For the first time since Oct. 3, No. 1 Wisconsin (10-0-0 WCHA, 12-0-0 overall) allowed a goal, finally bringing an end to its incredible, NCAA-record shutout streak.
Fortunately for the Badgers, their perfect start to the season remains intact, as they handled Minnesota Duluth (2-6-0, 4-8-0) by the score of 4-2, completing their sixth consecutive series sweep of the year.
After taking most of the first period to get on the board in game one, the Badgers struck early in the first Saturday afternoon, as senior forward Erika Sowchuk grabbed her second goal of the series, assisted by sophomore forward Annie Pankowski and junior defenseman Jenny Ryan, who continued to solidify her position as top point scorer for defenseman in the NCAA.
The story of the rest of the game was Wisconsin taking advantage of its power-play opportunities, as all three of its following goals came when they had a man advantage.
The second goal came a few minutes later in the first, when Pankowski received a great feed from junior forward Sarah Nurse and put it away to give Wisconsin some breathing room early in the game.
Pankowski continued her fantastic performance by assisting senior captain Courtney Burke’s goal that put the team up 3-0 with just seconds left in the second period. Pankowski’s goal and two assists extended her streak of game with at least one point to 15 games, and Burke’s goal gave her 86 career points, putting her in sole possession of fourth on Wisconsin’s all-time point leaders for defenseman.
“It feels good,” Pankowski said. “Everyone enjoys winning and it’s fun on the ice, it’s fun in the locker room. This team just has it.”
The final goal came on the power play early in the third, as Burke was involved again, this time assisting sophomore forward Emily Clark as the Badgers stretched their lead to 4-0.
But the Bulldogs came alive in the third, becoming the first conference opponent to break the UW defense, as sophomore forward Maria Lindh fired a shot past junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens not long after Clark’s goal, ending Wisconsin’s historic shutout streak.
Desbiens, however, didn’t seem phased by the streak ending, and even sees it as somewhat of a positive.
“I just take the games one at a time. I think what we did is amazing but it’s also nice as people will talk more about our team instead of the streak,” she said.
And with just a few minutes left in the game, sophomore defenseman Lynn Astrup tacked on another to make it 4-2, but the late push from UMD wasn’t enough as Wisconsin took home the win and the sweep.
Despite the late goals, head coach Mark Johnson was happy with the team’s overall performance tonight.
“It was a good win,” Johnson said. “We put ourselves in a good position tonight, we capitalized on some of the power plays. They played better than they did [Friday] night, so it was a good test and I thought we played a better overall game. We’re a little banged up so it’s good to come out of here with a sweep.”
The Badgers return home next weekend for a nonconference series against Lindenwood, with the games taking place Friday and Sunday.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
