November 14: River Falls defeats Saints 6-3 in River Falls
January 17: St. Scholastica gains revenge at home, downing Falcons 3-2

DULUTH, Minn. – The regular season may not have ended how the Saints men's hockey team would have preferred, but they now need to look forward to the NCHA Peter's Cup Tournament, which begins this weekend with St. Scholastica facing off against the University of Wis.-River Falls in the first round.

If this seems to be a familiar scenario, that's because it is a mirror of the 2008 NCHA Peter's Cup first round in which second-seeded River Falls hosted seventh-seeded St. Scholastica, and the Saints up-ended the heavily favored Falcons. This year, the Saints have the third seed and home-ice advantage, but they hope the result remains the same.

The sixth-seeded Falcons, who finished the regular season with a 10-3-2 overall record (4-9-1 NCHA), back into the playoffs having not won a game in the month of February, including a 6-5 loss last Friday night to Wis.-Stout in which they lead by a 4-1 score with three minutes remaining in the first period.

Their disappointing performance to close the regular season does not, however, mean that they are not a dangerous team. In fact, this Falcons team owns a 6-3 home victory against the Saints earlier this season in which their leading scorers Derek Hansberry (Sr.-Avarda, Colo.) and Tyler Czuba (Jr.-Kelowna, B.C.) scored two goals each.

Since that game in mid-November, the Saints have gone 15-3-1 including a 3-2 victory over the Falcons in Duluth on January 24. Not coincidentally, the Saints held Hansberry and Czuba to one point between the two of them in the victory while St. Scholastica leading scorers #AJ Tucker# (Sr.-Fort Frances, Ont.) and #Joey Martini# (Sr.-Calgary, Alta.) each netted a goal for CSS.

The Saints and goaltender #Steve Bounds# (Sr.-Airdrie, Alta.) have not allowed more than four goals in a game during that stretch, and have only allowed three or more goals on five occasions. The Saints, however, have scored at least three goals in 13 of 18 games including nine games with at least five goals.

Additionally, the Saints have responded well in games following losses this season; in fact, they are undefeated. These victories were not always pretty; outside of a 9-1 thrashing of Saint Mary's University that began the season, the team has only won by one or two goals in games following a loss, but a victory is a victory.

The Falcons are in the bottom of nearly every statistical category other than saves (Second – 726 total/29.44 per game) and shutouts (T-Second with three), which means that goaltenders Stephen Ritter (Jr.-Tenafly, N.J.) and Bo Storozuk (Fr.-Swan River, Man.) have and will keep their team in games even when the offense is faltering. Combined, the two have a 2.76 GAA and have allowed two or fewer goals on ten occasions this season.

The puck drops both Friday and Saturday nights at 7:05 p.m. on the ice at Mars Lakeview Arena for this first round series. If the teams split the two games or both games end in a tie, a 20-minute mini-game will be played immediately following the game to decide who will advance to next week's semifinal round. As always, fans can hear all of the action on ESPN Radio 560–WEBC.

Other Players to Watch
St. Scholastica
#Jordan Chong# (Jr./Vancouver, B.C.) – Saints assistant captain has eight multi-point games this season … 12 G, 10 A, 22 pts on the season … T-Eighth in conference with team-high three game-winning goals … Leads NCHA in shooting with 81 shots on goal while still averaging more than one goal per seven shots.
#Jeremy Dawes# (Fr.-Winnipeg, Man.) – Freshman phenom is tied for ninth in NCHA in regular season scoring alongside teammate Joey Martini (Calgary, Alberta/Canmore (AJHL)) … 10 G, 18 A, 28 pts on the season … One of six NCHA players with two short-handed goals this season.
#Trevor Geiger# (Sr.-Salmon Arm, B.C.) – Saints captain is fourth in team scoring … 12 G, 14 A, 26 pts on the season … T-Seventh in NCHA with five powerplay goals … One of four players in conference with two hat tricks this season.

Wis.-River Falls
Ben Beaudoin (Fr.-Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) – 5 G, 12 A, 17 pts on the season … Three powerplay goals this season.
Grant Everett (Fr.-St. Charles, Mo.) – 4 G, 13 A, 17 pts on the season … Leads team in assists