ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University hockey team has had its ups and downs this 2016-17 season. Over the weekend, the Wildcats hope to get back on winning track, when they face the Hamline University Pipers in a home-and-home series in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play.

St. Kate's will host Hamline in the first game of the series, which will take place Friday evening at 7 p.m. at Drake Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. The second will take place at Oscar Johnson Arena, also in St. Paul, Minnesota, at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Fans can tune into the series in a multitude of ways. Live stats will be available Friday evening's game at Drake Arena, while both live stats and video will be available for Saturday afternoon's game.

Here are the five things to know before the weekend series between the Wildcats and Pipers:

3.7 – Only 3.7 miles and one turn separate Drake and Oscar Johnson, the two arenas St. Kate's and Hamline call home. Oscar Johnson, built in the early 1970s, is considered one of the coldest rinks in both the MIAC and the state of Minnesota. Drake Arena has been St. Kate's home for the past four seasons and is just a short walk from campus, located on the corner of Juno and Wheeler across Fairview Avenue.

15 - Piper sophomore Darby Dobbs has scored a MIAC-leading 15 goals this season, 11 of which she has scored against MIAC opponents, and is tied for second in the conference with 23 points. However, Dobbs also spends quite a bit of time in the penalty box. She's third in the MIAC in overall penalty minutes (38) and has spent 28 minutes in the penalty box against conference foes.

3 – Wildcat goalie Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) ranks in the top-5 in the conference in three statistical categories, include save percentage, goals against average (GAA) and saves. Her .940 save percentage in MIAC games is second only to Augsburg's Rebecc Sonnek's thanks to her 282 saves in conference games. Pecahcek is also fifth in GAA with a 2.26 average against MIAC opponents.

19 – Offensively, St. Kate's has outscored its opponents 19-16 in the third period of games this season. The Wildcats also allow less shots on goal in the third period of games as well. While Pechacek and fellow goalie Abbi White (Wyoming, Minn. / Forest Lake) have faced a combined 459 shots in the first two periods, the two goalies have faced just 208 in the third period of games.

2-1 – St. Kate's was 2-1 in three games against Hamline last season. The Wildcats won the first two meetings 3-0 and 1-0 before the Pipers took the final game by a score of 2-1.