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Thursday, Friday, Saturday |
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St. Thomas, Concordia, Gustavus Saint Mary's, Augsburg AT STAKE |
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Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
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| Founded: 1869 |
| Enrollment: 2,964 |
| President: Dr. William V. Frame |
| Nickname: Auggies |
| School Colors: Maroon and Gray |
| National Affiliation: NCAA Division III |
| Conference: MIAC |
| SID: Don Stoner |
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| Head coach: Jill Pohtilla |
| Assistants: Barb Halbrehder, Bill Halbrehder, Jim Kurtz |
| 2002-03 record: 10-6-2 MIAC, 12-10-3 |
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The Auggies return to the MIAC postseason tournament after a two-season hiatus. Augsburg earned the No. 5 seed for this year's five-team tournament, finishing fifth in the conference with a 10-6-2 league record. Augsburg is 12-10-3 overall.
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| Augsburg opened the 2002-03 season 0-5, but has won 12 of its last 20 games, going 5-1-2 in its last eight starts to reach the MIAC postseason tournament for the first time since the 1999-2000 season ... Augsburg swept St. Benedict 6-0 and 3-0 last weekend to earn a berth in the playoffs, Augsburg&Mac226;s second MIAC series shutout of the season. Augsburg swept Hamline 4-0 and 4-0 Jan. 22-24 ... The winner of Thursday's game between Augsburg and St. Mary&Mac226;s will face MIAC regular-season champion St. Thomas at 5 p.m., while Gustavus and Concordia-Moorhead meet in the 8 p.m. semifinal game ... Augsburg has been paced this season by the line of center Annie Annunziato (Jr., Commack, N.Y.) and wingers Lauren Chezick (So., Hastings, Minn.) and Carrie Velenchenko (So., Maple Grove, Minn.). The trio is the top scoring line statistically in the nation in Division III women&Mac226;s hockey, with Chezick at 56 points (25 goals, 31 assists), Annunziato at 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists) and Velenchenko at 25 points (8 goals-17 assists). The line has accounted for 55 of Augsburg's 86 goals (64.0 percent) and 133 of Augsburg's 216 points (61.6 percent) this season ... Chezick has scored at least one goal in 19 of Augsburg&Mac226;s 25 games and at least one point in 23 games, while Annunziato has scored at least one goal in 16 games and at least one point in 22 games ... Chezick has set single-season school records for total points (56) and assists (31) this season, breaking the records originally set by Angie Rieger in 1999-2000 (28-26&Mac247;53). She is just three goals from Rieger&Mac226;s single-season mark of 28. …Chezick is also on pace to break Rieger&Mac226;s Augsburg career records of 68 goals, 52 assists and 120 points. In two seasons, Chezick has 32 goals and 46 assists for 78 points, the points and assists totals second in school history and the goals total third ... Chezick and Annunziato are the second and third Auggies to go over the 50-point scoring mark in a season in the eight-year history of the program (varsity opponents only) ... Chezick and Annunziato are both among the top scorers nationally in Division III. Chezick currently leads the nation in points-per-game (2.24) and Annunziato is fifth (2.08). The duo is two of only three players nationally to have 50 or more points (Elmira&Mac226;s Laura Hurd has 50 points) ... Chezick is seventh nationally in goals-per-game (1.00) and Annunziato is 10th (0.88); Chezick is second nationally in assists-per-game (1.24) and Annunziato is third (1.20) ... Annunziato is second nationally in power-play goals (7) and leads the nation in shorthanded goals (4). Annunziato has 11 of Augsburg&Mac226;s 23 special-teams goals (17 power-play, 6 shorthanded) ... Annunziato, a transfer this season from Manhattanville (N.Y.), now has 115 points (44 goals, 71 assists) in her career between the two schools ... Annunziato&Mac226;s identical twin sister Ali still plays at Manhattanville, and has 26 points (7 goals, 19 assists) as the Valiants enter the ECAC East playoffs Saturday against MIT ... Another Augsburg transfer from Manhattanville, Genevieve Allegrezza (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska/Service HS), has 17 points (11 goals, 6 assists) on Augsburg second line, and has 77 points (28 goals, 49 assists) between the two schools ... Augsburg&Mac226;s other Alaskan player, Melynda Kleewein (So., Anchorage, Alaska/Dimond HS), converted from forward to defense this season and has shined, ranking fourth on the team in scoring (2 goals, 19 assists, 21 points) and 15th nationally in scoring by defenders (0.84 points per game) ... With consecutive shutouts over the weekend against St. Benedict, goalie Kristin Johnson (So., Minnetonka, Minn./Wayzata HS) set a school single-season record for goalie shutouts with six, breaking the old record of five (Meg Schmidt, 1999-2000). It also marked the fifth time (second against varsity opponents) that an Auggie goalie has recorded shutouts in consecutive starts, and the first time an Auggie goalie has accomplished the feat against varsity foes in back-to-back games ... Johnson&Mac226;s 1.67 goals-against-average is 14th-best nationally and her .933 save percentage ranks seventh nationally, while Augsburg&Mac226;s other primary goalie, Katie Fedoryk (Jr., Austin, Minn.), has a 3.31 GAA (34th nationally) and .886 save percentage (40th nationally) ... Augsburg has only one senior on the roster, reserve goalie Kristen Opalinski (Sr., Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe HS). As the No. 4 goalie, she only saw action in three games in her career before converting to an extra forward spot, dressing in her final 11 games of the regular season. In her last home game on Friday against St. Benedict, she scored the first goal ever in her hockey career (including youth and high school), on a rebound in front of the net with 3:45 left to play to finish the Auggies&Mac226; 6-0 win over the Blazers ... Augsburg tied St. Catherine 0-0 on Feb. 15, marking the first scoreless tie in both Augsburg&Mac226;s eight-season history and the five-year history of MIAC women&Mac226;s hockey. The two ties (4-4 on Feb. 14) also marked the first time Augsburg had two ties in an MIAC season series ... Augsburg swept St. Mary&Mac226;s in the teams&Mac226; MIAC series Nov. 22-23, winning 4-0 at Augsburg and 6-1 in Winona. The wins marked Augsburg&Mac226;s first-ever sweep of St. Mary&Mac226;s. Augsburg is now 4-6-1 all-time against St. Mary&Mac226;s. Chezick had two goals and Johnson netted the shutout in the Nov. 22 win, and Annunziato had a hat trick in the Nov. 23 win. With her 5-point weekend against the Cardinals, Annunziato earned MIAC Player of the Week and U.S. College Hockey Online Division III National Player of the Week (Offense) honors ... Annunziato has been named MIAC Player of the Week twice (11/25, 2/3), while Chezick earned the honor on Jan. 14 and Allegrezza earned the honor on Dec. 17 ... Against the other MIAC playoff teams this season, Augsburg is 0-2 against St. Thomas (losing 4-1 and 7-3 on Nov. 15-16), 1-1 against Gustavus (winning 1-0 and losing 4-1 on Dec. 6-7) and 1-1 against Concordia-Moorhead (winning 5-4 and losing 5-4 on Feb. 7-8) ... Augsburg won the first MIAC postseason tournament, held in 1999-2000, en route to finishing second in the inaugural AWCHA Division III national championship series in Boston, losing to Middlebury (N.Y.) in a two-game sweep (5-1, 8-1) ... Augsburg missed the 2001-02 MIAC playoffs (five-team playoff) by one league point and finished sixth in league play in 2000-01 (four-team playoff) ... Head coach Jill Pohtilla, the only coach in Augsburg&Mac226;s women&Mac226;s hockey history (116-75-11 in eight seasons) is in her second year of a three-year term as a member of the NCAA Division III Women&Mac226;s Ice Hockey National Committee ... Augsburg was the first varsity intercollegiate women's ice hockey program in Minnesota and the Midwest, starting in the 1995-96 season. |