ST.JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict hockey team returns to MIAC action this weekend when they play a home-and-home series with St. Thomas. The two teams will open the series in St. Paul on Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. before traveling back up to St. Cloud to close out the series Saturday afternoon at Dave Torrey Arena for a 3 p.m. puck drop.
 
About St. Thomas
St. Thomas enters the match up as the second ranked team in the MIAC standings, and broke into the d3hockey.com Top 10 and USCHO polls this week, earning a No.10 ranking in both. The Tommies are 13-3-5 overall, and hold a 9-1-4 conference record. UST enters the game on a bit of a hot streak, as they have not lost a game since their 3-2 loss on Dec. 13 to UW-River Falls, the current fifth ranked team in the nation.
The Tommies are led offensively by senior Allie Borgstrom who has registered an impressive 14 goals and 17 assists to lead her team with 31 points. Seven Tommies total have ten or more points this season, with five of those players being underclassmen. First years Maddy Fiedler and Alyssa Wallace have had impressive debut campaigns with Fiedler registering eight goals and 10 assists and Wallace posting four goals and nine assists. Junior goaltender Kenzie Torpy has handled the lion's share of work between the pipes for St. Thomas, starting fifteen games this season. Torpy is third in the MIAC for save percentage with a .930, and sits in fourth in goals against, allowing a staunch 1.61 goals per game.  
 
Last Year
St. Thomas utilized their power play to gain a pair of one goal wins over Saint Benedict last season. The Tommies scored three goals on the player advantage to take down CSB 3-2 in the opening game in St. Cloud. CSB was able to tie the game twice after going down 1-0 and 2-1, and erased both goal deficits within three minutes of UST scoring. The second game started extremely well for CSB, as they held a 3-0 lead after the first period following a pair of goals from Brigitte Miller. The Tommies slowly chipped away at the lead in the second and third periods to force overtime. UST would convert with just 19 seconds remaining in the extra frame to hand CSB another tight loss.
 
Who to Watch
Junior goaltender Julia Carle has been a presence for CSB this season between the pipes. Carle is coming off a crazy game on Feb. 3 at Augsburg when she made an astonishing 50 saves for CSB. She has made 39 or more saves four times this season including 47 saves at Hamline and 41 saves in the team's opening game against UW Eau Claire. Last Saturday's 50 save effort was the third of her career at CSB, with her last 50-plus effort coming against this weekend's opponents St. Thomas, as she saved 54 in the teams' overtime game.
 
The Storyline
The Saint Benedict offensive output continues to be balanced, as 16 CSB players have registered at least one point this season. Senior Brigette Miller remains atop the scoring sheet with nine goals and six assists to add up to 15 points. Junior Maddie Dockry leads the team in assists with seven, while senior Kaitlyn Miller and junior Kylie Eklund have been leaders on defense, blocking 14 and 13 shots respectively thus far this season.