#15 SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2023-24: 5-3-0 MIAC, 10-4-0 Overall

ST. CATHERINE WILDCATS

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2023-24: 1-6-1 MIAC, 5-8-1 Overall

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Fri at SCU: Live Stats * Streaming Video

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MIAC: WH Home *  Standings * Schedule

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SMU-SCU * LAST MEETING:

Jan. 20-21, 2023

W, 5-0; L, 6-3 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Jan. 12-13, 2024

St. Olaf * W, 5-2; W, 5-2

ST. CATHERINE * LAST ACTION:

Jan. 12-13, 2024

Hamline * L, 4-1; L, 9-0

SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:

Jan. 23, 2024 * Winona, MN

Lawrence * 4 p.m.

ST. CATHERINE * UP NEXT: 

Jan. 23, 2024 * Blaine, MN

Bethel * 7 p.m.

SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR RECORD: The Cardinals head into their two-game conference series against St. Catherine sitting at 10-4-0 overall, including a 5-3-0 showing through the first eight games of the MIAC season.

• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals got goals from five different players in both of their conference games against St. Olaf last weekend, collecting a pair of 5-2 victories over the Oles.

• STREAKING: With their back-to-back 5-2 wins over St. Olaf last weekend, Saint Mary’s heads into its two-game series against St. Catherine riding its third three-game winning streak of the season. … The Cardinals had three-game winning streak No. 2 snapped with their 3-1 loss to #1 Gustavus on Dec. 1, while the added 3-0 loss the following day marked the first time this season SMU had dropped back-to-back games. … SMU’s 7-2-0 start to the season was its best nine-game start since going 7-1-1 in 1999-2000.

• IN THE POLLS: Fueled by their current three-game winning streak — including last weekend’s sweep of St. Olaf — the Cardinals made their first-ever appearance in the USCHO.com Poll, coming in at #15. SMU is the second MIAC team in the Top 15, being joined by defending national champion and second-ranked Gustavus.

• FACING NATION’S BEST: The Cardinals have faced three nationally ranked teams this season, beating then-seventh-ranked UW-Eau Claire (now #11) 2-1 on Nov. 3, falling to then-#4 UW-River Falls (now ranked #1) on Nov. 4, and dropping a pair of games to then-No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Gustavus (now ranked #2) on Dec. 1-2.

• HOME SWEET HOME: The Cardinals have played half of their 14 games this season on their home ice, going 5-2-0. SMU has beaten Lake Forest (7-0, 8-0), UW-Eau Claire (2-1), Augsburg (3-2), and St. Olaf (5-2), while falling to Hamline (2-1 in OT) and Gustavus (3-1). Saint Mary’s is also 5-2-0 away from the SMU Ice Arena this season.

• RACKING UP WINS: Saint Mary’s 5-2 win over St. Olaf last Saturday was its 10th win of the season, the most since going 13-10-2 during the 2021-22 season. The last time SMU won more than 13 games came in 2003-04, when SMU finished 14-10-2.

• CLOSE CALLS: Seven of the Cardinals’ 14 games have been decided by two goals or less, including one-goal decisions in three of those outings — a 2-1 OT loss to Hamline, and 3-2 and 2-1 wins over Augsburg.

• NOT-SO-CLOSE CALLS: Three of Saint Mary’s eight wins have been by seven or more goals. SMU has posted 7-0 victories over both Lake Forest and the University of Dubuque, while beating the Foresters 8-0 in the second game of its season-opening sweep of Lake Forest.

• PUTTING UP BIG NUMBERS: SMU’s eight goals in its 8-0 win over Lake Forest on Oct. 28 were the most since blanking Lawrence 8-0 on Dec. 10, 2022. … The Cardinals’ 15 combined goals in sweeping Lake Forest on Oct. 28-29 were the most since SMU swept Bethel 11-0 and 8-3 on Jan. 4-5, 2002. … Saint Mary’s delivered a season-high 58 shots on goal in its 7-0 win over the University of Dubuque on Dec. 5. The 58 shots were just four shy of the 62 the Cardinals put on Lawrence a year ago. The program-record for shots on goal in a game sits at 80 against St. Olaf on Nov. 11, 2000.

