ADRIAN, Mich. - With the thick of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association schedule right around the corner, the ninth-ranked Adrian women's NCAA hockey team ventures to Minnesota this weekend for a trio of non-conference contests, beginning with No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus on Thursday.

The anticipated top 10 match-up presents a unique challenge for the Bulldogs, who will be without a handful of their scoring core due to COVID-19 protocols for the entire three-day trip.

The Gusties, on the other hand, have been out of action since December 11 when the sixth-ranked squad wrapped-up a two-game, home-and-home series with fifth-ranked Wisconsin-River Falls. While both contests were highly competitive, the Falcons ultimately came away with a clean-sweep. The losses not only snapped Gustavus' seven-game win-streak, but also ended the team's shutout-stretch after six games.

Hailey Holland and Kristina Press enter the new year as the Gusties' leading scorers with 15 and 12 points, respectively. The latter of the two is actively leading the team with seven goals, while Holland's 11 total assists has her ranked sixth in Division III in regards to assists per contest (1.22).

In the paint, Katie McCoy has garnered starts in each of Gustavus' nine games so far this season. The junior netminder sports a 0.895 save percentage behind a 1.52 goals-against average, and is credited with a nation-leading six shutouts.

Thursday's meeting between the 'Dogs and the Gusties will be the first since March of 2017, in which the black and gold squeezed past their opposition 3-2.

Then, on Friday, Adrian will see another old rival in Augsburg.

It has been eight years since the Auggies and the Bulldogs last met on the ice in women's hockey. Since 2012, the locals have yet to defeated in the series, winning each of the previous four meetings.

Augsburg (4-6-1), like Gustavus, has been out of competition since December 11. On that day, St. Norbert snapped the Auggies' three-game win-streak with a narrow 4-3 result in Wisconsin.

Kensie Malone's 12 points are a team-high, including six goals and a team-leading six assists.

Emily Cronkhite currently paces Augsburg with seven goals, two of which have come on the man-advantage, while another two have come on the penalty kill.

Between the pipes, Mara McClain and Chloe Stockinger have each seen a fair share of time for the Auggies, combining for a 2.69 goals-against average, a 0.898 save percentage and four wins.

As for Adrian, the Bulldogs will be relying heavily on the shoulders of freshman goaltender Gwen Bowler this weekend.

The Canterbury, New Hampshire native made her third career appearance at Winterfest this past weekend, stopped ten shots in just under twenty minutes of action.

Her lone start of the season came back on November 21 at Trine, in which she made 20 saves en route to her first victory as a Bulldog.

Offensively, Adrian will have the services of three of its four leading scorers, including Karmen Anderson, Une Bjelland and Abbie Grias, each of whom have cracked double-digits in total points this season.

Anderson is coming off of a strong showing at Sunday's Winterfest, contributing one goal and two assists to bring her season totals to six and seven, respectively.

Bjelland and Grias have a combined 12 goals and eight assists to aid the Adrian attack.

All three of this weekend's contests will include live stats and live video.