Coming off a weekend that saw two very different performances from the Badgers against Bemidji State, the No.10 Wisconsin women's hockey team looks to have a big weekend against another WCHA rival, Minnesota State, as points become increasingly crucial.
Coming into this weekend's series the Badgers are sitting at third in the WCHA with 27 points. But Bemidji State, St. Cloud State and Ohio State are nipping at their heels with 26, 25, and 24 points, respectively. The Badgersalso currently sit two spots out of an NCAA tournament spot.
""It's very necessary to take four points out of this weekend,"" freshman forward Brianna Decker said. ""We have three teams on our tail, we need four points to make sure that we stay on top of them.""
""We have certainly dug ourselves a hole,"" sophomore forward Carolyn Prevost added. ""We have to win pretty much every game from here on out to give ourselves a shot at the NCAA tournament.""
It is the line of Prevost, Decker and junior Kelly Nash that looks to continue its high level of play in this weekend's series against the Mavericks. In last Saturday's win over Bemidji State the trio accounted for four of the team's six goals, and had a total of 10 points between them.
Prevost and Decker talked about how their line has been able to find success.
""All three of us bring something different to the line."" Prevost said. ""The passing that we're doing, and the chemistry we have is working out for us. As long as were moving the puck well we will continue to have success.""
Decker echoed that sentiment.
""We're keeping our heads up and making good passes, cycling it down in the corners, that's how we're getting the puck in the back of the net,"" she said.
According to interim head coach Tracey DeKeyser, getting the puck in the back of the net has been one of the team's focal points during this week's practices.
""We need to score goals,"" DeKeyser said. ""Last weekend about two-thirds of our shots were blocked, or didn't hit the net. So we need to work on hitting the net and getting after the rebounds so we can put the puck in the back of the net. We've been working in practice on putting ourselves into those goal scoring situations.""
Earlier this season the Badgers swept the Mavericks in Mankato in convincing fashion, winning the two games by no less than three goals.Thus coming into this series the Badgers are playing with a good level of confidence.
""We have had success versus Mankato both this season and historically so the confidence level is high,"" Dekeyser said. ""But on any given Sunday anything can happen so were hoping our players come ready to play on Friday afternoon and give their best effort because these games are meaningful.""
Decker knows the Badgers need to play a complete game to be successful.
""We need to come out hard on Friday,"" said Decker. ""We need to get a lot of shots, and play consistent all three periods, something that was lacking in the second game last weekend. We had a lot of confidence last time we played Mankato so I think if we come out confident and work hard all three periods we'll be able to sweep.""
""If we work hard everything should start clicking for us. If we work hard and use our talent things should start going our way,"" Prevost added.
