DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – For the first time in program history, the St. Scholastica women's hockey team will play for a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Postseason Championship when it faces top-seeded and sixth-ranked Adrian College (Mich.) for the Slaats Cup title on Sunday.
Where:
Arrington Ice Arena – Adrian, Minn.
When:
Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET) (
Video |
Stats)
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St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 21-6-1, 15-3-0 NCHA
Northern Collegiate Hockey Association: Standings | Stats
What You Need to Know about the Saints:
-The Saints shut out Lake Forest College (Ill.) for a third time this season with 3-0 victory in Friday night's semifinal.
-Junior goaltender
Lexi Thomeczek (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph Academy (St. Louis AAA Blues)) made 37 saves to earn her seventh shutout of the season and also set a program record with her 15
th victory of the season.
-Thomeczek is ranked ninth in the country with a .951 save percentage.
-NCHA Player of the Year
Rachel Anderson (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) scored a goal in the win to extend her point streak to five games.
-Anderson is currently second in NCAA Division III with 30 assists, which is also tied for the single-season program record.
-CSS committed a season-high seven penalties on Friday, and killed-off all seven power-plays.
-The Saints are ranked in the nation with a penalty-kill success rate of .910.
-The Saints are ranked No. 10 in the D3hockey.com poll.
-Senior
Alexia Klaas (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS (Minnesota-Duluth)), who scored Friday night, is a point away from becoming the fifth player in program history to reach 80 points in a career.
-The Saints are on an 11-game winning streak, the third-longest such streak in NCAA Division III.
-CSS is 17-1 this season when scoring the first goal.
-The Saints are out-scoring teams by 40 goals in the second and third periods combined.
-For the first time this year, NCAA Division III hockey will be using the PairWise rankings to determine at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament.
-Friday night's win jumped the Saints from 12
th to 10
th in the PairWise. 10 teams make-up the NCAA Tournament field.
What You Need to Know about Adrian:
Record: 21-4-2, 15-1-2 NCHA
-The Bulldogs enter Sunday on a nine-game unbeaten streak. (7-0-2)
-They are ranked No. 6 in the USCHO.com poll and #7 in the D3hockey.com Poll.
-As of this posting the Bulldogs are tied for sixth in the PairWise.
-Adrian has not lost at home this season (11-0-1) and is outscoring teams at Arrington Ice Arena 50-7.
-The Bulldogs had four players named to the All-NCHA team.
-Senior forward Tory Harshman leads the team with 32 points on 14 goals and 18 assists.
-Senior forward Kortney Diaz leads the team with 15 goals.
-Junior forward Jacqueline White has a team-best 20 assists.
-Junior defenseman Kelly O'Sullivan led all NCHA defenseman with 21 points.
-Freshman goaltender Denisa Jandova did not play against the Saints in November, but leads NCAA Division III with a 0.69 goals-against-average and second with a .959 save percentage.
-Adrian has scored first in 21 of the 27 games, but is 3-3-0 when the opponents score first.
-It is outscoring teams 40-10 in the first period.
-The Bulldogs have the top scoring offense in the NCHA, averaging 4.07 goals per game.
-Adrian has the second-best penalty-kill in the nation with a 93.1 percent success rate.
-The Bulldogs have won three consecutive Slaats Cup Championships.
Series Record: Adrian leads 18-3-3
(Last Meeting: 4-3 Adrian – 11/17/2018)
Series History: The Bulldogs were also ranked sixth when the team met back in November in Duluth … Adrian swept the series in two highly-competitive games … The Saints are winless in the last 15 meetings against the Bulldogs (0-13-2) … The only other time the two teams met in the postseason was in 2016 at Adrian, where the Bulldogs swept the two-game series.
Looking Ahead: The winner will receive an automatic qualifier into the 10-team NCAA Division III Tournament, which begins next week. The loser may also be in line for an at-large bid. The tournament field will be announced Monday morning on NCAA.com
