SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 19 Augustana hockey team (14-7-3, 6-3-1 CCHA) returns to Midco Arena this weekend to continue conference play against Lake Superior State (9-13-2, 7-8-1 CCHA). The weekend series kicks off on Friday at 7:07 p.m. and concludes on Saturday at 6:07 p.m. 

Tickets are still available at GoAugie.com/Tickets and action can also be found on Midco Sports and Midco Sports Plus. 

The Vikings will be honoring the first anniversary of Midco Arena during the weekend series. 

Augustana will have a slew of promotions happening this weekend that include a deck of series one trading cards of Viking hockey. Want to secure your set of cards before you arrive? Click here.

Friday's national anthem will include a tuba choir and Saturday's anthem will be sung by Ian Smith. 

Complete action can be followed on GoAugie.com/Live and the GoAugie app, presented by The Original Pancake House. The app can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play.

The Lakers
LSSU comes into the weekend well-rested as it took last week off. The last time the Lakers were on the ice they fell to St. Thomas on Friday, Jan. 17 by a score of 4-3 in overtime, the weekend series concluded with a 3-3 tie on Saturday, Jan. 18. 

The Lakers are led by Sasha Teleguine and Connor Milburn with 17 points each. Teleguine leads LSSU with 13 goals while Milburn is tied in third with 10 assists. 

Rorke Applebee has started in 22 of 23 games played and holds a goals-against average of 2.70 and a save percentage of .915. 

The Vikings
Augustana earned its first-ever national ranking after its 1-0-1 weekend against Bowling Green, announced in the polls Monday morning. Augustana came in at No. 19 in the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) poll, receiving 80 points this week. So far this season in year two of the program, the Vikings hold a winning percentage of .646. 

Kotai, a Hobey Baker and Mike Richter Award nominee stopped 74 of 75 shots last weekend while he posted a .987 save percentage and a .47 goals-against average. The sophomore netminder recorded his third shutout of the season on Friday, Jan. 24, in a 1-0 overtime thriller before he turned away 41 shots on Saturday, Jan. 25, 1-1 tie. He garnered his second weekly conference award for his performance.