The University of Wisconsin-Superior women's hockey team enters the NCHA's O'Brien's Cup playoffs on a bit of a roll having won four straight games and seven of its last eight.

In the process, the Yellowjackets moved past UW-Stevens Point into second place and received a first-round bye in this weekend's playoffs which will take place at Hunt Arena in River Falls.
The playoffs open Friday with No. 6 Concordia, Wis. (6-16-3) taking on No. 3 Stevens Point (14-5-6), and No. 5 Lake Forest (11-13-1) vs. No. 4 Eau Claire (12-10-3).
The No. 1 seeded UW-River Falls will play the lowest remaining seed at 3:05 p.m. Saturday and UWS will play the other remaining team at 7:05 p.m.
The third-place game is at 12:05 p.m. Sunday, and the championship game is at 3:35 p.m. Saturday. The champion will receive the NCHA's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, which begins with three quarterfinal games the weekend of March 13-15. The NCAA Division III Women's Frozen Four is March 20-21 at an undetermined site.
The 'Jackets are currently on a roll, but it has not always been that way. UWS has been up and down all season.
The 'Jackets started off with a 2-3 record, went 5-0-1 over the next six games and then went 2-3-1 before their strong finish.
"We've had a roller coaster season with a lot of peaks and valleys, but we battled through it, and I think through it all we are a much stronger team," UWS coach Dan Laughlin said. "The stakes are high this weekend and we know who we are as a team and what we can do. Now it's just a matter of executing our talents and making sure all players give their best effort to be their best, that's all we can do."
The 'Jackets are led into action by senior goalie Rikki Nespor, who was just named the NCHA Academic Athlete of the Year as well as to her fourth All-NCHA team. On the ice Nespor has compiled a 1.69 goals against average, two shutouts and an 8-4-1 record.
Teammate Jodi Holland not only led UWS in scoring with 26 points, but she led the NCHA in goals with 19.
For her efforts she was named to NCHA Women's All-Conference team along with teammate Nespor. Joining Nespor on the all-academic team were Teagan Cassan, Heidi Chandler, Brittany Dunkel, Amy Hasbargen, Jasmine Pollock and Kim Schmeichel.

Visit the NCHA women's tourney web site

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