For the eighth time in program history, Wisconsin is headed to the Frozen Four. The Badgers dominated Boston University in the NCAA Quarterfinal, defeating the Terriers 5-1 to set up a rematch with rival Minnesota next Friday.
“Obviously we're real excited," said head coach Mark Johnson. "We have the opportunity to go to the Frozen Four. I thought the atmosphere for women's hockey today was outstanding. Both teams had fans, there was a lot of energy, there was electricity."
Freshman forward Annie Pankowski set the tone early, lighting the lamp on a beautiful breakaway goal to open the scoring. Sophomore Melissa Channel fired a long pass to Pankowski who hauled in the puck with no one in front of her.
The Badgers continued to push offensively throughout the first period, breaking through with another goal with four minutes left. Senior defenseman Katarina Zgraja blasted a slap shot from the blue line that beat Boston goalie Victoria Hanson. Wisconsin headed to the locker room with a 2-0 advantage after controlling the opening frame, outshooting Boston 14-7.
“I think it’s always a goal that we have to put our best foot forward and set the pace from the start of the game,” Pankowski said. “I think we did that this game for sure in the first five minutes.”
Wisconsin kept up a relentless offensive attack in the second period, mustering up a whopping 20 shots. The Badgers’ defense was stifling, holding Boston to just nine shots in the period. Boston senior forward Marie-Philip Poulin, who is widely regarded as the nation’s best player, was held to just one shot in the first two periods. Freshman phenom Victoria Bach, who has more goals than Pankowski on the campaign, only managed to put the puck on net twice.
Badgers sophomore goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens was stellar when she needed to be, including making three huge saves on the power play. Going up against such a high powered offense and nearly earning a shutout was no easy task, but Desbiens gave credit to her team.
“They have a couple amazing players on their team, so I think just a big team effort to pressure them and not leave them any space,” Desbiens said.
Wisconsin added an exclamation point in the third, as sophomore defenseman Jenny Ryan tipped in a Blayre Turnbull shot, extending the Badger lead to 5-0. Bach did manage to sneak a goal past Desbiens in the waning minutes of the contest to end her shutout bid, but it was far too little, far too late for the Terriers.
With two more wins the Badgers would claim their first national title since 2011. This marks the third trip to the Frozen Four in the last four seasons for Wisconsin. The Badgers will be looking for revenge as last year Minnesota defeated Wisconsin in the semifinal game.
This year, the Badgers have not beaten the Gophers in four attempts. They managed to battle to a 1-1 draw in the last regular season contest between the two teams, but lost the other three games. However, the players stressed that it is now a different team heading to Minnesota.
“I think what happened last time when we went up there, there was a lot of excitement and a lot of nerves as well. I think that now going up there we have this momentum behind us,” Pankowski said. “We know how good we can play.”
The rematch between the border rivals will take place Friday at 5 p.m. in Minneapolis. A confident Wisconsin team will carry a tremendous amount of momentum into this game, but will still need to play a near perfect game to beat the Golden Gophers.
