this season. SCU is 3-3-0 when scoring the game's first goal, but are winless (0-8-0) when their opponent scores first.