This Weekend
North Dakota finishes its regular-season series with Bemidji State in a second home-and-home match up this weekend, Jan. 27-29. Friday's contest will be played at the Sanford Center with a 7:07 p.m. (CT) start time. The two teams will then reconvene on Sunday at the Ralph Engelstad Arena for a 2:07 p.m. face off.

Both teams were ranked in the top 10 when they met earlier this season, Oct. 28-29. North Dakota ended up winning up winning both contests for the weekend sweep, claiming the first game in Grand Forks, 5-2, before shutting out the Beavers in Bemidji, 2-0. Amy Menke enters the weekend as the career leader against Bemidji State, having scored nine goals and adding four assists. In net, Lexie Shaw holds a 3-2-1 record against the Beavers, with a 1.63 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.

Media Coverage
Live stats for the weekend's games will be at BSUBeavers.com (Friday) and UNDsports.com (Sunday). A live video stream for Friday's game will be available through Stretch Internet, while a video feed for Sunday's game will be available at UNDsports.com, as part of the UND Insider subscription. Additionally, both games will be broadcast live 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 ended up dropping two closely contested games against No. 1 Wisconsin over the past weekend, Jan. 21-22. It was the two toughest games the top-ranked Badgers have played all season, as UND held the Badgers to their fewest shots on goal in a single game this season, while also keeping them to their fewest shots on goal over a weekend series this season as well. Additionally, the Fighting Hawks became just the fourth team this season to score more than two goals on the Badger in a weekend series

In the first game of the series, North Dakota's bid for a third-period rally fell short as the Badgers scraped away with a 3-2 win. Wisconsin held a 3-1 lead after the second period and had out-shot the Fighting Hawks 27-11 through the first 40 minutes. However, in the final period UND out-shot Wisconsin, 19-5, in the third period, marking the largest margin that the Badgers have been out-played in a single period this season. Charly Dahlquist scored in the final three minutes of the period to bring UND within one, but ultimately would not score again.

Sunday's game against the Badgers was just as physical and closely contested as the day before. With a total of 26 penalty minutes assessed in the contest, it was no surprise that special teams became the deciding factor. After Emma Nuutinen tied the contest with a power-play goal in the second period, Wisconsin ended up claiming the eventual winner off its own power play early in the third period. Freshman Kristen Campbell was in net for the Fighting Hawks and made a career-high 23 saves in her third collegiate start.

If You Ain't First, You're Last
The Fighting Hawks are undefeated (12-0-3) when scoring the first goal of the game. On the flip side, UND is winless when its opponents score first (0-9-2).

Shawstopper
Senior Lexie Shaw currently ranks second among WCHA goaltenders, third nationally, with a 1.53 goals-against average and fourth in the league with a .930 save percentage. She has also played a major role in UND's penalty kill which ranks 10th in the nation with a .893 efficiency.

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 rank seventh nationally among senior scoring, as the UND senior class has totaled 72 points so far this season.

Starting off Strong
North Dakota's freshman class ranks first in the WCHA, and third in the nation, with 59 points on the season, stemming from 24 goals and 35 assists.

All eight freshman skaters have already recorded a point, and the class is led by Ryleigh Houston who has 20 points from six goals and 14 assists, ranking first among freshmen in the WCHA. Houston also leads the league in assists (14), power-play goals (3), power-play assists (4), power-play points (7), and game-winning goals (3). Additionally, Emma Nuutinen leads the WCHA's rookies in goals with eight.

Houston was also named the WCHA's Rookie of the Month for December. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native led all conference freshmen with three goals during the final month of 2016. She also tallied one assist for a total of four points through UND's six games in December. Of her three goals, one was scored on the power-play and another was a game-winner. She finished the month with 17 shots on net, a +1 plus/minus rating and three blocked shots.

Offensive Defensemen
Six of UND's seven defensemen have scored goals this season, with Gracen having leading the group with five goals and 11 assists. Additionally, the UND defensemen have totaled 38 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 99 career points. She is just one point shy of becoming the seventh 100-point scorer in program history.

Overtime Warriors
North Dakota has only lost twice in its last 19 games (4-2-13) that have gone into overtime. The last overtime game that UND lost was on Oct. 17, 2014 to then-No. 8 Bemidji State.