• PUTTING UP LITTLE NUMBERS: Saint Mary’s matched a single-game program record, holding the University of Dubuque to just one shot on goal in the first period of its 7-0 win on Dec. 5. SMU first set the mark on Nov. 11, 2000, when the Cardinals held St. Olaf to one shot on goal in both the first and third periods. … UD finished with just six shots on goal on Dec. 5, the fewest allowed by the Cardinals since holding St. Olaf to five on No. 11, 2000.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Reese Heitzman (Hermantown, Minn.) heads into this weekend’s conference series against St. Catherine boasting a team-high 13 goals. The freshman has netted a goal in 10 of the team’s 14 games this season. Her 13 goals this season are the most since Anya Hafiz scored 13 during the 2019-20 season. … Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) is sitting second to Heitzman with seven goals, two more than Allie Urlaub, and three up on Celia Midtbo (Minneapolis, Minn.).

• FIRST AS A CARDINAL: Saint Mary’s has already had seven players — Heitzman, Vasilevich, Paduano, Midtbo, Kenzie Meland (Zimmerman, Minn.), Maggie Albers (Maple Grove, Minn.), and Ella Hennes (Ramsey, Minn.) — net their first goals as Cardinals this season.

• SPREADING THE WEALTH: The Cardinals opened the season with 10 different players scoring their first 10 goals. Albers, Hennes Urlaub, Kraus, Taverie Sherner (Maple Grove, Minn.), Ellie Hegdahl (Brookings, S.D.), and Jordy Wyant (Winnipeg, Manitoba) accounted for SMU’s seven goals in its 7-0 win on Oct. 27, while Paduano, Vasilevich, and Heitzman netted SMU’s first three goals in the Cardinals’ 8-0 win vs. the Foresters the following afternoon. … Saint Mary’s seven goals in its 7-0 win over the University of Dubuque on Dec. 5 were scored by seven different players, while SMU’s five goals in its 4-2 win and 2-1 loss to Hamline on Nov,. 10-11 also came from five different players. … SMU had five different players score in each of its 5-2 wins over St. Olaf last weekend.

• TOSSING THE HAT: Heitzman’s hat trick against Lake Forest on Oct. 28 — the first of her collegiate career — marked the second straight season in which SMU boasted a player with three goals in a game. Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) recorded her first collegiate hat trick and her first career five-point game in SMU’s 5-0 win over St. Catherine on Jan. 20, 2023.

• LENDING A HAND: Urlaub, who shared the team lead in assists with seven a year ago, has already surpassed that mark this season, collecting a pair of helpers against St. Olaf to push her team-leading total to 11. Heitzman, who had her first collegiate three-assist game against the Spartans on Dec. 5, is second on the team with eight, followed by Meland (7), Paduano (6), Midtbo (6), Teagan Phillips (Oregon, Wis. / 5), Skye Norgren (Fergus Falls, Minn. / 4), and Kas Kingston (Black Diamond, Alberta / 4). … Saint Mary’s 68 assists have come from 18 different players.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Saint Mary’s boasts four players who have already reached double figures in points, led by Heitzman with 21. Urlaub is sitting second in the points race with 16, followed by Paduano with 13 and Midtbo with 10. … Heitzman has recorded at least one point in 12 of SMU’s 14 games this season. She had her season-high nine-game point streak snapped against #1 Gustavus on Dec. 1. 

• BIG NIGHTS: Heitzman delivered her first collegiate four-point game against the University of Dubuque on Dec. 5, scoring once and assisting on three others. … Urlaub collected a goal and three assists in SMU’s 8-0 win over Lake Forest on Oct. 28. The three assists and four points matched her career high. … Heitzman has recorded two multiple-goal games — scoring three times against Lake Forest on Oct. 28 and adding a pair of goals against Augsburg on Nov. 17 — while Vasilevich tallied a two-goal game against Lake Forest on Oct. 28, and Paduano tallied the first multiple-goal game of her career with two tallies against UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 21.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES:Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) has started all 14 games in goal for the Cardinals, compiling a 1.56 goals-against-average and a .936 save percentage. … Rimstad stopped all 24 shots she faced in SMU’s season-opening 7-0, 8-0 victories over Lake Forest on Oct. 27-28 — kicking out 10 shots in Game 1 and 14 more in Game 2. … Rimstad — who came within 13 seconds of a third straight shutout in SMU’s 2-1 win over #7 UW-Eau Claire — now owns four shutouts through her first two seasons as a Cardinal. … Rimstad has stopped 306 of the 327 shots she’s faced this season — including a career-high 42 saves in last SMU’s 3-1 loss to #4 UW-River Falls on Nov. 4. … Riley Vander Esch (Sioux Falls, S.D.) stopped all four shots she faced in relief of Rimstad against the University of Dubuque on Dec. 5, and boasts a 3.76 GAA and .778 save % in two appearances (31:53 minutes).

