Ohio State, on the road for the third time in four weeks, is 4-1-1 in its last six games

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State women's hockey team (4-3-3, 4-3-1-0 WCHA) hits the road for the third time in a four-week span as the Buckeyes travel to Grand Forks to face North Dakota (2-5-1, 2-5-1-0 WCHA) in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series, Nov. 6-7.

Games begin at 7 p.m. (CT) Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS
Live stats, audio and video for the Buckeye-Sioux series is available through North Dakota's Web site at www.FightingSioux.com (all available on the right of its women's hockey page).

Links for all three also are on the women's hockey schedule page on www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

OCTOBER RECAP
The Buckeyes came out strong after a tough start against three nationally-ranked opponents to open the 2009-10 season, finishing the first month of the schedule 4-3-3 overall and in third place in the WCHA standings with nine points on a 4-3-1-0 ledger.

Ohio State was away for three of its first five series and opens November on the road as well at North Dakota. After two ties at then-No. 10 Boston University, the Buckeyes opened their home slate with a tough series vs. then-No. 2 Minnesota. Although OSU dropped both games, it was a good learning experience and the team went 2-1-1 in its next two road series that included an end to a 21-game winless streak against defending NCAA champ Wisconsin with a 4-3 win Oct. 23.

The Buckeyes capped off October with just their second home series and took advantage it by tallying their first sweep of the season with 7-6 and 4-1 wins over Minnesota State.

LAST TIME OUT: MINNESOTA STATE
Ohio State recorded its first sweep of the season with 7-6 and 4-1 wins over Minnesota State, Oct. 30-31 at the OSU Ice Rink.

The Buckeyes trailed by two goals three times in the first game but came back and scored three goals in the last seven minutes, including two by Natalie Spooner in the last 2:02, to take the win. Five Buckeyes had multiple points in that game. Freshman Hokey Langan led the Buckeyes with four on two goals and two assists, followed by sophomore Laura McIntosh with three assists. Spooner (2g), sophomore Kelly Wild (1g, 1a) and senior Rachel Davis (1g, 1a) also had multi-point performances.

In the second game, Spooner (3a), McIntosh (1g, 1a) and Langan (1g, 1a) added another multiple point game as Ohio State completed the sweep. Also with multiple points in game two was junior forward Jenna Kilpatrick with a goal and assist.

MAVERICK SERIES NOTES:

• The last time Jenna Kilpatrick had a multi-point game was almost two years to the date (Nov. 2, 2007 at Bemidji State).
• The last time the Buckeyes scored seven goals in a game was a 7-3 win against North Dakota, Jan. 5, 2008.
• Two Buckeyes notched their first career goals in the series with freshman Paige Semenza netting hers Friday and sophomore Brittany Carlson scoring hers Saturday.

BUCKEYES IN A NUTSHELL
With just 10 games under its belt, Ohio State has three players with double-digit points in Hokey Langan (15), Laura McIntosh (13) and Natalie Spooner (12) and 12 Buckeyes have notched four or more points.

Langan leads the team with seven goals, followed by Spooner with five. McIntosh has a Buckeye-best 10 assists, followed by Langan (8), Spooner (7) and LaRocque (7).

Rookie Chelsea Knapp has started nine of 10 games in net with a 3-3-3 record, 3.36 goals-against average and .877 save percentage.

LANGAN NAMED WCHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Hokey Langan was selected WCHA Rookie of the Week, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association announced Wednesday. It is the second time a Buckeye has received the award this season, adding it to Minttu Tuominen's pick Oct. 21.

Langan led the Buckeyes to their first sweep of the season with six points on three goals and three assists against Minnesota State, Oct. 30-31 at the OSU Ice Rink. The freshman forward from Chatham, Ontario, had four points in Ohio State's 7-6 come-from-behind win Friday. She scored the second and fourth Buckeye goals and assisted on two of the last three OSU lamplighters scored in the final seven minutes of the game, including the gamewinner with 43 seconds left in regulation.

In Saturday's game, Langan added another two points with a goal and assist. She opened the scoring for Ohio State on a power play goal just 1:15 into the game and then set up the third goal as the Buckeyes pulled away for the 4-1 victory.

MORE HOKEY HOCKEY
Rookie forward Hokey Langan has had four-consecutive multi-point games with 10 points (5g, 5a) in that span. She has a six-point advantage in points over any other rookie to lead the NCAA in freshman scoring and also leads the Buckeyes, as well as the WCHA overall, with 15 points on seven goals and eight assists.

A WINNING COMBINATION
The duo of Hokey Langan and Laura McIntosh have combined to score or set up 10 of Ohio State's 36 goals so far this season, including four in the series last weekend vs. Minnesota State. Langan and McIntosh have each scored only two times with the other not assisting on the goal.

THE BIG 5-0
With five points last weekend in the Minnesota State series, sophomore forward Laura McIntosh surpassed the 50-point milestone. The Waterloo, Ontario, native now has 52 points (14g, 38a) in 46 games played.

Nearing the big 5-0 is junior defenseman Shannon Reilly with 47 points (11g, 36a) in 80 games and sophomore Natalie Spooner with 42 points (26g, 16a) in 40 games.

SPOONER NEARS TOP 10
Sophomore forward Natalie Spooner needs just six more goals to break into the Top 10 in Ohio State's career goals category. She has 26 goals in 40 career games. Jennifer Desson (2002-05) ranks 10th in the Buckeye records with 32 goals.

Spooner has already worked her way into Ohio State's WCHA career records, tying for 10th with Corinne Rosen (2000-01) with 22 goals against conference opponents.

