No. 3 Wisconsin (6-0-0 WCHA, 8-0-0 overall) has scored a lot of goals this year, and has given up very few. That is a recipe for success in any sport, and the women’s hockey team is on a roll right now.
The 8-0 record is Wisconsin’s best start since the 2010-’11 season, the last time it won the National Championship, although the team isn’t ready to draw any comparisons between that squad and themselves.
“It’s still early to start thinking about things like that,” senior captain Courtney Burke said. “But it is good for the team to start off strong and it will help us down the line in the season, and we need to build off of it.”
The Badgers are coming off an impressive dismantling of No. 6 Bemidji State, outscoring it 7-0 in a series sweep, sending a statement to the rest of the country.
“It showed how disciplined we are,” junior goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens said. “We kept doing the little things that we’ve been doing since the beginning of the season, and even if it was a better team we kept doing what we are good at.”
Although the score line suggests differently, Friday night’s game was not completely smooth sailing for the Badgers, as Bemidji State played them very close, generating almost as many opportunities as Wisconsin did.
But the Badgers came out swinging in game two, dominating from start to finish and showing an impressive ability to adapt and adjust.
Desbiens saw a lot of improvement from the end of game one to game two that helped make it a more convincing win.
“In the first game we got stuck in our zone a little bit, but in the second game we stayed more composed and didn’t stress out from the last one,” Desbiens said.
The story of the season so far has been the defense, which has yet to allow a goal in conference play, and is currently the No. 1 scoring defense in the country. The biggest component of that success has been the stellar play of Desbiens, who leads the nation in shutouts (five), goals against average (.030) and save percentage (.980), and was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for her performances against Bemidji State.
“[Desbiens] has been standing tall back there,” Burke said. “She’s really stood on her head for us and has been doing everything right back there.”
The offense hasn’t been too shabby either, coming in as the No. 3 scoring offense in the country. The team continues to boast a wide range of threats, as was seen last weekend, with six different players scoring the seven goals, and those players coming from three of the four offensive lines.
“Other teams can’t take any of our lines lightly this year, we have talent on every line, and we have a lot of depth,” sophomore forward Baylee Wellhausen said. “It’s great that we can expect good things from everyone on our team.”
Wellhausen still sees some ways the team can improve though.
“I think handling the puck a lot more. Last week we battled some adversity with that, and if we just don’t overthink and play our game we will be successful,” Wellhausen said.
Wisconsin continues conference play this weekend against the Minnesota State Mavericks (0-6-0, 2-7-1), who find themselves at the bottom of the WCHA standings as the only team to lose all of its first six games.
The Mavericks have been able to draw blood in most of their conference games, but the problem has been their defense, which has allowed at least four goals in five of six conference games. And unfortunately for them, strength of schedule isn’t a very good excuse, as they have only played one team currently in the top half of the WCHA standings.
Sophomore forward Hannah Davidson comfortably leads Minnesota State in points, but in conference play alone the points have been evenly distributed among a few forwards.
There is certainly no goalie controversy for Minnesota State, as senior Brianna Quade leads the country in minutes played and boasts a solid .920 save percentage.
With a much less anticipated matchup than last week, and with Wisconsin shorthanded because of Emily Clark and Sarah Nurse’s international obligations, the Badgers will need to avoid any letdowns in order to come away with the win this weekend.
“I don’t think anything changes,” Burke said. “We are missing a few people but we will still play the same way as we have all season.”
The series will take place Friday and Saturday in Mankato, Minn., with both games starting at 2 p.m.
