Thanks to a road sweep of Minnesota State, the Badgers are now off to the best start in program history and have etched their names in the WCHA record books.
No. 3 Wisconsin (8-0-0 WCHA, 10-0-0 overall) proved too much for the Minnesota State Mavericks (0-8-0, 2-9-1) as the undefeated Badgers took away a pair of victories from Mankato, Minnesota. It’s the best start in program history, topping the previous record of 8-0-0, which the Badgers had accomplished twice.
They also pushed their shutout streak to eight straight games, breaking the WCHA record.
However, head coach Mark Johnson didn’t want to dwell too much on Wisconsin’s hot start to the year.
“I’m one that doesn’t get into numbers or streaks,” Johnson said. “I figure out how we get better for the next game. That’s the focal point, what’s up next and getting the team prepared.”
Junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped a total of 35 shots over the weekend and kept the net and the scoreboard clean for Wisconsin, extending its impressive shutout streak to 521 minutes, 15 seconds. In addition, it extends Desbiens’ personal shutout streak to 440:52, which is the second longest of all-time in NCAA hockey for men or women. The current record is held by UW’s own Jessie Vetter with a scoreless streak of 448:32.
“It is impressive ... I don’t stay up thinking about it, but obviously it has become a topic that really starts with the goaltender and it moves out from there,” Johnson said of the shutout streak. “We’re playing disciplined hockey and when we do break down, Ann-Renée has been able to stay focused and play real well.”
Johnson’s one-game, one-period-at-a-time mantra has spread throughout the team including the record-breaking goaltender.
“I think we did the little things right and focused on every single play. We don’t look ahead, we don’t look too far into the period,” Desbiens said. “We just go shift by shift and I think that’s what has made us successful so far.”
The offensive end of the ice was equally impressive for the Badgers. Wisconsin lit the lamp 13 times against Minnesota State over the weekend. Coming into the season, there were concerns over whether or not UW would be able to fill the void on offense left by the departing senior class. So far, this has proven to be a non-issue with the Badgers outscoring opponents 55-2 including six shorthanded goals.
“I just think everyone is playing their role. It’s working for us,” senior defenseman Courtney Burke said. “We needed people to step up and score goals this year because we lost a lot of scoring last year, but I think everyone is playing really well and getting things done. We need everyone to contribute and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
With the Badgers having players step up on both the offensive and the defensive end of the ice they head into the bye week with confidence as they prepare for the next opponent on their schedule, Minnesota-Duluth.