TOP OF THE LIST
The Buckeyes lead in five categories overall in WCHA statistics (as of Nov. 3). Rookie forward Hokey Langan leads in three: points (15), power play points (7) and freshman scoring (15). Sophomore Laura McIntosh has a league-high 10 assists and the Ohio State power play tops the list with a 24.6 percentage rate (14-of-57).

FOUR BUCKS IN FOUR NATIONS
Four Buckeyes, including freshman forward Minttu Tuominen, are playing in the 2009 Four Nations tournament in Finland, Nov. 3-7. Tuominen and former Buckeye All-American defenseman Emma Laaksonen are playing for the host country, with defenseman Lisa Chesson on defending champ Team USA and All-American defenseman Tessa Bonhomme on Team Canada.

Live video and audio of the U.S. games are available through U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO.com). Through Thursday, Canada and the U.S. are both 2-0 after defeating Finland and Sweden. The archrivals will face each other at 11:30 a.m. (ET) Friday and the championship round begins Saturday.

A LOOK AT NORTH DAKOTA
The Fighting Sioux also have started their season with a heavy road schedule and the series vs. Ohio State will be just their second at home this year. North Dakota, who has faced just WCHA opponents thus far, opened its schedule with a 2-0 upset at defending NCAA champ Wisconsin, but has gathered one other win since then for a 2-5-1 record.

Sophomore Alyssa Wiebe leads the team in points (7) and assists (5) and is tied with three others for the lead in goals (2). UND has split time mainly between sophomore goalie Stephanie Ney (1-3-1, 2.47 GAA, .926 Sv%) and freshman Jorid Dagfinrud (1-2-0, 2.68 GAA, .918 Sv%).

THE SERIES VS. THE FIGHTING SIOUX
Ohio State leads the all-time series with North Dakota by a 15-3-2 margin, but is 6-3-1 in Grand Forks. Last year against UND, each team swept its home series with the Fighting Sioux picking up 4-2 and 5-4 (OT) wins at Engelstad Arena (Nov. 1-2) while Ohio State won 4-1 and 4-2 at the OSU Ice Rink (Feb. 6-7).

Leading the Buckeyes in scoring vs. North Dakota is junior defenseman Shannon Reilly with four goals and four assists in six games, followed by Laura McIntosh with seven points (3g, 4a) in four games. Natalie Spooner (3g, 1a) and fellow sophomore Kim Theut (1g, 3a) have four points in the series.

TUOMINEN NAMED WCHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Minttu Tuominen was named WCHA Rookie of the Week, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association announced Oct. 21. It was the first weekly conference award for a Buckeye this season.

Tuominen continued her strong start to her freshman campaign with a three-point performance at Bemidji State to help Ohio State take three points from the Beavers (Oct. 16-17). The native of Espoo, Finland, helped the Buckeyes pull away in the first game by scoring the fourth OSU goal and assisting on the fifth in the 5-2 victory. She then set up the first Buckeye goal in the 2-2 tie Saturday. Along with her three points vs. the Beavers, Tuominen finished the series with a plus-3 rating.

CAN'T WIN THEM ALL
The shootout loss Oct. 17 at Bemidji State was the first for Ohio State since the WCHA introduced shootouts last season to determine the outcome of tied league contests. OSU moved to 2-1 all-time in conference shootouts, after winning both of theirs last season by 1-0 scores. Sophomore Kim Theut scored the shootout goal for the Buckeyes in Bemidji.

WELL, THAT'S A FIRST
The 1-1 (OT) season-opening score at Boston University was the first time in the program's 11 years the Buckeyes opened the season with a tied game. The series also marked the first time Ohio State tied a team twice since Jan. 13-14, 2006 with 1-1 and 2-2 OT ties against Niagara in a nonconference series at the OSU Ice Rink.

KNAPP TIME
Starting in net for the Buckeyes in the season-opening series at Boston University was freshman Chelsea Knapp. She became the first rookie to start the season in the Ohio State goal since the inaugural season in 1999-2000. The Buckeyes rotated two freshmen goalies that season in April Stojak and Melissa Glaser.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE
Already a few times this season Ohio State and individual Buckeyes have achieved something not done for a while:
• Junior defenseman Teal Bishop netted her first goal in 44 games when she scored in the season-opener at Boston University (Oct. 3).
• Junior forward Jenna Kilpatick broke a scoring drought when she lit the lamp at Bemidji State (Oct. 16). She also ended a 44-game goal-less streak.
• Ohio State's 4-3 win over Wisconsin (Oct. 23) ended a 21-game winless streak against the Badgers. The last victory over UW was Oct. 23, 2004 in Columbus and the last win in Madison was Nov. 1, 2003.

FIRST CLASS HALL OF FAMER
Emma Laaksonen, a defenseman for the Buckeyes from 2000-04, made lots of history at Ohio State as the team's first All-American, first Olympian, first Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top 10 finalist, and now can add another first. The native of Espoo, Finland, became the first women's hockey player to enter the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame Sept. 25. Last year, Laaksonen also returned to Columbus to have her No. 3 become the first number retired by the Buckeye women's hockey program.

SPOONER ON CANADA'S U-22, AGAIN
Sophomore Natalie Spooner earned a place on Canada's National Women's Under-22 Team for the second time in as many years, Hockey Canada announced Aug. 17. Spooner is among 12 returning players on the 22-person roster for the U-22 squad and will be eligible to represent Canada at the 2010 MLP Cup. She was a member of the silver medal-winning team at the MLP Cup, an international tournament held in Germany last January.

UP NEXT
After four road series in a six-week span, the Buckeyes host back-to-back series at the OSU Ice Rink beginning with No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, Nov. 13-14. Games begin at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday.