Coming off a disappointing weekend against top-ranked Minnesota, No. 2 Wisconsin is looking to get back on track before heading into the WCHA conference tournament.
To do so, it will have to go on the road and take on a Minnesota State team coming off a shocking road sweep of No. 4 North Dakota.
The two teams met once already this season in early October. The Badgers (19-5-2 WCHA, 23-5-2 overall) earned a dominating home sweep against the Mavericks (7-18-1, 12-19-1).
But despite its success against Minnesota State already this season, UW knows the team it faces this weekend will be much improved from the one it faced in the early stages of the season.
“We haven’t seen [Minnesota State] in awhile. They’re healthy now and coming off a big weekend sweep in North Dakota,” UW head coach Mark Johnson said. “It’ll be senior weekend for them, so I’m sure there will be a lot of emotions tied to it.”
Unlike the Badgers, who are the second-least penalized team in the country, the Mavericks tend to find themselves in the penalty box more than a few times per contest.
Minnesota State ranks sixth nationally in penalty minutes, averaging 11.5 minutes per game, with the fifth-worst penalty kill percentage in the country at 77.7 percent.
Despite their penalty kill unit’s struggles this season, the Mavericks managed to step up big last weekend against North Dakota, allowing just one power play goal in seven opportunities over the course of the two games.
“We haven’t played them in a while, but from what I heard, they did a good job killing penalties last weekend,” senior forward Madison Packer said. “They’re a quick team, they have a good power play, and they’ve got a couple offensive threats that we have to be aware of.”
The Mavericks have five different players that have recorded at least 20 points this season, with senior forward Nicole Germaine leading the way with 24.
“A team like Minnesota State, they’re a hard-working team,” senior goaltender Alex Rigsby said. “They’re not going to make it easy for us.”
As for the Badgers, while they’re looking to move forward from a disappointing series against the Gophers, they still want to make sure they’ve learned from the losses.
“We know [losing to Minnesota] is rough, but we have to learn from it,” Packer said. “We can’t play like that and expect to win games.”
Though the Minnesota series was a rough one for UW, the Badgers also understand they still have an excellent hockey team with some superb players.
Despite letting in seven goals against the Gophers, Rigsby still ranks fourth nationally in goals-against average (1.22) and save percentage (0.948).
While Wisconsin may have lost some momentum after being swept, it is still securely in second in the WCHA standings. The Badgers also realize, however, that it is vital for them to gain back some momentum heading into postseason play.
“The focus has to be Friday night and coming out and continuing to grow as a team,” Johnson said. “It’s irrelevant to who you’re playing and where you’re playing at; you have to continue to do things that give you a chance to win.”
