The No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (32-3-1) are on to the WCHA Final Face-Off in Minneapolis this weekend after easily handling Minnesota State in the quarterfinals, defeating the team by a combined score of 10-0 over two games.
Head coach Mark Johnson was naturally pleased with his team’s performance last weekend.
“As I look back Friday and Saturday afternoon, very impressed with the way we came out Friday night and started the game, especially the first three or four minutes,” Johnson said at a Monday press conference. “You know, as a coach, you are prepping the team to start that way, and they responded and came out and had a fast start and created a lot of opportunities. As we tend to see in the playoff games sometimes it becomes a little bit more challenging to score then maybe during the regular season because people tighten things up. Overall, it was a great weekend.”
Perhaps the most notable accomplishment of the weekend was junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens recording her 18th shutout of the season, breaking the single-season NCAA record for shutouts in a season.
While the record is an extremely impressive accomplishment for Desbiens, it is also a testament to the work of the entire team.
“The last goalie [Minnesota’s Noora Raty in 2012-’13] who [set the record], obviously she’s done amazing things in her career and I know Ann-Renée is going to do amazing things in her career,” junior defender Mellissa Channell said. “But it all comes down to just doing the little things, forwards do their thing getting the pucks in the net, the defense does their thing getting the puck out of the zone and communicating, and Ann does her thing of not letting the puck get in the net, so it’s all those things that get put together that can create a record like that.”
Desbiens leads the NCAA in all major goaltender statistics, and the numbers she has put up this season may be the best Johnson has ever seen.
“As I looked at [the numbers] Saturday night, they’re a little mind-boggling because as a coach you don’t think about individual players, a goaltender doing that, because we’ve only played 36 games and half of them have been shutouts,” Johnson said.
Wisconsin was also hot on the offensive end, as eight different players scored against Mankato, and having such a balance in their goal production makes the Badgers even more difficult to defend against in the playoffs.
“I think it gives everybody confidence,” junior forward Sarah Nurse said. “Everybody knows going into the game, we aren’t relying on one, two, or three people, I think it’s an all-around effort truly for us this season.”
Freshman forward Sam Cogan is one of those players who found the net last weekend. She was recently named WCHA Freshman of the Month, an award that coincides with Johnson’s decision to switch her to the first line alongside sophomore forwards Emily Clark and Annie Pankowski.
“I love playing with [Clark and Pankowski], not that I didn’t like playing with my other linemates, it’s just a different game when you play with them,” Cogan said. “They’re both just really great hockey players and super friendly both off and on the ice, and I know they are making me better just by playing with them.”
But the incredible regular season, the WCHA conference title and the NCAA shutout record are now behind the Badgers, as they prepare for the WCHA semifinal matchup against Minnesota Duluth (15-20-1).
Duluth was the six-seed in the WCHA Tournament and had to travel to Bemidji State for the opening round. Coming in as the underdog, the Bulldogs took it to Bemidji, beating it in the first game 5-1, before finishing off the sweep the next day and sealing their place in the Final Face-Off.
Minnesota Duluth is certainly hot coming into the semifinal matchup, and Wisconsin is not going to take them lightly.
“[Duluth] is always a hard working team, ever since my freshman year that’s one thing I’ve noticed,” Channell said. “They never give up, they are always hard working, doing the little things, so we just have to make sure we play our game and don’t get too focused on them.”
The Final Face-Off is Wisconsin’s first taste of a knockout, win-or-go-home style game this season, and the veterans of the team are looking forward to the added stakes.
“I absolutely [enjoy these games], it comes down to who brings it that day,” Nurse said. “And I think it’s whoever is ready to play for 60 minutes is going to win the game.”
The newcomers to the team, including Cogan, are also feeling the same level of anticipation.
“I’m super excited, I can’t even describe my excitement,” Cogan said. “I’m kind of nervous as well actually, so it’s a mixture of everything.”
The stakes are indeed higher in the playoffs. Every possession, every shot, every minute can completely alter the course of a season, and Nurse and the team are very aware of how they need to come out on Saturday.
“I think for us it’s just we can’t take any shift off. At any point the game can completely change and you don’t have another game to regain your composure, so it’s a mentality change,” Nurse said.
A win against Minnesota Duluth would send the Badgers into the championship against the winner of Minnesota and North Dakota, but Johnson isn’t daring to look ahead to that game.
“As I told the team Saturday after the game, we put ourselves into position to be guaranteed one more game, and that game will be against Minnesota Duluth Saturday afternoon.”
The puck drops at Ridder Arena at 2 p.m. Saturday. If Wisconsin wins, the championship game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.
