THIS WEEK: The 2010-11 regular season kicks off this weekend with a series that will have immediate implications nationally. The Fighting Sioux host sixth-ranked Boston University. The Sioux were picked just outside the top 10 in the preseason polls.
TUNE IN: Saturday's game against Boston University will mark the first live broadcast in program history as the Fighting Sioux Sports Network will be broadcasting the game. It will be found on Midco Sports Network 2, channel 322, in most North and South Dakota markets and on Fox College Sports Central and Direct TV's channel 617. Jody Norstedt will be calling the play-by-play and will be joined by former women's hockey player Cassandra Flanagan.
Midco Sports Network will be showing four live home games this season on Oct. 2 vs. Boston University, Oct. 8 vs. Minnesota Duluth and both games against Minnesota (Feb. 18-19).
Nearly all UND women's hockey games can be heard on 1440 AM ("The Fan") in Grand Forks and on stations across the Fighting Sioux Radio Network (excluding Sunday games). Darrin Looker calls the play-by-play action for the Sioux. For the first time in program history the select road games will be aired this season as well.
Links to live audio, a live audio/video web cast, live stats, and a live chat will also be available on FightingSioux.com.
ABOUT BOSTON U: With a short-handed lineup, the Terriers opened their season with a 4-1 exhibition win over Windsor ... Jill Cardella led BU with one goal and one assist ... The Terriers had their best season in its program's five-year history in 2009-10 ... BU captured its first Hockey East title with a 10-6-5 record (17-9-12 overall) ... The Terriers return only one goaltender in Alissa Fromkin, who appeared in eight games last season, and is joined by freshmen Braly Hiller and Kerrin Sperry ... Fromkin collected a 2-1-4 record a year ago with a 2.60 goals against average and an .833 save percentage ... BU is led by a senior trio in captain Holly Lorms and assistant captains Lauren Cherewyk and Jillian Kirchner ... Cherewyk led the team in scoring in 2009-10 with 29 points (12g, 17a).
SERIES HISTORY: The Sioux and Terriers have only met on the ice once, coming in the Nike Bauer Women's Classis (Minneapolis, Minn.) on Oct. 5, 2007. The two teams skated to a 2-2 tie in what was UND head coach Brian Idalski's first game at the helm of the Sioux.
UND'S LAST ACTION: The Fighting Sioux hosted the Toronto Aeros in exhibition action on Saturday and rolled to a 9-0 win. Junior Alyssa Wiebe and sophomores Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls each had five-point games, leading the way for the Sioux.
Sophomore Jorid Dagfinrud stopped all 14 shots she faced in the game while Mary Loken added a pair of goals. The Sioux outshot the Aeros 52-14 while going 2-for-5 on the power play. The Aeros went unsuccessful in three attempts.
(ALMOST) A GAME TO REMEMBER: Sophomore Jocelyne Lamoureux completed a natural hat trick with three consecutive goals in the second period against the Aeros. Although stats do not count in exhibition games, the hat trick would have been the first recorded for the Sioux since Cami Wooster did so on Oct. 22, 2005, against Quinnipiac. Lamoureux, Monique Lamoureux-Kolls and Alyssa Wiebe all had five point games which also would have tied a Sioux record set by Wiebe last season against St. Cloud State.
A PEEK AT OLYMPIC PAST: The weekend series against the Terriers will have a secondary story to it as it will have four 2010 Olympians taking part. UND and Team USA's Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls and BU and Team Canada's Marie-Phillip Poulin and Catherine Ward all played significant time for their respective countries in Vancouver. BU's Jenn Wakefield was also an alternate for Team Canada. Poulin scored both goals in the championship game, leading Canada to a 2-0 win over U.S.A.
WHERE WE SIT: North Dakota sits just outside of the top 10 in both of the first USCHO.com and the USA Today/USA Hockey top-10 polls of the season. The Sioux received seven votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll and four votes in the USCHO.com poll.
WCHA to Continue Shootouts, Implements Three-Point Wins in Standings: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association will continue to use shootouts and implement a three-point system in women's league play, Associate Commissioner Sara Martin has announced.
In a change this year the WCHA has adopted a standings format for league play where a team that wins in regulation or overtime receives three points, a team that wins a shootout is awarded two points, a team that loses a shootout gets one point, and a team that loses in regulation or overtime earns no points.
The standings will show wins, losses, ties and shootout wins - W-L-T-SW (W-L-T add up to games played, the tie column signifies how many times a team has been to a shootout and the SW column represents how many shootouts a team has won.)
A team receives three points for winning a game in overtime (in regulation or overtime) and one point for an overtime tie. NCAA rules do not recognize shootout wins and for purposes to figure out a team's RPI, a game which ends tied after 65 minutes and prior to a shootut is recorded as a tie.
To reiterate the new WCHA women's league policy: Teams are awarded three points for each win in regulation or overtime, and one point for an overtime tie. Conference games tied after 65 minutes advance to a three-player shootout with the winning team receiving an extra point in the standings (denoted in the SW column).
