After a stretch of 10 consecutive conference games, Wisconsin (10-1-1 WCHA, 12-1-1 overall) finally gets an opportunity to move outside of the conference and face a less familiar opponent as they take on Cornell (4-2-1 ECAC, 6-2-1 overall) at LaBahn Arena for the first time in program history.
The Badgers are coming off their toughest test of the season, a weekend series against No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth without star goaltender Ann-Renèe Desbiens. Wisconsin dropped the first game of the series 4-1 for their first loss this season, but managed to rebound with a 4-1 victory the next day, allowing them to hold onto their No. 1 ranking.
“Having lost the first game of the year, it’s a learning opportunity. The most important is what do we need to do to get better,” head coach Mark Johnson said at Monday’s press conference. “Within that game that we lost we did a lot of good things. If you watch the first 38, 40 minutes of the game it was pretty good.”
In the absence of Desbiens, freshman Nikki Cece started both games and collected the first win of her career on Saturday after stopping 19 of UMD’s 20 shots on goal. Johnson did not say who he expected to see in goal for the Badgers this weekend, but expressed confidence in Cece’s play if Desbiens continues to be unavailable.
“In both games she gave us a chance to win,” Johnson said. “With our players, whether it’s the goaltender, somebody up front or one of our defensemen, it’s a learning opportunity.”
Whichever goaltender is between the pipes will have an easier task than they had in the team’s last few series, as the Cornell offense scores only 2.44 goals per game, 18th of 37 DI teams. Cornell does boast one prolific scorer in freshman forward Kristin O’Neill, who leads all first year players with a 0.78 goals per game average. O’Neill has been playing with a hot hand as of late, tallying a goal in five of her last six games.
Wisconsin’s forwards will face a tough challenge against Cornell, which boasts the third-best scoring defense in the country at 1.33 goals per game. The Big Red start two goaltenders, senior Paula Voorheis and sophomore Marlène Boissonnault, alternating between the two on a game-by-game basis. If head coach Doug Derraugh sticks to his schedule, expect Boissonault and Voorheis to take the ice on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The combination of a home series and the Thanksgiving break should give Wisconsin an important respite, and a chance to reset after their first loss, before they take on No. 2 Minnesota next weekend.
“It’s gonna be nice to be home here,” said Johnson. “It’ll be a good challenge for us stepping outside the WCHA for a weekend, and I think Thanksgiving weekend it should be a pretty good atmosphere with the things that are going around Madison.”
Puck drops at 7 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday.
