By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals travel to Drake Arena for the second game of their two-game conference series against St. Catherine. Opening faceoff is set for 2 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-4-1 MIAC, 7-8-1 Overall) vs. St. Catherine Wildcats (2-6-1 MIAC, 3-11-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats
 
Last Night:
• January 10, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals scored a pair of third-period goals to rally from a 3-1 deficit and earn a 3-3 conference tie against the Wildcats at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
 
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:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action next weekend with a pair of conference games against Gustavus. Saint Mary's and GAC will square off at 7 p.m. at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., for Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch.
• St. Catherine: The Wildcats step out of conference play for the final time on Tuesday, as SCU heads to K.B. Willett Arena in Stevens Point, Wis., for a 7 p.m. nonconference matchup against UW-Stevens Point.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017-18 Roster | 2017-18 Schedule | 2017-18 Statistics
• Friday's game against St. Catherine was 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 against St. Catherine Friday evening, the Cardinals have now scored three goals in five straight games. … Friday's 3-3 tie was Saint Mary's second overtime game of the season—the Cardinals beat Saint Benedict 2-1 on Dec. 2. The Cardinals went 1-1-3 in their five overtime games a year ago. … 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. … Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.), Molly Abraham (Sterling Heights, Mich.), and Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) netted Saint Mary's three goals against St. Catherine Friday evening. … Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.) recorded her first collegiate two-goal game against Concordia on Jan. 12, while Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) recorded her third collegiate multiple-goal game of the season in the rematch with the Cobbers on Jan. 13. 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 heads into Saturday's rematch against St. Catherine as the team-leader in goals (8) and points (13). … Ryan—who has recorded at least one point in three straight games—and Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) share the team lead in assists with eight each. … Ryan is also second to Wendt in points with 10, while Hafiz, Cwik, and Moser all have nine. … Wendt has scored more goals this season (8) than she had in her first two collegiate seasons combined (5). … Along with her goals in both games against Lake Forest on Jan. 6-7, Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) 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. … Delaney Wolf's (Bismarck, N.D.) goal against Concordia on Jan. 13—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.). … 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. … Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.), who made 32 saves against St. Catherine Friday, has made 30 or more saves seven times this season. … Corcoran boasts a 2.42 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. … 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. … 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 4-6-1 when their opponent nets the game's first goal. … 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 was 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). … SCU is now 2-0-1 in its last three games. … Lake Muller, Sara Brakke, and Mackenzie Ess netted St. Catherine's three goals against Saint Mary's on Friday. Lexi Muller also added a pair of assists for a three-point night. … Laken Muller has now scored in three straight games, having also found the back of the net in both games against St. Olaf last weekend. … Laken Muller enters Saturday's rematch with Saint Mary's as the team-leader in goals (7) and points (12), while Tori Thompson—who assisted on two of SCU's three goals Friday—is the team leader with six assists. … Ess leads the team with three power-play goals, one more than Brede Postier, while Thompson and Laken Muller own the Wildcats' other PP tallies. … Laken 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 (2.56 GAA, .919 save %) has made three 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 last 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 3-3-1 when scoring the game's first goal, but are winless (0-8-0) when their opponent scores first.