ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict hockey team (9-3-3, 6-1-1 MIAC) will face Saint Mary's (9-5-1, 4-4-0) in a pair of home MIAC games on Friday and Saturday, January Jan. 24-25. The Bennies, which as won three straight games, host the Cardinals on Friday, at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 4 p.m., at Ritsche Arena.

CSB, directed by third year head coach Lindsay Macy, has started the season with a 9-3-3 overall and own a 6-1-1 MIAC play record for a tie for second place (Gustavus Adolphus, 10-4-0, 6-2-0 MIAC) with 18 points. St. Benedict sits tied with No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus. Over the past 12 games, the Bennies have a 9-1-2 record, which includes a 6-0 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Jan. 11 plus a sweep of St. Catherine, 6-2 and 4-1. On Dec. 6-7, CSB split a home and road series with Bethel. St. Ben's took a 2-0 loss at home on Dec. 6 before bouncing back with a 4-1 road win at Bethel. Just before the holiday break, CSB had a 4-4 tie with Wisconsin-Superior (UWS won in a shootout, 2-0). During the holiday break, the Bennies traveled to Sweden and Finland and played a trio of exhibition games.

Quick Review
St. Benedict opened the season with a loss to then No. 1 (now ranked No. 2) and defending national DIII champion UW-River Falls (9-2-2), 8-2 in River Falls, Wis. Then CSB took a 5-4 road loss to UW-Superior on Nov. 5 as first-year Camryn Hargreaves had two goals. On Nov. 12, the Bennies and UW-Superior played to a 2-2 tie (Yellowjackets had a 2-0 advantage in the shootout for the point). On Nov. 15-16, the Bennies rebounded by winning a 2-1 overtime decision at St. Scholastica and then recorded a 5-0 win against the Saints a night later. St. Ben's defeated St. Olaf, 2-1 in overtime on the road on Nov. 22 and had a 2-2 draw with the Oles at home on Nov. 23 in which CSB earned the two conference points with a 1-0 verdict in the overtime shootout (Ella Tuccitto goal).

Prior to Thanksgiving (Nov. 26-27) the Bennies dominated a two-game home nonconference series with Northland by recording wins of 5-0 and 7-0. In the victories, goalies Delaney Norman and Ellynor Haack recorded shutouts. Hargreaves had three goals and Skylar Salscheider had four assists to lead the way in the two wins. CSB recorded a season-high seven goals in the second win against Northland in which Salscheider had three assists and Hargreaves scored two goals.

Through 13 games, St. Benedict has totaled 45 goals (3.5) and allowed 26 (2.0). The Bennies have outshot their opponents, 495-to-300. In goal, CSB has 272 saves, with opponents at 444. In power plays, CSB has a 25.9% power play rate while their opponents sit at 12.2%. CSB has won 434 face-offs and lost 342 for a 55.9 %-win rate.

Saint Mary's
Heath Isaacson has directed his team to a 9-5-0 record, including 4-4-0 in league play. Most recently, they recorded a 2-0 win over No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus at the SMU Ice Arena but lost 6-0 in St. Peter. As a team, SMU has scored 43 goals (3.1 per game) and allowed 34 (2.4 per game). They have recorded 325 saves to 344 for their opponents while scoring on 13 power plays in 43 attempts for 30.2 percent. Leading the way individually is Sophia Paduano with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points while Reese Heitzman has a team-best eight goals with six assists. Celia Midtbo and Sidney Polzin both have seven goals this year.

Series Notes
CSB owns a 17-35-3 series record over Saint Mary's. CSB has a 9-18-1 home record against the Cardinals and an 8-17-2 away record with a 15-33-3 MIAC mark. CSB recorded a 2-1 win over SMU on Feb. 3, 2024. In the first-ever matchup, the Bennies took a 3-2 win on Jan. 10, 1998. In the last 10 matchups, CSB has a 4-5-1 mark.

Player Notes
Sophomore Shae Stinnett leads CSB in points with 12 points, including six goals and six assists. She is 12^th in the league in points and tied for 15^th in the MIAC in goals.
First-year Camryn Hargreaves has netted a team-best seven goals, which is tied for fifth in the league. She has three assists which gives her 10 points, which is tied for second on the team with Mia Lopez (five goals, five assists), and Skylar Salscheider (one goal, 9 assists). Salscheider is fourth in the MIAC in assists with nine. Senior Aurora Opsahl has nine points with two goals and seven assists.

Senior goaltender, Kate Moffat, who was the MIAC Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 18, has a .921 saves percentage (6^th, MIAC) with 18 goals allowed and 209 saves in 10 games. Her goal against average of 1.97 is seventh in the MIAC. She is sixth in the MIAC with 20.90 saves per game for seventh in the league. With five career shutouts Moffat ranks fourth all-time.  Moffat, who is now 6-2-1 on the season, has 17 career wins, placing her fifth all-time in CSB history but just one away from second, held by Ally Frantzick, 2019-23; Jenna Traut, 2011-15 and Kate Hall, 2000-04.  
Senior forward Ava Stinnett, who has three goals this season, played in 82 career games, scoring 28 goals, and recording 26 assists, with 246 shots on goal. She ranks 11th all-time at CSB in goals (10^th, Mollie Wise, 29, 2016-20) . With six game-winning goals, she is tied for fifth in program history.

Senior forward Aurora Opsahl has two goals and seven assists this season with nine points. With 32 career goals, she ranks tied for sixth all-time at CSB with Kelly Wegwerth, 1998-99; Brigette Miller, 2014-18; and Erin Baldwin, 2003-07.  She has totaled 65 points, which also places her seventh all-time at CSB. Opsahl is coming off seasons of 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points in 2022-23 and 13 goals and seven assists in 2023-24. She has eight game-winning goals, which places her tied with Susan Engel (2001-05) for the career lead at CSB. In addition, Opsahl ranks third all-time at CSB with 282 shots on goals.

When Jenna Timm has 34 career assists or sixth all-time at CSB. She also has 15 career goals and 49 points. This year, she has three goals and five assists for eight points in 12 games. Timm also has a game-winning goal and five for her career, which is tied with Shannon Kegley, 1998-02 for ninth all-time.