THIS WEEK: The eighth-ranked Fighting Sioux (17-8-3 overall, 15-7-2-0 WCHA) head back on the road to take on the top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Game times are scheduled for Friday at 7:07 p.m. and Sunday at 2:07 p.m.
TUNE IN: This weekend's games will be broadcast via BigTenNetwork.com.
Nearly All UND women's hockey home 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, select road games will be aired this season as well.
Midco Sports Network is showing four live home games this season in Oct. 2 vs. Boston University, Oct. 8 vs. Minnesota Duluth and both games against Minnesota (Feb. 18-19).
MILITARY APPRECIATION: Active members of the military can purchase discounted tickets all season long for ALL home regular season women's hockey games. Tickets are available for $5 (adult) and $3 (youth). All offers are available to Active Duty, Military ID card holders and up to three dependents by showing a present valid Military ID at the UND Athletics Box Office at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. An adult with a Military ID card must be present to receive or purchase a ticket for a military dependent that does not have a Military ID. For more information visit the promotions page on fightingsioux.com.
ABOUT WISCONSON: The Badgers enter this weekend having just clinched the WCHA regular-season championship with their overtime win at Bemidji State.
Head coach Mark Johnson is in his 8th season at Wisconsin with a career record of 236-41-24. He is assisted by Tracey DeKeyser and Jackie Friesen.
UW is lead by senior Meghan Duggan and junior Hillary Knight who are ranked first and second in points in the WCHA, respectively. Duggan has 25 goals and 35 assists for 60 points while Knight has a team-leading 36 goals and 23 assists for 59 points.
Freshman Alex Rigsby has started 22 of 30 games for the Buckeyes and has a .916 save percentage and a 1.95 goals against average.
SERIES HISTORY: UW leads the all-time series 28-2-0. Both wins for UND came last season.
UND'S LAST ACTION: The University of North Dakota swept Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, for the first time in program history.
With the two wins by UND and two losses by BSU, the Sioux officially clinched home ice in the first round of the WCHA postseason for the first time ever. They will host either Bemidji State, Minnesota State or Ohio State on Feb. 25-27 in Grand Forks. Because of conflicts at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, the series will be played at Purper Arena.
In the four games played between the Sioux and OSU, all were decided by one goal and three went to overtime. UND would finish with a 3-0-1 record in those games losing the only shootout.
In Friday's 4-3 win, Alyssa Wiebe scored the game-tying goal with just over a minute left and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls tallied the game-winner by scoring with nine seconds left in overtime.
Lamoureux-Kolls sent a s hot from just inside the blue line, near her own bench that went off of the far post and in. She had two goals and two assists while her twin sister, Jocelyne Lamoureux, added a goal and two assists.
Forwards Stephanie Roy, Sara Dagenais and defenseman Jordan Slavin scored for UND in its 3-2 win on Saturday.
Roy scored the game-winner that clinched home-ice for the first time in program history
MORE THAN EVER BEFORE: With its 3-2 win on Saturday, Feb. 5, the Sioux broke the program record for victories in a season with 17. The previous record was 16 set in 2003-04, prior to the team joining the WCHA.
The Sioux also won its seventh and eighth road games of the season which broke the previous record of six which happened in both 2003-04 and 2009-10.
OFFENSE FROM DEFENSE: Sophomore Jordan Slavin broke the program record for single-season scoring by a defenseman with 22 points. She currently has six goals and 16 assists including four power-play and two game-winning goals.
A LOOK AT THE FIRST HALF: The Fighting Sioux concluded the first half of the season with a program-record eight conference wins and a .563 conference winning percentage.
Through the first half of the season, the Sioux had the hardest strength of schedule with 12 of their 18 games against top-10 ranked teams going 6-5-1 in those games. According to USCHO.com, UND's strength of schedule was a 251.7 with Minnesota Duluth second at 204.6.
FANS IN THE STANDS: The Fighting Sioux enter the weekend ranked second in the nation in attendance per game at home, averaging 1,155 which is topped only by Wisconsin.
WHERE WE SIT: The Sioux rank eighth in both the USCHO.com Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Poll.