• THROWING UP ZEROS: The Cardinals had their season-opening shutout streak snapped at 179:47 minutes, when UW-Eau Claire scored with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation in the Cardinals’ 2-1 win over the seventh-ranked Blugolds on Nov.3.

• THROWING UP ZEROS II: SMU’s 7-0 and 8-0 wins over Lake Forest on Oct. 27-28 marked the second straight season in which the Cardinals have posted back-to-back shutouts, having blanked Lawrence 3-0 and 8-0 on Dec. 9-10, 2022. … SMU added its third shutout of the season with its 7-0 win over the University of Dubuque on Dec. 5.

• LONG TIME COMING: With their 2-1 win over seventh-ranked UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 3, Saint Mary’s improved to 3-0-0, marking the first time SMU had opened the season with back-to-back-to-back victories since beating Marian (5-0), St. Norbert (2-1), and UW-Eau Claire (4-1) to kick off the 2010-11 campaign.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: SMU has outscored its first 14 opponents 51-21, and hold a 391-336 edge in shots on goal. … The Cardinals have scored 22 of their 51 goals in the second period, adding 14 tallies in the first and 15 in the third. … Saint Mary’s is 7-for-40 on the power play (17.5 %), while killing off 38 of its opponents 43 PP opportunities (88.4 %). … The Cardinals set season-bests for goals (8), assists (13), and points (21) in their 8-0 win over the Foresters on Oct. 28.

ST. CATHERINE SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Wildcats head into their two-game conference series against Saint Mary’s sitting at 5-8-1 overall, including sporting a 1-6-1 mark through the first eight games of the MIAC season.

• LAST TIME OUT: The St. Catherine offense went on hiatus last weekend, as the Wildcats managed just one goal in dropping both games of their two-game series against Hamline, falling 4-1 in the opener last Friday, and 9-0 in the rematch the following afternoon.

• HOME NOT-SWEET HOME: SCU has managed just one win in five tries on their home ice — a 4-1 win over Northland on Oct. 28. The Wildcats are 4-4-1 away from Drake Arena this season.

• STREAKING: St. Catherine enters the weekend having lost two straight. Seven of SCU’s eight losses have come during two, two-game and one three-game losing streaks. On the flip side, last Friday’s 4-1 loss to Hamline snapped the Wildcats’ first two-game winning streak of the season.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Abby Pirkl heads into the weekend as the Wildcats’ goal-scoring leader with six, three more than both Ellie Skaja and Paige Loidolt. Lilly Gillespie, Madi Fleming, Lauren Henriksen, Julia Wilson, Halle Dunleavy, and Samantha Lackmann have all scored twice, with SCU’s other six goals coming from six different players. … The Wildcats have not had a multiple-goal scorer all season.

• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Raechel Painovich has collected a team-leading five assists, followed by Gillespie and Maiah Robert with four, and Pirkl, Fleming, Joslin Mumm, and Emmie Verhaagh with three each. … Robert, Painovich, and Lauren Henriksen have all recorded two-assist games this season.

• POINT PRODUCERS: With six goals and three assists, Pirkl leads the Wildcats’ points race with nine. Painovich and Gillespie are tied for second with six, followed by Fleming and Skaja with five. … SCU has had a player collect two points in a game seven times, with Pirkl and Skaja each doing it twice.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: St. Catherine has had three different goalies make starts between the pipes this season, led by Abby Severson, who has posted a 2.85 goals-against-average and .883 save percentage in nine starts (484:49 minutes). Anna Friendshuh owns a 3.27 GAA and .863 save % in four starts (256:36), while Lea Grassia made one start and appeared in five games (104:25), posting a 5.17 GAA and .786 save %. … Severson leads the team with 174 saves — including a season-high 29 saves in both games against Concordia on Nov. 17-18 — with Friendshuh adding 88 saves and Grassia 33. … Severson owns SCU’s lone shutout, stopping all 21 shot she faced in blanking UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 4.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: St. Catherine has been outscored 48-30 through 14 games this season. … The Wildcats are 9-for-51 on the power play (17.6 %), while SCU’s opponents are 6 of 49 (12.2 %) with the man advantage. … The Wildcats posted single-game season highs in every offensive category in their 4-1 win over Northland on Oct. 27, posting four goals, six assists, 10 points, and 38 shots on goal. On the flip side, Hamline’s nine goals, nine assists and 18 points in last Saturday’s 9-0 victory were all the most allowed by St. Catherine this season.