SAINT JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict hockey team (7-4, 5-1-0 MIAC), which has seven wins in the past eight matches, will face No. 1 ranked Gustavus (11-1, 6-0-0 MIAC) in a MIAC matchup on Friday, Jan. 13, as they travel to St. Peter. The Bennies will play a home-and-home series with Gustavus as they host at Ritsche Arena in St. Cloud, Minn. on Saturday for a 4 p.m., contest.

Follow along
Fans can follow along by  clicking here for live video/stats for the match in St. Peter on Friday, Jan. 13. For the game at Ritsche Arena on Jan. 14, click here for live stats/video.

Next Up
Following this weekend's contests, the Bennies will face the Hamline Pipers (6-7-0, 5-1) on Jan. 20-21 in a home-and-home series, starting with an 7 p.m., match up in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday. Then, Pipers come to Ritsche Arena for a 4 p.m., game.

Ice notes  By the Numbers
This season the Bennies have opened 7-4 with a 5-1 record in the MIAC. CSB is tied for second place in the MIAC with Hamline (6-7-0, 5-1-0). The Bennies are off to their best start since the 2000-2001 of a record of 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the MIAC. CSB has a 4-2 home mark with a 3-2 road mark. CSB has outshot 10-of-11 opponents and own a 414-to-237 shots advantage and a 33-to-22 goals margin. The Bennies have a combined for 214 saves while opponents have 381.

Saint Ben's ranks third in the league with 3.0 goals per game on 33 total. The Bennies also rank fourth in goals allowed at 2.00 in the eleven games played. In terms of points per game, CSB is third in the league at 7.27 on its 80 total points while sitting second in the league in shots on goals per game at 37.64. In terms of penalty-killing percentage the Bennies are fourth at .860 (7 goals allowed) and fourth in power-play percentage at .200 (eight goals).

For the first time in program history, the Bennies had a pair of student-athletes sweep the MIAC Weekly honors. After two goals and an assist, junior forward Corrine Brown was named the MIAC Offensive Player of the Week while sophomore goaltender Kate Moffat earned MIAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after 40 minutes of shutout goaltending in a 6-0 win over Wisconsin-Superior on Nov. 22. In addition, Brown was named the CSB Athlete of the Week for her career-best performance.
 
In terms of individuals, sophomore Aurora Opsahl has six goals (nine in her career) to lead the Bennies. Opsahl is ranked seventh in the MIAC with 13 points in nine games and is third in points per game at 1.18. With 67 total shots, she is ranked second in the MIAC while junior Corrine Brown is ranked sixth with 54. Opsahl leads the league with 6.09 shots per game with Brown at 4.91 ranked fifth.

Sophomore Emma Rooks and sophomore Ava Stinnett are ninth and 10th in the league in game-winning goals with two. Rooks has five goals this season as she tallied her first career hat trick (three goals) in a 6-2 home win over St. Scholastica on Nov. 19.  Jenna Timm, who was named All-MIAC a year ago, has two goals and two assists and now has seven career goals. In addition, Ava Stinnett ranks tenth in the league in face-off wins vs. total faceoffs as she has 117 wins and 115 losses. In goal, senior Ally Frantzick, who was named the CSB Athlete of the Week on Nov. 14, has a pair of shutouts this year and a 5-3-0 record. She has allowed 1.91 goals per game with 16 total goals allowed while recording 149 saves. Sophomore Kate Moffatt has a 2-1-0 record in two starts with a 1.89 goals allowed averaged. She has 66 saves and a .930 save percentage.

In the last four games, CSB is 4-0 with a combined 18 goals scored. The six goals in consecutive wins over Wisconsin-Superior (6-0, Nov. 22) and St. Scholastica (6-2), is the most since defeating Northland, 7-4 and 7-1 on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29, 2016. In that 6-2 win over St. Scholastica, sophomore forward Emma Rooks recorded the first hat trick at CSB since Mollie Wise had three goals in a win against St. Olaf on Jan. 31, 2020.

