Women's Hockey | 11/07/2014

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict hockey team has one more tune-up game before it opens MIAC play as it takes on St. Kate's in a nonconference game Friday night. As well as being nonconference, the 7 p.m. game is also at a neutral site in Princeton, Minn.
 
This Week: Saint Benedict wraps up its early season nonconference schedule with a 7 p.m. game against St. Kate's Friday night. The 7 p.m. game is in Princeton, Minn.
 
About the Wildcats: This is the first game of the season for St. Kate's, which finished the 2013-14 season 11-14-1 overall and 8-9-1 in the MIAC. The Wildcats made the MIAC tournament where they lost 2-1 in overtime to Concordia in the first round. St. Kate's returns four All-MIAC Honorable Mention seletions, including Megan Killmer, who led the team in assists last season, and Bailey Rasmussen, who led the Wildcats in goals and the MIAC in game-winning goals (5).
 
Last Meeting: St. Kate's won a pair of games against the Blazers in a home/away series in January 2014. The Wildcats won the first game 3-1 in St. Cloud, and completed the sweep with a 4-0 victory a night later in St. Paul. Aly Hoffman scored CSB's lone goal that weekend and Dory Johnson finished with 22 saves in the first game of the series.
 
The Storyline: The Blazers are looking for their first win of 2014-15 and hoping to gain a little momentum heading into conference play. Saint Benedict also opens its home season next weekend, and a win tonight would help give the Blazers a push in the right direction before they take the ice in front of their home fans. CSB is also hoping to beat St. Kate's for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
 
Who to Watch: Sophomore Stephanie Kirk picked up where she left off last season with a goal in CSB's first game of the year against St. Norbert on Oct. 31. Kirk, who led the Blazers with 11 goals as a first year, scored the first goal of her sophomore year in the third period to make it a 3-2 game. First year Kimberly Patterson scored the first goal of her collegiate career at 12:41 in the first period of that same game to put the Blazers on top 1-0 against the Green Knights. Senior goalie Jenna Traut was solid in net both games and finished the weekend with 71 saves.