This Weekend
No. 9 North Dakota returns to Ralph Engelstad Arena for its fourth-straight week of competition against a nationally-ranked opponent, hosting No. 2 Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19. Friday's game will serve as UND's annual “Pack The Ralph” night and will begin at 7:07 p.m. (CT). Saturday's game will be played at 4:07 p.m. (CT).

Minnesota enters the weekend leading the all-time series against North Dakota with a 49-8-1 record. However, North Dakota has won two of the last four games played in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Amy Menke leads UND in career scoring against the Gophers, with four goals and one assist. Two of her four goals were also scored shorthanded. Lexie Shaw owns a 1-2-0 career record against Minnesota.

Media Coverage
Friday's contest will be televised by Midco SportsNet, and will be simulcast on FCS Atlantic

Live stats for the weekend's games will be available through UNDsports.com. Video streams, along with free audio feeds, of the games will be available through UNDsports.com, as part of the UND Insider subscription. Both games will also be aired locally in Grand Forks on KKXL 1440-AM.

Social Media
Receive real-time updates during all UND women's hockey games by following @UNDWHockey. Additional in-game updates and commentary is provided by junior goaltender Annie Chipman via her gameday twitter account @Chips_Corner.

Last Time Out
The Fighting Hawks hosted No. 3 Minnesota Duluth over the Nov. 12-13 weekend. UND was unable to come away with a win, but did take two points with a shootout win in Sunday's game. The Bulldogs jumped out to 2-0 leads in both games, claiming a 2-1 win on Saturday, while UND fought back for the 2-2 tie on Sunday.

Defenseman Halli Krzyzaniak scored the lone goal for North Dakota in the 2-1 loss, as UND out-shot Minnesota Duluth, 25-21. On Sunday, Amy Menke scored the first goal for UND, coming on the power play. Charly Dahlquist then scored the game-tying goal with 29 seconds remaining in regulation. Freshman Ryleigh Houston was the lone scorer in the shootout to help UND earn the extra point for conference standings.

Shawstopper
Lexie Shaw was named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Month for October. She posted three shutouts in that span, including a 21-save effort against national-ranked Bemidji State. She made a season-high 38 saves, conceding just one goal, against No. 1 Wisconsin on Oct. 22. Shaw was also instrumental in helping UND post the nation's second-best penalty-kill percentage at .957 (44-for-46), making a total of 55 saves on the PK over the month.

Senior Leadership
The Fighting Hawks are ranked eighth nationally among senior scoring, as the UND senior class has totaled 37 points so far this season.

Starting off Strong
North Dakota's freshman class is tied second in the WCHA, eighth in the nation, with 24 points on the season, stemming from 11 goals and 13 assists. All eight freshman skaters have already recorded a point, and the class is led by Emma Nuutinen who has five goals and one assist; her five goals ranking eighth in the nation among freshman. She also leads the nation in shooting efficiency, scoring five goals on just 20 shots (.250).

Offensive Defensemen
Five of UND's seven defensemen have scored goals this season, with Gracen Hirschy, Jordan Hampton, Halli Krzyzaniak and Abbey Stanley each having scored two goals. Additionally, the UND defensemen have totaled 16 assists, and have generated one third of UND's scoring this season.

Century Club
Senior forward Amy Menke the top-10 scoring list at UND, and sits in seventh place with 93 career points. She is just seven points shy of becoming the seventh 100-point scorer in program history.

Overtime Warriors
North Dakota has only lost twice in its last 16 games (4-2-10) that have gone into overtime. The last overtime game that UND lost was on Oct. 17, 2014 to then-No. 8 Bemidji State.

UND at 4 Nations
North Dakota had a total of eight current and former student-athletes compete at the 2016 4 Nations Cup in Finland. The tournament ended with United States claiming a 5-3 victory over Canada for the tournament title.

Monique Lamoureux-Morando led all players in the tournament with a +10 plus/minus rating. She finished competition with two goals and three assists. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson followed up with one goal and one assist, and a +2 plus/minus rating to help the Team USA win gold. Former goaltender Shelby Amsley-Benzie made her first international appearance with the U.S. national team.

UND had four representatives on Team Finland, as the Finns took a third place finish with a 2-1 win over Sweden. Sophomore Vilma Tanskanen and former forward Susanna Tapani both recorded one assist at the tournament. Anna Kilponen skated on the blue line for the Finns, and former student-athlete Michelle Karvinen was rostered with Team Finland, but did not compete.

Former defenseman Johanna Fallman seventh 4 Nations Cup for Team Sweden. She finished with one assist from the blue line as the Swedes took fourth place.

National Polls
North Dakota earned 32 points for the No. 9 spot in the latest USCHO.com women's hockey poll, and also earned ninth place with 40 points in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll

(see page 4 for complete poll information)

Best of the Week
Freshman Ryleigh Houston earned the first weekly honor for UND this year, being named the WCHA's Rookie of the Week on Oct. 5. In the opening weekend of play, Houston scored her first collegiate goal in her first game with UND, registering the game-winner in the first period while on the power play against Mercyhurst, Sept. 30.

UND picked up its second and third weekly awards on Oct. 18 when Lexie Shaw was named Defensive Player of the Week and Emma Nuutinen was named Rookie of the Week. Shaw turned in a 36-save weekend, including a 17-save shutout, against Minnesota State, helping UND earn its first sweep of the season. Nuutinen recorded her first collegiate points, as she had a four-point weekend against the Mavericks, scoring three goals, including the overtime game-winner on Oct. 15.

The Fighting Hawks earned two more weekly honors on Nov. 1, with Shaw earning her second Defensive Player of the Week award and Abbey Stanley being named the Rookie of the week. Shaw made 47 of 49 saves to help UND sweet then-No. 10 Bemidji State, while Stanley finished the weekend series with a career-high three points.

Houston earned her second Rookie of the Week honor on Nov. 15, after recording a career-best three-point weekend against then-No. 3 Minnesota Duluth.

North Dakota has now claimed four Rookie of the Week awards, the most of any team in the WCHA.

(Please click on the PDF link under 'Related Links' to view a complete version of this week's game notes)