Ranked fourth nationally, the Wisconsin women's hockey team travels to North Dakota this weekend in an attempt to end a two-game losing streak and improve on its third-place spot in conference. Grand Forks, N.D., will host the first ever meeting between the Badgers (5-3-0 WCHA, 7-3-0 overall) and the Fighting Sioux (3-7-0, 3-8-1). The Badgers are the last remaining conference team North Dakota has yet to play since it ended its Division I independence and became a member of the WCHA.
Trying to prepare for a team they have never played may make this weekend tougher than usual. Mark Johnson, 2004 recipient of the Vince Lombardi Award of Excellence and head coach of the Badgers, does not seem worried.
\We've seen a little tape on them, seen their tendencies and what they like to try to do ... but I get more concerned about what we're about ... if we play up to our capabilities and focus on what we have to do, then we'll be okay,"" Johnson said.
Away games have proved to be a challenge for the Badgers, as all three losses have been on the road. Two wins this weekend, however, would give them a solid road percentage of .500, and after being swept in Duluth two weeks ago, the Badgers have had an entire week off to work on accomplishing that this weekend.
""I think after having a week off, we have to make sure we come out hard and aggressive,"" explained sophomore forward Sara Bauer, UW's leader in goals and points, and third, fifth and sixth in the WCHA in goals, points and assists, respectively. ""If we just create some traffic and clean up the garbage in front of the net we should be okay.""
""You can never really focus on anything special when it comes to goal scoring, you just have to go hard all the time ... you can only control yourself, you can't control the goaltending, so you just have to do what you can do and hope that it works,"" sophomore forward Lindsay Macy said.
Macy is UW's second overall leader in points and goals scored, and seventh overall in the WCHA for the same categories.
Macy, Bauer and junior forward Sharon Cole just might be the best offensive line in the conference. They have a combined 43 points this season, 19, 22 and 12, respectively, and almost always score when on the ice. Neither one of them succeeds without the other, as they truly know the success of teamwork.
""I give a lot of credit to my linemates; they're wonderful to play with, they work really hard and put the puck in the net when I give it to them and they give me the puck in good spots to make it easy for me,"" Macy said.
""I give a ton of credit to my line mates this year, nobody does accomplishes anything when they play by themselves,"" Bauer said.
UW definitely has a very aggressive style of play, but when combined with tight refereeing it could prove disastrous. Penalties killed the Badgers against Duluth, as their players spent a total of 46 minutes in the box. Normally penalties are not a problem for UW, as they combine for an average of 16 penalty minutes a game and are third lowest in conference. They will have to make adjustments to the referees next weekend in efforts to stay physical but stay out of the box.
""We've just got to feel out how the refs are calling the game and go with it,"" Macy said. ""If they call it tight, we'll have to learn to back off.""
In a game that is usually decided by power plays and penalty kills, and one that is as physical as hockey can be, learning to back off sounds a lot easier than it is.
In any case, the Badgers must make all the right moves this weekend or they could easily find themselves a lot further away from the Frozen Four than anticipated. The puck drops at 2:05 p.m Saturday and again at 2:05 p.m on Sunday. Both games are at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
