ST. PAUL, MINN. – It's a big weekend for the St. Catherine University hockey team. After a sudden surge against Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opponents, the Wildcats will look for their fourth and fifth straight conference win against the College of Saint Benedict this weekend, with a Friday game in St. Cloud and a home game at Drake Arena on Saturday.
St. Kate's hockey will also celebrate its 20th birthday in Saturday's home game against the Blazers. Both current and former Wildcats will be honored for the program's accomplishments and triumphs since its inception in 1997-98, and all alumnae are invited for a pre-game reception on campus in The Pulse.
Before Saturday's festivities, though, St. Kate's will take on Saint Ben's at 7:30 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Live stats and video will be available for fans who cannot make the trek, and live stats will be available for Saturday's 2 p.m. home game.
Here are the five facts to know before the weekend series:
4 – Although St. Kate's is the youngest hockey program in the MIAC, the Wildcats have made four top-5 finishes in the MIAC standings. The team's first appearance came in 2000-01, when then head coach Jeff Smith led St. Kate's to a fourth place finish in the MIAC standings just three seasons in to the program's existence. Since then, the Wildcats have made three appearances in the MIAC postseason tournament in 2009-10, 2012-13 and 2013-14.
2 – Two head coaches have received MIAC Coach-of-the-Year honors from the conference. Smith earned Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2000-01 after leading the program to its first ever playoff appearance, while current head coach Brad Marshall was named Coach-of-the-Year in 2009-10. Marshall guided St. Kate's to its best record in program history (18-5-2, 13-3-3) that season and the No. 2 seed in the MIAC playoffs that season.
17 – In 20 years, 17 Wildcats have earned All-MIAC recognition for their play on the ice. Current student-athletes Tori Thompson (Rochester, Minn. / John Marshall) and Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) were the two most recent student-athletes to earn the honor, along with former standouts Jordan Solheim and Mallory Ryan. Additionally, 17 student-athletes have also been honored with MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention recognition in the past 20 years.
1 – Of those 17 student-athletes, only one has been named the MIAC Player-of-the-Year. Former forward Michaela Michaelson earned the honor in back-to-back seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11. As a four-year member of the hockey team, Michaelson set multiple school records and earned multiple accolades, including MIAC Women's Hockey Player of the Year, First-Team All-America honors, and was a finalist for the Laura Hurd National Player of the Year as a junior in 2009-10. She was a two-time All-USCHO first team honoree, two-time Wildcat Athlete of the Year, two-time First Team All-American, four-year letter winner, and four-year MIAC All-Conference recipient.
.960 – In addition to Michaelson, only one other St. Kate's hockey student-athlete has garnered All-America honors. Pechacek, now a senior, earned the honor in 2015-16 after anchoring the best penalty kill in both the MIAC and the nation. In her sophomore season, Pechacek posted a record of 4-5-4 and led the MIAC with a .960 save percentage and 1.36 goals against average (GAA). Nationally, she ranked in the top-10 in several statistical categories, and finished No. 2 in the country in save percentage and No. 9 in GAA.
