The Wisconsin women's hockey team returns to the Kohl Center for a two game tilt with St. Cloud State this weekend. The Badgers come into this series ranked seventh in the nation, and tied with Bemidji State for third place in the WCHA.
The team is coming off a weekend that saw them get swept by No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth. When asked what the Badgers need to improve on from last weekend, head coach Tracey DeKeyser placed the losses more on bad luck than poor play.
""The thing is we don't need to change anything, aside from getting good bounces,"" DeKeyser said. ""Sometimes there is a hot goaltender on the other end or unlucky bounces in our end.""
DeKeyser said she did not want to change up the team's game plan too much.
""Things have been changing by themselves,"" she said. ""We're trying to consolidate and get things back into some sort of routine.""
""I don't have much bad things to say about our players because they've been working hard in practice and creating scoring [opportunities] and meeting hot goalies, unfortunately,"" she said.
These two teams split a series at St. Cloud State earlier this season, and the Huskies boast the top goal scorer in the nation in senior forward Felicia Nelson.
""We know that they have a really strong goaltender, and their first line is really good, so we just have to be ready to play a great team,"" junior defender/forward Geena Prough said of the Huskies' strengths. ""You know they are going to come out there wanting to win and so are we, so its going to be a battle, but I'm looking forward to it.""
""Fortunately we have the opportunity to match lines at home,"" DeKeyser said of Nelson and the Huskies' attack. ""But [we] have to be wary on the defensive side when we see her on the ice. That is what we have to be thinking on the inside, as well as playing the body properly.""
For the Badgers to be successful this weekend, they will need to increase their goal production. In WCHA play this season, the Badgers have averaged only 2.67 goals per game, down from last season when the team averaged 4.75 goals per game in conference play.
""It's a different team than last year, a different group of girls, different strengths. Last year's scoring was definitely a strength for us, and it's a different group, we just need to pick up our scoring,"" junior forward Mallory Deluce.
""It's going to be tough, tight, fast paced and big ice,"" DeKeyser said. ""If we can use that to our advantage it could be a good thing, we have some fast-paced skaters. We need to be able to drive wide and get to the net. It comes down to taking the right shots at the right time and going to the net hard to finish.""
