It was a great weekend for hockey as the Badger women improved to 3-3-2 in the WCHA and 7-3-2 overall after capturing their first conference sweep of the season by the scores of 2-0 and 5-0 over Minnesota State.
The pair of wins also marked the second-consecutive sweep at La Bahn Arena and third-straight shutout.
“The important part is they’re league games,” head coach Mark Johnson said about getting the sweep. “What I’m most pleased at is over the six periods, we played pretty well in all of them.”
Playing a complete game is something that Johnson stresses everyday with his players and often comments during interviews on whether the team played a full 60 minutes. This weekend, Wisconsin did just that.
The story of the weekend was the aggressive play of the Badger forecheck. This was especially apparent Saturday as Wisconsin controlled the puck for long periods of time inside the Maverick zone, often keeping the play alive by creating turnovers.
“Our ability to move our feet, move the puck, if we are doing that… do the same type of things, you’ll create the same opportunities and for most of the game, we were doing that,” Johnson said.
One player who displayed her ability to move her feet and create those turnover opportunities was senior forward Alev Kelter.
Because of injuries and other factors, Johnson made the decision to move Kelter to forward from her usual defense position at the beginning of the season. That decision paid off this weekend.
“She adds speed, she adds grit, she adds aggressiveness and obviously she’s had some goals for us here,” Johnson said. “It says a lot about her where she can go from one position to another position and be an asset for us and make us a better team.”
Kelter was involved in the first two Wisconsin goals, both of which came after turnovers in the Minnesota State zone. She would open the scoring on the receiving end of a play as a result of a turnover created by freshman forward Erika Sowchuk near the MSU blue line late in the first period.
Late in the second period, Kelter would be the skater creating the turnover, this time deep in the Maverick zone in front of Minnesota State junior goaltender Danielle Butters. Knocking the puck loose from a MSU defenseman, Kelter served it up on a silver platter for senior forward Brianna Decker to bury glove side of Butters.
“I think anytime [Kelter is] playing, even last year when she was playing defense, she was very aggressive and now I think just gives her more of a go to be aggressive and forecheck,” Decker said. “We need that. Especially the position she’s in as a forward. We need a third-line grinder like that just to go in there and work hard.”
“Today it was clicking,” Kelter said. “We communicated well and we forechecked properly and that’s great to see.”
Friday afternoon started a bit shaky for the Badgers as they got off to a slow start in the first 10 minutes of the game. However, as the period progressed, the Wisconsin skaters began to connect well with each other.
With five minutes left in the first, Sowchuk reaped the rewards and put the Badgers on top 1-0, netting her second goal of the season.
“It felt great,” Sowchuk said Friday. “I was just happy to help my team out and put a point on the scoreboard for us.”
Kelter would make it 2-0 for Wisconsin in the third period, which would remain the final score. The goal was the first of a three-point weekend for the converted defenseman.
“It’s been an awesome transition mostly because my teammates are working so well with me teaching me the ins and outs,” Kelter said.
While the Badgers have the following week off, Decker and junior goaltender Alex Rigsby will be heading to Finland to play in the Women’s Four Nation Cup. Wisconsin returns to action Nov. 16-17 on the road against Ohio State.
