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Issued: December 5, 2007

WOMEN’S HOCKEY PREPARES TO HOST TWO CONFERENCE OPPONENTS

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – After losing both of their games last weekend, the UW-Eau Claire women’s hockey team will hope to get back on the winning track this weekend when they host Concordia University (Wis.) and Lake Forest College (Ill.).

Heading into this weekend, the Blugolds are 5-4 overall on the season and 2-0 in conference play. Early in the season the Blugolds have been lead by a young and talented group of players. Christine Dickinson (Fr.-Layton, UT/Shattuck St. Mary's), Kristin Faber (Fr.-Austin, MN), and Maddi Hammer (Fr.-Owatonna, MN) are the top three point getters on the team after the first nine games. Dickinson has four goals and two assist, Faber has two goals and three assists, and Hammer has three goals and one assist. Lauren Havard (Jr.-San Angelo, TX/Arapahoe) and Beth Dittrich (So.-Roseville, MN) have also contributed to the Blugolds scoring efforts with four points apiece.

On special teams, the Blugolds will look to reignite their power play this weekend after going 0-11with the skater advantage against Adrian College (Mich.) last weekend. The Blugold’s power play unit is converting at a 16.7 percent clip as they have scored on 6 of their 36 power play opportunities. On the defensive side of special teams, the Blugolds have killed 44 of 48 penalties.

The Blugolds have three options in net. Last weekend, Danika Porter (Rosemount, MN/South St. Paul) started on Friday night, and Nicole Lence (Fr. -St. Paul Park, MN/Park) started for her first time this season on Saturday. Lindsay Savat (Fr.-Apple Valley, MN/Thomas Jefferson) was the odd goalie out last weekend, but she has a record of 2-0 in the two games she has started. Porter has started the most games of the three and is 3-3 with a goals against average of 1.69 and a save percentage of 90.6 percent.

The Blugolds will open the weekend against Concordia University on Friday night. With a record of 0-7-2 overall and 0-5 in conference play, Concordia University is still looking for their first victory in the programs first year of existence. The Falcons are coming off a tough weekend series in which they were swept by, nationally ranked, UW-Superior. The Falcons struggled defensively and offensively as they allowed 12 goals and failed to score during the two games. Offensively the Falcons are led by April Forar and Amber Cmejla who have 5 points each this season. When these two teams met earlier this season, the Blugolds swept the Falcons beating them by scores of 1-0 and 2-1.

The Blugolds will play Lake Forest College on Saturday night. Lake Forest is 4-2-1 overall and 3-1-1 in conference play. Lake Forest has a balance scoring attack, much like the Blugolds, with five players who have at least four points on the season. Courtney DeHoey leads their balanced scoring attack with six points. She has three goals and three assists. Lynn Switaj leads the team in goals with four, and she has five points total. Last weekend Lake Forest traveled to Finlandia University for a weekend series, and they came away with a 2-2 tie on Friday and a 2-1 victory on Saturday. The Forester’s are 9-9-6 all time against the Blugolds, and they won the season series 1-0-2 last season.

This great weekend of Blugold hockey action is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. on Friday at Hobbs Ice Arena when the Blugolds and Falcons will face off for the third time in program history. It will conclude on Saturday when at 7:00 p.m. the Foresters and Blugolds battle for the all-time series lead between the two programs.

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