Saints Athletics at The College of St. Scholastica

MINNEAPOLIS – After a week hiatus, the St. Scholastica hockey team is back at the No. 5 ranking in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) Division III poll.

The Saints are coming off a series sweep of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. On Friday night, the Saints erased a two-goal deficit and scored five unanswered goals to down the Blugolds 5-2. On Saturday, CSS got two goals in the first period and held on for the 2-1 victory.

St. Norbert College is No. 3 in this week’s poll and CSS’s opponent on Friday, University of Wisconsin-River Falls drops to 14th after a series split. The University of Wisconsin-Stout and the University of Wisconsin-Superior are both receiving votes in this week’s poll to round out the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA).

The Saints have been ranked in the USCHO Division III poll for 24 straight weeks and have been in the top 10 for 22 of those 24 weeks. The only time CSS has been ranked outside of the top 10 this season was in the preseason poll. Prior to this run, the Saints had only been ranked in the top 10 on two occasions in a NCAA Division III poll.

The Saints are entering the final stretch of the regular season. The Saints have played every NCHA team twice so far and now the schedule reverts to previous seasons when teams play travel partners back-to-back for the final three weeks.

The Saints will look for their first win of the season against UW-River Falls on Friday night. The action is set to begin at 7:05 p.m. at Hunt Arena. CSS will be also in search of its first win against UW-Stout this year when it travels to Dunn County Ice Arena on Saturday for the first time since last year’s NCAA Tournament loss. That game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Both games can be heard live on ESPN Radio 560-WEBC.