Last time Wisconsin (11-2-1 WCHA, 15-2-1 overall) faced North Dakota (6-6-2, 7-7-2) the Badgers were shorthanded, with four key players missing the game due to injuries and preparation for the Four Nations Cup. They were still able to take four points on the weekend with a tie and a win.
Now UND comes to the LaBahn, and Mark Johnson’s squad will be back to full strength when the two teams play Friday and Sunday at LaBahn Arena.
“There have been some challenges and some hurdles, but it’s certainly nice to have everybody back and have a full lineup,” Johnson said at a recent press conference.
Once his players returned, many of those challenges and hurdles were overcome. The Badgers have won all six games they’ve played since they last faced North Dakota, the last five of which were all shutouts.
Freshman forward Annie Pankowski has scored eight goals since the Badgers’ last loss. No player on UND has accumulated eight goals all season. That being said, they have proven themselves to be a formidable opponent, making Wisconsin really earn all four points from their last matchup.
Despite having no high-volume scorers, UND does have five players with four or more goals this season, and six with four or more assists. They’re able to get a pretty balanced attack from all four lines when needed, always able to keep the pressure on opposing defenses.
Where North Dakota has hurt themselves is with penalties. The team has already accumulated 75 penalties, and their 175 penalty minutes are the second most in the WCHA. They also rank third with an 88.9 percent penalty kill, as their defense has been there for them to fall back on.
UND is tied for first in the conference with 239 blocks on the season, making things much easier for their goaltenders, which have alternated between junior Shelby Amsley-Benzie and sophomore Lexie Shaw.
Amsley-Benzie has been the better of the two with a 93.2 save percentage, but the Badgers should expect to see both, one in each game, as North Dakota has done over their last few series. It should be the junior Friday and the sophomore Sunday.
Wisconsin’s own sophomore goaltender, Ann-Renée Desbiens, has been solid of late. Six of her 12 wins this season have been shutouts, and she is first in the conference with only 1.32 goals allowed per game. She was named Co-Defensive Player of the Week by the WCHA, her second-straight week winning the award. Her coach spoke highly of her recent play.
“I think the last three or four games she has been able to focus in,” Johnson said. “We challenged her, we did a couple of things at practice, and I think the end result is she has done a better job with that.”
Desbiens struggled in the last series against North Dakota, allowing five goals over the two games, representing 25 percent of all goals she has allowed all season. It was by far her worst weekend of the year, and Wisconsin will need her to keep up her recent success. Fortunately, she has the conference’s highest-scoring offense in front of her to give her the cushion to play her best.
Friday’s game begins at 3 p.m., while the puck drops at 2 p.m. Sunday.
