UMD/Mankato Preview, UMDBulldogs.com

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team will host Minnesota State University, Mankato this Friday and Saturday at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. The puck will drop on the Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown at 7:07 p.m. both nights.

THE SERIES: UMD holds a commanding lead over Minnesota State in the all-time series with a 27-3-3 record against the Mavericks. The Bulldogs are an impressive 15-1-1 when hosting MSU at the DECC.

UMD's one and only program loss at home came last season when the Mavericks knocked the Bulldogs off their home ice advantage with a 5-3 win on Nov. 18, 2006 after UMD tied MSU for the first time in Duluth 5-5 the night before. That series not only marked the first loss and tie for the Bulldogs in the DECC against the Mavericks, but it was also the first time since the 2003-3004 season that UMD did not skate out of a Bulldog-Maverick series with a win.

UMD last swept MSU in its first conference meeting last fall, beating the Mavericks in Mankato 3-1 and 6-1 on Oct. 6-7 to start the 2006-2007 campaign.

LAST WEEK: The WCHA-leading Bulldogs split last weekend with No. 6 Minnesota at the DECC, with a decisive 5-0 win Saturday afternoon and then a 3-0 stumble Sunday. Sophomore goaltending ace Kim Martin stood between the pipes for 80 saves on the weekend. Eight Bulldogs recorded a point in Saturday's scoring spree, including a goal and two assists by UMD tally leader Saara Tuominen, who leads the Bulldogs with 17 points.

The sixth-place Mavericks enjoyed a weekend off from on-ice action after sweeping No. 10 Ohio State two weeks ago 3-2 and 8-3 for the first time in MSU history.

THE COACHES: Shannon Miller, who currently is the only coach in the WCHA to have racked-up 208 wins, is in her ninth season behind the Bulldog bench.

As the only head coach UMD has ever employed, Miller has amassed an impressive overall record of 208-60-25 and has led the Bulldogs to six NCAA playoff appearances and three straight NCAA Championship titles (2001, 2002 and 2003). She has led UMD into four NCAA Frozen Four berths, including the 2007 NCAA Championship game. No other hockey program in the country has won three consecutive NCAA titles.

For her efforts, Miller was named the 2000 and 2003 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year and the 2003 American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) Women’s Division I Coach of the Year. Along with the incredible NCAA runs, her Bulldogs have captured two WCHA regular season titles (2000 and 2003) and three WCHA playoff titles (2000, 2001 and 2003).

During Miller’s time at the Bulldog helm, UMD has produced eight first-team All-Americans, 11 Patty Kazmaier Award Finalists, two WCHA Players of the Year, three WCHA Student-Athletes of the year and one CoSIDA Academic All-American.

The Mavericks are lead by seventh-year head coach Jeff Vizenor. Vizenor is 70-124-22 overall at MSU.

MARTIN'S MILESTONE MARK: Considering sophomore goaltender Kim Martin nabbed almost everything that Minnesota could put on her net last weekend, it seems only fitting she would grab the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week for a second time this season.

The native of Stockholm, Sweden, shattered UMD's previous record for saves in a game when she kept the Bulldog net empty by turning away 50 shots on goal, including a penalty shot, against the Gophers last Saturday to earn the sixth shutout of her career.

Martin, who just recently returned from net-minding duties for Team Sweden at the Four Nations Cup two weeks ago, eclipsed the Bulldog record of 44 saves (set by Riitta Schaublin on March 9, 2007 against Mercyhurst College) after just two periods when she had tallied 45 stops in forty minutes of action. What made Martin's feat even more impressive was the fact that UMD played 12 minutes in the second stanza a man down, including a 5-on-3 that Martin and the Bulldog penalty kill units simply twarted. The clean sheet was Martin's third on the year.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY...AND OFTEN: UMD leads the nation with the most effective penalty-kill, despite conceding a power-play goal to Minnesota last Sunday. The Bulldogs have killed 66-of-70 infractions successfully for a 94.3% rate, and are averaging 15.4 minutes in the box an outing.

Four UMD players have logged 20 or more minutes in the penalty box, including three freshmen. Iya Gavrilova leads UMD with seven penalties totaling 25 minutes, while junior Myriam Trepanier has committed the most violations with 11 for 22 total minutes.

The Mavericks rank No. 7 in the country with their penalty kill unit, which is 50-of-56 for an 89.3 percentage rate, averaging 12 minutes a game a man down.

FROM NEAR AND FAR: The Mavericks sport the second most players from across the Atlantic Ocean in the WCHA after UMD. MSU has two rostered players from Sweden and one from Finland, while the Bulldogs list two from Sweden, two from Finland, and one from Russia.

WELCOME ADDITIONS: UMD added two early signees last week, including Kacy Ambroz of New Prague, Minn. and Lana Steck of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Ambroz tallied 46 goals and 36 as a junior forward last season for New Prague High School, and has tallied 297 points in her high school career so far. She was named an honorable mention All-State last season, as well as to the All-Metro Third Team,

Steck, who orginally signed with the Bulldogs for this season before an injury sidelined her for the year, was a goaltender for Team Mnitoba in the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

BULLDOG NOTES: Senior captain Karine Demeule will be sidelined this weekend due to a foot injury sustained Sunday prior to the afternoon contest...Sophomore Saara Tuominen continues to lead UMD with 17 points (6-11=17), which ranks her No. 16 nationally...Three other players have amassed eleven or more points 12 games into the season, including Tuominen's linemates freshman Iya Gavrilova (4-8=12) and sophomore Elin Holmlov (4-7=11), as well as freshman Haley Irwin, who checks in with 11 (4-7=11)...Irwin has tallied the fifth most points per game in the country for a rookie with a contest average of 1.10 PPG...Kim Martin ranks No. 2 in the nation with a .955 save percentage...Martin has made a total of 275 saves while allowing just 13 goals...11 of the 13 goals that have found the net against Martin were scored by Minnesota in just three games this season...Junior defenseman Myriam Trepanier's game-winning goal in last Saturday's skate landed her in the 7th slot all-time among UMD defensive scorers with 24 career points (10-14=24).

MAVERICK NOTES: Sophomore Kala Buaganski is on a four-game scoring streak with a goal in each game and a total of six points...Seven MSU players earned at least two points in the home sweep of Ohio State on Nov. 9-10...Three players lead the Mavericks in scoring with seven points, including senior Kristine Bunker (5-2=7), junior Maggie Fisher (4-3=7), and Buaganski (4-3=7)...MSU's power-play ranks 23rd in the country, with the Mavericks only having scored seven goals in 54 man advantages (13.0).