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Issued: February 14, 2008

WOMEN’S HOCKEY TO HOST RANKED UW-SUPERIOR

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Fresh off a weekend series split with Lake Forest, the UW-Eau Claire women’s hockey team will host nationally ranked UW-Superior.

The Blugolds come into this weekend’s match up 11-10-0 overall and 8-6-0 in conference play which places them fourth in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA). The Yellow Jackets come into town with a record of 16-4-1 overall and 11-2-1 in conference play. They are currently in second place in the NCHA and are ranked eighth in the nation.

The Blugolds’ leading scorer is Kristin Faber (Fr.-Austin, MN). Faber leads the team with 17 points on 10 goals and seven assist. Her 10 goals are the most of any Blugold. Beth Dittrich (So.-Roseville, MN) leads the team in assist with nine. Two of Dittrich’s nine assist came in last Saturday’s victory over Lake Forest. Along with her nine assist, she has four goals for a total of 14 points. In addition to Faber and Dittrich, there are three other Blugold skaters with double digit points entering this weekend.

Last weekend, Lindsay Savat (Fr.-Apple Valley, MN/Thomas Jefferson) started both games between the pipes for the Blugolds in the series split. She made 22 saves in a losing effort on Friday night and 37 in Saturday’s win. Savat is 5-3 on the season with a save percentage of .902 and a goals against average of 2.1. If Coach Collins does not go with Savat in net, the nod will most likely go to Dankia Porter (Fr.-Rosemount, MN/South St. Paul). Porter is 6-6 with a saves percentage of .905 and a goals against average of 1.96.

Superior is loaded on offense with three of the conference’s top five scorers in Stacey Anderson, Lindsay Legree, and Gina Baranzelli. Anderson is second in the conference with 21 points, Legree third with 18 points, and Baranzelli fourth with 16 points. This is not where the scoring threat ends as not only is superior armed with three of the NCHA’s top five scorers, but they are also responsible for six of its top ten scorers. In all, Superior has seven players with double digit points this year.

In net, superior has Rikki Nespor and Melissa Kunzelman. Nespor is 8-3-1 on the season with a goals against average of 1.40 and a saves percentage of .925. Kunzelman is 8-1-0 with a goals against average of .89 and a saves percentage of .951.

Over the years UW-Superior has dominated the Blugolds as they lead the all-time series 22-2-1. In the most recent matchup between the two teams on January 11, 2008 the Yellow Jackets blanked the Blugolds 6-0.

The first game of this weekend set will be played at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night at Hobbs Ice Center. The two teams will then wrap the set up on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

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