The Wisconsin women's hockey team (9-4-1 WCHA, 13-4-3 Overall) takes on the St. Cloud State University Huskies (3-12-1 WCHA, 6-15-1 Overall) this weekend in Minnesota.??
Coming off a bye week, the No. 4 ranked Badgers enter this game confident after upsetting previous No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth in their last series. The biggest danger for Wisconsin may be overlooking the weaker St. Cloud team and coming out sluggish after the bye.
\We've had a couple [byes] this year, and in the past we've come out?? a little slow, but I think having the past experience helped us mentally to prepare for this one,"" said senior forward and assistant captain Steph Millar.
An upset loss to the Huskies would be devastating to not only the Badgers' national ranking, but also to their Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship aspirations.
""Last weekend was a big upset with Minnesota and Minnesota State, and we don't want that to happen to us,"" senior forward Meghan Hunter said. ""We're just going to keep working hard ... we're just looking to get some W's.""
If the Badgers hope to get that ""W,"" they must control Huskies' junior defenseman Carrie Holldorf and senior forward Roxanne Stang. Holldorf leads the Huskies in almost every category including points and goals, and is tied for the assists lead. Stang is second on the team in points and riding a 10-game scoring streak during which she has amassed 19 points.
""Anyone with the puck in the slot ... is dangerous,"" Millar said. ""We're just looking to keep it out of the middle of our [defensive] zone and along the board.""
If UW can play disciplined defense, then Badger goalies freshman Christine Dufour and sophomore Meghan Horras will be in good positions to have strong games as the Huskies are only shooting .089 as a team.'?
St. Cloud goaltenders, on the other hand, are allowing a little over four goals a game and allowed 17 during their last series against Duluth.
The lack of defense this season from Duluth bodes well for UW, looking to go unbeaten for the sixth straight game.
""We know that if we don't take care of our own end, the chances in the offensive zone aren't going to happen,"" Hunter said. ""We start from our defense, and then if it opens up then we're smiling, but if not, we take care of our defensive end first.""
As the Badgers look toward this game and the rest of the season, they must ""keep positive and keep putting out our best effort every night,"" said freshman forward Sara Bauer.??
Avoiding an upset against St. Cloud State is vital to the goal this team has been striving for since day one: making the Frozen Four.??
""We have to look at the big picture,"" Millar said. ""These games [against unranked teams] at the end of the year mean just as much as the Duluth game. If we lose this game it drops us down in the rankings.?? Our ultimate goal is to be in the Frozen Four at the end of the year.?? We're just going into every game trying to improve and trying to win.\
