ST. PAUL, MINN. – In terms of excited, this weekend could not get any better for the St. Catherine University basketball and hockey teams. Both teams are set for key Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) showdowns this weekend with back-to-back home games scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

The St. Kate's hockey team will return to the ice after a week long hiatus for a two game series against the Bethel University Royals. The Royals, who are the reigning MIAC regular season championship, will host the Wildcats at the Schwann Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota on Friday at 7 p.m. in the first game of the season. However, the two teams will return to St. Paul on Saturday for a 4 p.m. game at Drake Arena

On the basketball court, the Wildcats are looking to rebound with a win over MIAC foe St. Olaf College after a disappointing loss on Wednesday to open the conference season. St. Kate's suffered its first conference loss of the season 60-53 to Saint Ben's. However, the Wildcats did open their MIAC season on the road and will return to the comforts of the Butler Center Gymnasium for Saturday's 3 p.m. tip off against the Oles.

There are multiple ways to watch this weekend's action. Video and live stats will be available for Friday's hockey game between St. Kate's and Bethel and live stats will be available on Saturday as well. Fans can tune into Saturday's basketball game via live stats or video. As always, score updates will be made on St. Kate's official Twitter page (@stkateswildcats).

Here are the five things to know before this weekend's action:

5 – The hockey and basketball teams have a combined five players that rank in the top-5 in the MIAC in at least one statistical category. Hockey's Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) and Tori Thompson (Rochester, Minn. / John Marshall) are both tied for the lead in the conference in assists as each have five this season. Thompson is also tied for second in +/- while goalies Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) and Abbi White (Wyoming, Minn. / Forest Lake) rank in the top-five in the MIAC in saves (Pechacek – 165) and save percentage (White - .942). Basketball's Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn. / Dawson-Boyd) is third in the MIAC in field-goal percentage (61.4) and fourth in three-point shooting percentage (50.0).

2 – St. Kate's basketball team split its series against St. Olaf last season, losing the first game 79-69 and winning the second 77-75 in thrilling fashion. Senior forward Mari Lee (Dawson, Minn. / Dawson-Boyd) was the hero of the game, as she scored from under the basket to give the Wildcats the 77-75 lead with under five seconds remaining in the game. St. Kate's then made a huge defensive stop and prevented the Oles from taking a last second shot to win the last game of the season.

8 – Last season, LaShay Holt (Minneapolis, Minn. / Humboldt) set the school record for three-point field goals made in a single game against St. Olaf. Holt made eight three-pointers in the game and went 5-5 from beyond the arc in the first half to help her score a career high 33 points in the game. Sadly, Holt's career day wasn't enough, as the Wildcats lost to the Oles 79-69.

12 – Twelve days have passed since St. Kate's hockey played its last game. In that time, Thanksgiving was celebrated, the Vikings lost two heartbreaking games to the Lions and Cowboys, the Twins hired a new hitting coach, and Lin Manuel-Miranda released Hamilton: The Mixtape.

31 – In Wednesday's loss to Saint Ben's, Audra Clark (Kenyon, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) and Holt scored 31 of St. Kate's 53 points. Clark led the team in scoring for the second time this season with 16 points while Holt added 15 of her own.