This past weekend the No.10 Wisconsin women's hockey team traveled to Columbus for a two-game set versus Ohio State. This series was vital to the Badgers' postseason hopes. At the start of the weekend, Wisconsin was sitting two spots out of an NCAA tournament berth, so taking the full four points from the Buckeyes was crucial.
But the Badgers fell to Ohio State in the opener, and despite salvaging the series Saturday with a 3-2 victory, their NCAA Tournament prospects remain up in the air.
On Friday night the Badgers took a 2-1 lead in the first period on the strength of two power-play goals. Approximately six minutes into the game, with Ohio State up 1-0, sophomore forward Carolyne Prevost deflected a shot by freshman forward Brianna Decker from the hash marks to even the score for Wisconsin. Junior defenseman Geena Prough was also credited with an assist on the play.
The Badgers went on another power play nine minutes later and capitalized. Decker beat OSU's freshman goalie Chelsea Knapp on a shot from the face-off circle to give the Badgers a 2-1 lead.
In the second period it was Ohio State who took advantage of the power-play opportunities. Six minutes into the second frame, Ohio State's sophomore forward Natalie Spooner collected the Buckeyes' first power-play tally to even the score.
The Buckeyes' went on the man advantage again five minutes later. During the penalty kill, Wisconsin's senior forward Jasmine Giles stole the puck from behind the OSU net, carried it out to the front of the net and backhanded it into the goal for the short-handed tally to regain the Wisconsin lead.
The lead, however, would not last long. On the same power play, 43 seconds later, OSU's senior forward Raelyn LaRocque scored the game's fourth power-play goal to knot the game at 3-3.
The Badgers regained the lead when Giles caused another turnover in the Buckeye zone. Giles fed the puck to junior forward Mallory Deluce who got it to sophomore forward Brooke Ammerman. Ammerman, who was waiting outside the goal crease, put it over Knapp's left shoulder to give Wisconsin a 4-3 lead after two periods.
The game went scoreless for 16 minutes in the third period before Ohio State's sophomore forward Laura McIntosh collected a rebound and put it in for the equalizer. Then, with only nine seconds left to play, the Buckeyes' freshman forward Hokey Langan capped the scoring and gave Wisconsin a heartbreaking 5-4 loss.
In Saturday's game, following Friday's loss, Wisconsin struck first with four minutes left in the first period. Freshman defenseman Stefanie McKeough took a shot that went off the crossbar, and the rebound found Decker who capitalized on the opportunity.
The lead would not last long though, as just over a minute later Spooner tied the score with a backhand shot from the face-off circle.
The Badgers outshot the Buckeyes 32-14 through the first two periods. Despite this, the score remained deadlocked at one heading into the final frame.
The Badgers' momentum finally paid off eight minutes into the third period when Decker found the back of the net on the power play.
Decker completed her first career hat trick just over two minutes later when she found the puck in a scramble in front of the OSU goal.
Ohio State drew within one, with just over a minute left in the game, but UW would hold on and skate away with a 3-2 victory.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
