The No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (6-0-0 WCHA, 8-0-0 overall) finished off the series sweep of Bemidji State (3-2-1, 6-2-2) in dominating fashion, securing the victory 4-0 and earning their sixth consecutive shutout.
The last time the Badgers started the season 8-0 was in the 2010-’11 season, which was also the last year they won the National Championship.
Head coach Mark Johnson attributes the early success to high-level play across the board. “Consistency, and our ability to score some goals and also defend really well,” Johnson said.
Saturday’s first period was similar to Friday’s game, with the Badgers dominating and putting two on the board, pulling away from Bemidji State.
The scoring began about six minutes in when junior Sarah Nurse, who missed Friday due to injury, received a centering pass from fellow junior Sydney McKibbon and shot it at Beavers goalie Brittni Mowat, who had an uncharacteristically poor performance, as it looked like she made the save but it somehow squeaked past her for the goal.
The second goal came late in the first as sophomore Emily Clark made an impressive run across the goal. Her shot was stuffed, but Mowat couldn’t locate it in time as sophomore Baylee Wellhausen found the puck in front of goal and slotted it in for the 2-0 lead.
Whereas in Friday’s game Bemidji State found a lot more of rhythm in the second and third periods, Saturday the Badgers continued to control the flow as the game progressed.
“I thought today’s game was better than last night,” Johnson said. “We took care of the puck a lot better and we were able to play a lot more in the offensive zone because of it.”
Wisconsin’s third and fourth goals were both scored by senior Erika Sowchuk, first off a rebound opportunity early in the second and then off a redirection of a slap shot in the third to cap off the scoring.
The goals for Wisconsin all came from within a close distance to the net, something Sowchuk said was a good way of dealing with Bemidji State’s strong ability to block shots.
“We knew they are really good at getting their bodies in the way of the puck,” Sowchuk said. “So we tried to get the puck around them, and our defenseman did a good job of getting pucks to the net, and we were able to get our sticks on a few of them.”
With five shutouts this season, goalie Ann-Reneé Desbiens has been outstanding this year. Desbiens leads the country in goals against average (0.30), save percentage (.980) and shutouts. She has been an extremely calming presence for the Badgers, as she has been steady in her decision making and has made very little mistakes.
Desbiens stressed that it is a team effort that has kept the back of the Badger goal empty for so long.
“It’s a team effort, you can’t do that by yourself,” Desbiens said. “The couple times they came in our zone, [the defenders] make sure I can see it, take the rebound out, and it just makes my job way easier.”
Handling the No. 6 team in the nation with relative ease, the Wisconsin Badgers sent out quite a statement to the rest of the nation that they will be a force to be reckoned with this year.
“We knew they were going to be tough competition and be a good test for us, so to come away with the sweep will build our confidence for sure,” Sowchuk said.
The Badgers’ next series will take place next weekend, when they travel to take on the Minnesota State Mavericks.
