SAINT MARY'S CARDINALS 

(6-2-0 MIAC, 9-6-0 OVERALL)

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GUSTAVUS GUSTIES

(8-0-0 MIAC, 13-2-0 OVERALL)

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LAST MEETING:

Feb. 29, 2020

L, 4-1 * Series History

SAINT MARY'S LAST ACTION:

Jan. 21, 2022 * Hamline * W, 3-2

Jan. 22, 2022 * Hamline * L, 4-1

GUSTAVUS LAST ACTION: 

Jan. 25, 2022 * Bethel * W, 5-0

SAINT MARY'S UP NEXT:

Jan. 29, 2022 * Gustavus * 2:00

Don Roberts Arena * St. Peter, MN

GUSTAVUS UP NEXT: 

Jan. 29, 2022 * Saint Mary’s * 2:00

Don Roberts Arena * St. Peter, MN

• FOR RECORD: The Cardinals head into this weekend’s showdown with league-leading Gustavus boasting a 9-6-0 overall record, including a 6-2-0 mark in conference play.

• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals split their two-game MIAC series against Hamline last weekend. The Cardinals scored three unanswered goals in the third period, erasing a 2-0 HU advantage and giving Saint Mary’s a 3-2 victory at TRIA Rink in St. Paul, Minn., while Hamline earned a split scoring four times in dealing SMU a 4-1 setback the following afternoon at the Saint Mary’s Ice Arena.

• STREAK-SNAPPER: The Cardinals snapped a 10-game winless streak (0-9-1) against Hamline with last Friday’s 3-2 win.

• WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: With their 3-2 win over Hamline last Friday, seven of the Cardinals’ nine wins this season have been decided by two goals or less.

• SCORE GOALS, WIN GAMES: Saint Mary’s has scored 24 goals in its nine wins this season — including a season high four goals in beating both St. Norbert and Worcester State by 4-1 counts. The Cardinals have managed just three goals in their six losses.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Kennedy Kraus (Kasson, Minn.) Abigail Painovich (Hinckley, Minn.), and Delaney Wolf (Bismarck, N.D.), and Ellie Hegdahl (Brookings, S.D.) scored  Saint Mary’s four goals against Hamline last weekend. … Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.), Jenna Kurkowski (North Branch, Minn.), and Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) share the team lead with three goals each. Hegdahl, Wolf, Avrey Simonson (Waupaca, Wis.), Nina Langley (Chaska, Minn.), Kas Kingston (Black Diamond, Alberta), Anna Braun (Mantorville, Minn.), and Morgan Leib (Farmington Heights, Minn.) all own two goals, while Kennedy Kraus, Painovich, Katie Pierpont (Holt, Mich.), Carolyn Chrastka (Franklin Park, Ill.), Carson Sheridan (Waunakee, Wis.) have scored the Cardinals’ other five goals.

• NEW DAY, NEW ROLES: Langley and Kingston accounted for all four goals in SMU’s sweep of St. Olaf on Dec. 3-4. Langley scored the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in regulation in the first 2-1 win over Dec. 3, while Kingston netted the game-winner 13 seconds into overtime in the second 2-1 victory the following afternoon.

• JOINING THE CROWD: Painovich’s third-period goal against Hamline last Friday was the first of her collegiate career — becoming the 10th Cardinal player to net their first collegiate goal this season. She joins Hegdahl, Pierpont, Kingston, Langley, Urlaub, Polzin, Leib, Kurkowski, and Braun.

• TWO FOR NO. 6: Urlaub picked up her first collegiate multiple-goal game, scoring both of SMU’s goals in SMU’s 2-1 win over Saint Benedict on Nov. 20. The two-goal game is Saint Mary’s first since Anne Carmean (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) found the back of the net twice in the Cardinals’ 4-0 win over … Saint Benedict … on March 13, 2021.

• LENDING A HAND: With her two assists against Hamline last Friday, Braun moved into a tie for the team lead in assists (3) with Wolf, Sheridan, and Simonson. Urlaub, Kennedy Kraus and Jordan Modjeski (South Lyon, Mich.) all have two assists, while 11 other Cardinals have recorded one helper.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Urlaub (3 G, 2 A), Braun (2 G, 3 A), and Wolf (2 G, 3 A) share the team lead with five points each, one more than Kurkowski (3 G, 1 A), Polzin (3 G, 1 A), Sheridan (1 G, 3 A), and Simonson (1 G, 3 A). Hegdahl (2 G, 1 A), Kingston (2 G, 1 A), Langley (2 G, 1 A), Leib (2 G, 1 A), and Kennedy Kraus (1 G, 2 A) all own three points.

• THE GAME-WINNER: Both of Leib’s goals against Concordia on Nov. 12-13 were game-winners. Kurkowski shares the team lead with two game-winners, while Urlaub, Langley, Kingston, Pierpont, and Wolf own Saint Mary’s other five game-winners this season.

• MULTIPLE-POINTS: Braun recorded her first collegiate multiple-point night with two assists against Hamline last Friday. … Kurkowski’s three-point game against St. Norbert (2 G, 1 A) on Oct. 29 was the first of her collegiate career, and the three points were the most by a Cardinal in a game since Anne Carmean (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) scored two goals and added an assist against Saint Benedict on March 13, 2021. … Simonson (2 A) and Hegdahl (1 G, 1 A) both posted their first collegiate two-point games against Worcester on Jan. 6. … Kingston added an assist to her first career goal against St. Olaf en route to her first multiple-point game as a Cardinal.

