The #4 ranked Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team heads back into the MIAC schedule after a challenging weekend where they beat #10 Williams on Saturday 6-1, and defeated #3 UW-Stevens Point (6-4) on Sunday, while losing a heartbreaker to #1 Middlebury in overtime 4-3 on Friday. The Gusties seem to be playing some of their best hockey, and will come into an important weekend against St. Olaf with a 9-1-1 record. Gustavus is 6-0-0 in the MIAC, which places them first in the conference. The Gusties are led in scoring by first-year forward Molly Doyle who has 20 points on the season (8g, 12a), including scoring four goals and two assists this past weekend against three of the top ten teams in the country. Laura Stypulkowski is the second leading scorer with 18 points (3g, 15a), followed by Andrea Peterson with 17 points (9g, 8a). Also playing very strong for Gustavus are sophomore forwards Ingrid Neve with 14 points (9g, 5a) and Kelly Crandall with 13 points (8g, 5a). Crandall leads the Gusties with five power play goals.
St. Olaf comes into the weekend after having over a month off. The Oles last played on December 11, defeating Hamline 6-0. St. Olaf comes into the weekend with a record of 6-3-1 overall, and a record of 4-1-1 in the MIAC, which places them third behind Gustavus and St. Thomas. The Oles have a bright future considering their top three scorers are all first-year forwards. Leading this group is Susannah Brokl with 13 points (8g, 5a), followed by Janae Fabini (6g, 5a) and Lindsay Boeser (5g, 6a) both with 11 points. The Oles are under the direction of first year head coach Sarah Moe. Moe, a 2002 Gustavus graduate, helped the Gusties to the NCAA Final Four in her senior year.
Gustavus leads the all-time series against St. Olaf with an 8-0-2 record. The last meeting between these teams took place March 4 of last year, resulting in a 7-0 victory for Gustavus in the MIAC playoffs.
Friday night’s game will be played at Gustavus, and will be broadcast live. You can link to the broadcast through the Gustavus Athletics audio page. Play-by-play will be by Gustavus senior Josh Winter. Saturday afternoon, Gustavus and St. Olaf will play the second game of the series at St. Olaf, but that game will not be broadcast.