The University of Wisconsin-Superior women’s hockey team will host Lake Forest University at Wessman Arena this weekend in the first round of the O’Brien Cup Playoffs.

The Yellowjackets come into the playoffs as the three seed with a 10-3-7 conference record and a 12-6-7 overall record.

The Yellowjackets tied the last game they played at Wessman Arena against undefeated University of Wisconsin-River Falls, but have not won at Wessman Arena since Dec. 4

“I think the biggest factor that will determine our success is our consistency," said senior Allie Pullar who plays defense.

Pullar says at the at the beginning of the season, the team had trouble putting together three good periods of play.

"But the last couple weekends we've really been playing 60 solid minutes against some of the best teams in the conference and that's made a huge difference," Pullar said. "As long as we come out with the same energy we can easily compete with any team in the league"

“The one thing we will do different coming into playoffs is prepare to play a perfect game. This time of the year we cannot make mistakes. In regular season we could get by with a few mistakes in a game because we could correct them later on. But in playoffs, that one mistake could be the factor of the end of our season so we need to play perfect hockey,” were sophomore forward Chelsey Wierschem’s thoughts on preparing differently for the playoffs.

Senior forward captain Teagan Cassan agrees that the team has to give it their all in the next couple of games.

“The biggest thing that will factor into our success this weekend will be our effort," Cassan said. "We have to come out hard from the first drop of the puck. We will have to play hard, smart, disciplined hockey this weekend. If we do this we will have a very successful weekend.” 

With a couple wins against Lake Forest, the Yellowjackets would move on in the playoffs to face the winner of the UW-Stevens Point/Adrian bout that also takes place this weekend.

“We are gonna stick it to whoever we are up against," Junior forward Becca Kent said. "I think that when we play 5 on 5 hockey and are able to stay out of the penalty box we will be able to beat any team that we are up against."

Tickets for this weekend's games are $8 for adults and $6 for all other spectators, which include UW-Superior students. Friday’s game is set to get underway at 7:00 p.m. and the puck will drop Saturday at 2:00 p.m., since the UW-Superior men’s team is hosting the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the semi-finals of the Peters Cup at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday night.

Fans are asked to wear black to the games this weekend in an attempt to “Black Out” the stands. The pep band will also be out in full force this weekend at each game.

“We will be taking one game at a time and never looking forward," junior forward Ashlee Olson said. "Each shift, each goal and each save counts"