• SHARING THE WEALTH: The Cardinals have had 15 different players account for their 27 goals, while 21 have recorded at least one point.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.) and Jordan Keeley (St. James, Minn.) have shared the goaltending duties this season. Ziakas enters this weekend’s games against Gustavus with a 2.31 goals-against-average and .905 save percentage, while Keeley has compiled a 3.03 GAA and .901 save %. … Keeley kicked out a career-high 44 Concordia shots in SMU’s 3-1 win over the Cobbers on Nov. 13, while Ziakas made a season-high 33 saves against Concordia on Nov. 19. … Ziakas has collected a team-leading 183 saves, with Keeley close behind with 128 … Ziakas stopped all 12 shots she faced against Johnson & Wales en route to her first shutout of the season and fourth shutout of her collegiate career. 

• FIRST-GOAL ADVANTAGE: The team that has scored first has won 14 of the Cardinals’ 15 games this season — the lone exception, SMU’s come-from-behind 3-2 win over Hamline on Jan. 21. SMU scored first in sweeping Concordia (3-2; 3-2) and St. Olaf (2-1; 2-1), and in beating Saint Benedict (2-1), St. Norbert (4-1), Johnson & Wales (1-0), and Worcester State (4-1); while Hamline, Saint Benedict, St. Norbert, UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, and UW-Stevens Point scored first in the Cardinals’ six losses.

• PROGRAM FIRSTS: Saint Mary’s nonconference games against Johnson & Wales and Worcester State on Jan. 5-6 marked the first time in program history the schools have met.

• FACING THE NATION’S BEST: The Cardinals’ two games against Gustavus this weekend mark the third and fourth times this season SMU will have faced a nationally ranked opponent. The Cardinals have already faced then-No. 3 UW-Eau Claire and then-No. 4 UW-River Falls this season.

• FOR THE RECORD: The Gusties head into this weekend’s games against Saint Mary’s boasting an impressive 13-2-0 overall record, including an unblemished and league-leading 8-0-0 mark in MIAC play.

• LAST TIME OUT: The Gusties picked up win No. 13 on the year in rousing fashion, scoring a pair of goals in both the first and third periods in rolling to a 5-0 shutout of Bethel in a nonconference game Tuesday in St. Peter, Minn.

• IN THE POLLS: The Gusties maintained their hold on the No. 6 spot in the latest USCHO.com Poll. Middlebury (13-0-0), Plattsburgh (14-2-0), Elmira (15-2-1), UW-River Falls (14-1-0), and UW-Eau Claire (15-2-0) hold down the poll’s top five spots.

• ON A ROLL: Tuesday’s 5-0 win over Bethel pushed the Gusties’ winning streak to six straight. The Gusties opened the season with seven consecutive wins, before dropping back-to-back games to UW-River Falls (6-3, 6-5).

• THROWING UP ZEROS: The Gusties have recorded 10 shutouts among their 13 wins, while allowing just one goal in each of the other three victories. GAC has outscored its opponents 55-3 in its 13 wins, while being outscored 12-8 in its two losses.

• OFFENSIVE JUGGERNAUT: Brooke Power and Kristina Press have been the driving forces behind the Gusties’ high-powered offense, scoring 13 and 11 goals, respectively. Emily Olson has added eight goals and Kaitlyn Holland is fourth on the team with seven. … Olson scored a season-high three goals against St. Olaf on Jan. 14.

• ON THE ASSIST: Hailey Holland has recorded a team-leading 16 assists, followed by Olson with 10, Press with nine, and Clara Billings with eight. … Olson and Holland both own season-best three-assist performances this season — both coming in GAC’s 7-0 win over St. Olaf on Jan. 14.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Gustavus has six players who have recorded 10 or more points this season — Press (20), Holland (20), Power (18), Olson (18), Molly McHugh (11), and Billings (11). … Olson recorded a season-high four points vs. St. Olaf on Jan. 14, scoring once and assisting on three others.

• NETTING THE GAME-WINNER: Press has netted a team-high three game-winning goals, one more than both Power and Olson.

• VERY SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS: Gustavus has scored 17 power-play goals and owns one shorthanded tally this season. On the flip side, the Gusties’ opponents have scored just five goals in 43 chances with the man advantage. 

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Katei McCoy has appeared in all 15 games in goal for the Gusties, compiling a 1.25 goals-against-average and a .904 save percentage in 717:20 minutes. Maria Widen has appeared in nine games in goal — stopping all 18 shots she’s faced in 180:37 minutes. … McCoy has stopped 142 of 157 shots — including a season-high 21 saves against Lake Forest on Nov. 6 — and has recorded six shutouts. Widen owns one shutout, and the two have combined on the other three.

• AS A TEAM: Gustavus has scored three or more goals in 13 of its 15 games this season — the lone exceptions, a 2-0 win over Saint Benedict on Dec. 3 and a 1-0 win vs. St. Catherine on Nov. 13. … All told, 14 players have accounted for GAC’s 63 goals this season, while 17 different players have recorded at least one of the team’s 80 assists. … Gustavus has scored a season-high seven goals twice — both 7-0 victories.