Earlier, CSB had a three-game winning streak after a 3-2 road win at Concordia College – Moorhead on Nov. 11 and a 4-0 decision over the Cobbers at Ritsche Arena on Saturday, Nov. 12. In a 1-0, over Concordia University Wisconsin on the road on Nov. 5, sophomore Jenna Timm scored the game-winning goal at 12:47 of the second period. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and provided first-year Head Coach Lindsay Macy with her first career win at CSB. In the win, Timm scored her first goal of the year and the sixth of her career. Interestingly, she had her second career goal against CUW and scored this time on the same date as a year ago on Nov. 5 when she had her first career goal. Earlier this year the Bennies had lost to CUW, 3-2, and a 4-3 overtime decision to No. 8 UW-Eau Claire at home. The Blugolds also took a 4-1 decision in the opener. 

Breaking down Gustavus
The Gusties are directed by 24^th-year Head Coach Mike Carroll. Carroll has turned Gustavus women's hockey into one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division III. He has compiled an overall record of 465-120-48 in 23 seasons and has the most coaching victories in the history of the program. This season, Gustavus has opened 11-1-0 and 6-0-0 in league play. In the last six games, they have scored 20 goals and allowed 5 for a 0.25 margin. They average 4.00 goals per game and allow 0.58. Clara Billings leads the team with nine goals, averaging 0.75 a game. Kayla Vrieze leads the team with nine assists and averaging 1.17 points per game. In goal, Katie McCoy leads the MIAC with 163 saves and a .964 save percentage. She has played in 640:50 of the 720:00 total ice time by the Royals.
  
Series Notes
When the St. Ben's faces Gustavus on Friday, it will be the 50^th all-time meeting. Gustavus owns a 46-3-1 overall series edge. CSB has lost 11 straight in the series but had a two-game winning streak in 2014. In the last match up, the Gusties ook a 5-0 win on Dec. 4, 2021 in St. Peter. CSB is 1-22-1 at home and 2-23 in road games.   

MIAC Notes – Competition runs from Nov. 10 to Feb. 18
MIAC league play will run through Saturday, Feb. 18 with teams scheduled to play 18 conference matches, including two games against each MIAC opponent. The top five teams at the end of the regular season will meet in the 2023 MIAC Women's Hockey Playoffs. The quarterfinals are set Thursday, Feb. 23 with semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 25 and the championship on Saturday, March 4. The winner of the MIAC playoffs earns the league's automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA DIII Hockey Championships.
 
Macy leads CSB to best start since 2000-01
Lindsay Macy is in her first year as head coach at St. Ben's. Hired on May 2 as the program's eighth head coach, Macy, whose team has opened 7-4 overall and 5-1 in the MIAC, earned her first career win at CSB in a 1-0 decision over Concordia University Wisconsin on Nov. 5 in Mequon, Wis. She has the program off to its best start since 2000-01.The Bennies have won three of four games in MIAC play for a 3-1 mark and second place. She came to Saint Benedict after two seasons as the head women's hockey coach at Finlandia University, and she brings plenty of coaching experience as well as high-level playing experience. Prior to joining CSB, Macy served as head coach at Finlandia since May 2020, and she orchestrated a rebuild of the program in her two seasons. She earned NCHA Coach of the Year honors – a first in Finlandia women's hockey history – after guiding the Lions to their best record since the 2017-18 season.

Macy also owns Relentless Hockey, a summer hockey school in Idaho that trains hockey players at all levels of the game. She started her coaching career at the Coeur D'Alene Hockey Academy in Cour d'Alene, Idaho, where she spent three seasons as the general manager and head coach of the U19 women's team that competed as the only U.S. team in the prestigious Canadian Sport School Hockey League. Macy was an assistant for both the boys' and girls' varsity hockey programs in her hometown of Owatonna, and served as the head coach of the JV boys' team.

Before stepping on the ice as a coach, Macy had a successful playing career that started in high school and continued through a stint with the Minnesota Whitecaps and the U22 National Team. She started her collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin where she scored 74 points in 66 games and finished her career at MSU-Mankato where she scored 44 points in 62 games. She helped the Whitecaps win the Western Women's Hockey League championship and reach the Clarkston Cup Final in 2008-09.