After suffering a loss in each of the final two regular season series, Wisconsin had extra motivation to get back on track in the opening round of the WCHA tournament. That motivation showed from the get-go against St. Cloud State, and it carried the Badgers to a series sweep this weekend.
UW seemed to control the puck from the start of Friday’s game and they maintained that control through both contests. They held the Huskies to just one shot on goal through the first 10 minutes of the first game and only four in the first period in total.
Sophomore left winger Sarah Nurse started the scoring off for Wisconsin. Sydney McKibbon won a face off and slid the puck Nurse’s way. Not two seconds after play resumed, Nurse put the puck over the St. Cloud goaltender and the Badgers were on the board. Less than two minutes later, Wisconsin was back on the scoreboard after redshirt senior right winger Brittany Ammerman put a rebound back around the Huskies’ senior goaltender Julie Friend.
Just like that, the Badgers were up 2-0 and in control. With less than five minutes left in the first, another UW right winger, senior Katy Josephs, joined in the barrage. Wisconsin had a two-on-three breakaway, and a centering pass from junior defender Kim Drake gave Josephs the shot she wanted and the Badgers their third goal.
That was the first of Drake’s career-high three assists in the game, doubling her season point total. After the game, Drake was quick to downplay her role in the game.
“Honestly, I think it’s not about me. It’s about the team.” said Drake. “We had a collective effort from everybody, and I think that’s what led us to win the game.”
That collective effort led to two more UW goals in the game, one of which was the first goal of the season for junior forward Rachel Jones. St. Cloud State got one back late in the first period, but the Huskies’ offense could only muster 15 shots on goal in the game.
For comparison, the Badgers put their 15th shot on goal with more than eight minutes remaining in the first period.
Wisconsin closed out the series and ended St. Cloud State’s season with an all-around dominating performance Saturday. Four different Badgers found the back of the net and sophomore goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped all but one of the Huskies’ shots to earn the victory.
The first period was all Wisconsin as the Badgers got off to yet another hot start. With 13 minutes to play in the first, junior defender Courtney Burke blasted a shot from the right slot that was kicked away by Friend. Redshirt sophomore forward Mikayla Johnson was in the right place at the right time, and hammered home the rebound for an early lead.
With the clock winding down on the period, freshman forward Emily Clark beat a Huskie defender and fired a shot off the left pad of Friend, then got her own rebound and put the puck in the net, giving the Badgers a 2-0 advantage. Wisconsin outshot St. Cloud State 18-2 in the first period, stifling nearly all of the Huskies opportunities.
“If you can come out and establish something in the first eight or 10 minutes and create some opportunities, it sends a message to the other team that you want to win the hockey game,” said head coach Mark Johnson.
Clinging to a 2-0 lead, senior Katy Josephs delivered a goal early in the third, stealing a St. Cloud State pass right in front of the net. She fired the puck past Friend for a three-goal lead. The Huskies got one back with nine minutes to play, poking a rebound through the legs of Desbiens.
But Wisconsin responded quickly as senior forward Blayre Turnbull found the back of the net for a dagger that erased all doubts of a Huskie comeback. This marked the captain’s eighth goal in nine games.
“I’ve just been working on my shot a lot in practice and trying to get the accuracy right,” Turnbull said. “Luckily it’s been coming on my stick and I’ve been able to get it off quickly. But I owe a lot of that to my linemates. It’s nice to play with people who feed me the puck.”
Wisconsin’s win sends them to North Dakota for the WCHA Final Face-Off. They will take on North Dakota in their home rink for a chance to play for the conference championship. This is an important weekend for the seniors, as they have lost in the semifinals of the Final Face-Off each of the last three years.
“We really want to win. And we’ve made that very clear to the freshmen and sophomores and juniors that it’s not an option for us to lose this year,” Josephs said.
