The No. 7 Badger women's hockey team (7-3-0 overall, 3-3 WCHA) will hit the road to take on the tenth-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks (7-1, 4-0) this weekend in Mankato, Minn. This is a very important series for both teams. A Wisconsin sweep of MSU would leapfrog them in the standings and possibly attain sole possession of second-place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (pending Minnesota-Duluth's series this weekend). An MSU sweep or split would allow them to keep pace with an undefeated Minnesota Gopher squad in the conference and propel them further in the national rankings.
The Badgers are coming off a sweep of Bemidji State last weekend, winning 4-1 and 2-0 on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The sweep was a confidence boost after dropping three of their previous four games to Minnesota and Ohio State.
\I think everyone is feeling good right now,"" senior forward Karen Rickard said, ""If we can keep that going into the weekend and on through these [next] three series', we're going to be in good shape.""
Rickard, last week's WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, will lead the offensive onslaught alongside freshman forward and team points leader Sara Bauer and sophomore forward Nikki Burish. As he has done for most of the season, Head Coach Mark Johnson will alternate goal duties between sophomore Meghan Horras and freshman Christine Dufour. Dufour was in goal last week, stopping 23 of 24 shots and earning WCHA Rookie of the Week. But this won't mean she'll be a shoe-in for this weekend.
""We don't know who's playing yet,"" Dufour said. ""If I [play], I'll just play my game and not worry about who's playing against me.""
On the other side, Minnesota State boasts a young and strong squad coming off a split series at North Dakota. Before that, the Mavericks were riding high on a six-game winning streak, including an upset sweep of three-time defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth. Junior forward Melanie Salatino leads the WCHA with eight goals and is fourth in overall scoring. Senior goalie Shari Vogt was last week's Defensive Player of the Week after a 22-save performance in their 5-2 victory against North Dakota. Vogt's save percentage is also third amongst conference goalies. Both Coach Johnson and Rickard believe that constant pressure will be important for any Badger success.
""She's a very good goaltender,"" Rickard said. ""The important thing for us is ... to crash the net. Get her moving laterally, get her out of her comfort zone so we can get those scoring opportunities and put them away.""
""We've spent some time in practice this week trying to get the puck from the corners out in front of the net, crash the net and create some rebounds,"" Johnson said. ""If we're going to get some goals this weekend, we're going to have to do that.""
In the history of this matchup, Wisconsin has never lost to Minnesota State, going 15-0-1 thus far. Last year, the Gophers handled the Mavericks, going 3-0-1 in the four games they played, outscoring them 16 to 5. However, the players know this is a different team than last year.
""They're a really hard-working team,"" Rickard said. ""So the important thing for us is to either match or exceed their intensity.""
