The last time the Wisconsin women's hockey team lost a game, it went almost 11 months without dropping another one.
For a record-tying 32 games, including the series opener Friday night against Border Battle rival Minnesota, Wisconsin did not experience the feeling of leaving an arena with a loss. But after falling 3-2 in Sunday's finale to the Gophers, the Badgers will have to regroup after their unbeaten streak ticked back to zero.
According to junior defenseman Stefanie McKeough the team can certainly take pride in what it accomplished in those 32 games, but with the season ahead it was never at the top of players' minds.
""I honestly don't even know how many games it was, so I think that kind of goes to show how we never really paid attention to the streak,"" McKeough said. ""We were just really focusing on our team this year.""
The Badgers tied the NCAA record for an unbeaten streak—which the 2006-2007 Wisconsin team set—with Friday's win. The victory came thanks to a hot start, as the Badgers scored two goals in the first four minutes.
Wisconsin outshot Minnesota 17-9 and built a 3-0 lead in the first period.
""We were faster than them in the first period,"" said freshman forward Katy Josephs. ""They didn't really know what hit them.""
The Gophers brought the game to 3-2 midway through the third period, but Wisconsin's defense and sophomore goaltender Alex Rigsby was too much for Minnesota to overcome. Rigsby made 12 saves in the final period, and none were more important than the three that came during a Minnesota power play at the end of the game.
""She's had three very good games the last three games we've had,"" head coach Mark Johnson said of Rigsby. ""She's given us an opportunity to win those games.""
After their hot start Friday, the Badgers had far less energy at the start of Sunday's game. Minnesota dominated the opening minutes, pressuring Rigsby with a barrage of offensive pressure and proving disruptive in the neutral zone.
""The first eight, 10, 12 minutes it didn't look like we were going to show up,"" Johnson said. ""I talked about it before the game—they were going to come out, they were going to push us, they were going to be very aggressive. And we didn't react very well.""
Although the Badgers came back from a 2-0 deficit and evened the score in the third period thanks to a pair of goals from senior forward Brooke Ammerman, sophomore Gopher forward Amanda Kessel scored what proved to be the game winner.
With the team now half way through a brutal month of October, which includes series against four teams ranked in the top 10, and facing its first road test of the season at powerhouse Minnesota-Duluth next weekend, the road from here does not get any easier for the Badgers. But Ammerman said facing the adversity of its first loss at this point—as opposed to later in the season—is something Wisconsin can learn from.
""We'd rather lose now than in March,"" Ammerman said.
