Women’s Hockey opens Slaats Cup play

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW women's hockey team opens postseason play on Friday in the Slaats Cup Quarterfinals against the No. 2 seed Lake Forest College Foresters.

This will be the eighth appearance for the Falcons in the Slaats Cup Playoffs. CUW reached the finals in 2015 after upsetting nationally-ranked Adrian in the semifinals.

The Falcons enter the series with an 8-14-2 record and a 7-8-1 mark in the NCHA to clinch the No. 5 seed.

Senior Natasha Wanless leads CUW in scoring with 12 points on seven goals and five assists. Emily Reimche leads the flock with seven assists and has added three goals.

Between the pipes, senior Breanna Thomson has been solid for the Falcons with a .931 save percentage. The CUW senior has 514 saves on the year with a 2.12 goals-against average and four shutouts.

The Blue and White enter the weekend with the 16^th-best penalty kill in NCAA Division III at 89.4 percent.

Lake Forest holds at 27-4-2 record against the Falcons and won both games last weekend in Illinois to wrap up the regular season.

The Quarterfinals are a two-game series that are played with standard NCAA rules. If the two games are split or if both end in a tie, a 20-minute mini game is played.  At the end of the second game, the ice shall be resurfaced and there is a 15-minute intermission.  Starting lineups are announced before the mini game, as in a regular game, and the teams will play the full 20 minutes, regardless of score.  Should the game be tied after the 20 minutes, the teams will play 20-minute sudden-death overtimes periods.