TUNE IN: This weekend's games will be broadcasted on The Fan 1440 AM (Friday and Saturday) with broadcaster Darrin Looker calling the action. Audio webcasts will also be available through www.UNDSports.com.
A live blog will be open for fans during the game at www.UNDSports.com or you can get live updates by following UNDWHockey through twitter. Live stats for the game can be found through www.UNDSports.com.
There is a pay per view webcast available through www.UNDSports.com.
ABOUT MSU: Head coach Eric Means is in his fourth season and is assisted by Jon Austin, Shari Dickerman and Dean Williamson.
Finishing the regular season sixth in the standings, the Mavericks did show they can be competitive against nearly every team as they took points against all teams excluding Minnesota.
Senior Lauren Smith has had a career year tallying a team-high 24 goals and 36 points. Junior Tracy McCann is the only other Maverick with double-digit goals, having found the back of the net 14 times.
Junior Danielle Butters has started all but two games in net this season, combining for a .917 save percentage and a 3.00 goals against average with four shutouts.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: MSU leads the all-time series 22-14-6 and 9-8-3 in Grand Forks.
North Dakota has gone 7-2-1 against MSU in its last 10 games, having out scored the Mavericks 51-19.
LAST ACTION: UND grinded out a 4-1 win over Minnesota Duluth before playing to a 2-2 tie to end the regular season.
Playing a blue-collar road game, UND jumped out to a quick two-goal lead off goals by Michelle Karvinen and Monique Lamoureux before settling into strong defensive effort to lead it past the Bulldogs on Friday.
The Bulldogs were able to cut the lead in half with a goal late in the second period, but UND was able to hold of the rally attempt and added a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute from Meghan Dufault and Jocelyne Lamoureux. Shelby Amsley-Benzie picked up her 16th win of the season, tying UND's single-season record.
After a scoreless first period, there were four goals scored in the middle frame that ended knotted at two goals each. Michelle Karvinen and Sam LaShomb scored to open a 2-0 lead, but UMD answered to close out the the period tied with goals by Katie Wilson and Jamie Kenyon.
UND outshot the Bulldogs 20-5 and 9-0 in the the third and overtime periods, respectively, but couldn't find the back of the net. North Dakota lost the ensuing shootout.
REDEMPTION: North Dakota went 3-1 against the Mavericks this season, but will still be looking for a bit of redemption. UND opened the season with a costly 3-2 loss to the Mavericks at Ralph Engelstad Arena, giving up a two-goal lead in the third period, including the game-winner in the final minute of regulation.
THE RIGHT SAB AT THE RIGHT TIME: After splitting time in net for most of the first half of the season, freshman Shelby Amsley-Benzie has come on strong in the second half having started the last 13 games for UND. She has gone 10-2-1 during that time with a .923 save percentage, 1.75 goals against average and three shutouts.
ROLLING ALONG: UND ended the regular season on a 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1) which is the longest in program history.
ALL ABOARD: During UND's 10-game unbeaten streak it has had 12 different goal scorers and five players with six or more goals.
AVOIDING THE LETDOWNS: Since splitting two series to open the season against teams that are now not ranked, UND has not lost to an unranked team. Eight of its 10 total losses are against top-six ranked teams and it hasn't lost to anybody excluding No. 1 Minnesota or No. 6 Wisconsin since a 3-1 loss to No. 5 Clarkson on Nov. 2.
IN SEARCH OF 30: North Dakota has already set a new program record with 23 wins this season, but in order to reach all of its goals it would take reaching 30. If UND was to win the WCHA Tournament and the NCAA Tournament it would reach 30 wins.
EARNING ANOTHER CHANCE: UND is looking to advance to the Final Face-Off and have the possibility of earning games against Wisconsin and Minnesota. North Dakota has not lost to any team besides these teams since Nov. 2 versus Clarkson. UND is 22-3-1 when excluding its games against UM and UW.
SETTING THE PACE: UND has gotten off to quick starts in a majority of its games this season having scored the game's first goal in 25 of its 34 contests.
