For Wisconsin, the winter break started in the worst way possible.
Starting in goal for the Canadian national team in a game against the United States on December 17, senior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens faced up to a slap shot from Team USA's Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson. Desbiens stopped the initial shot, but as she went to search for the loose puck behind her, her left knee buckled, sending her sprawling to the ice.
As Desbiens was helped off the ice by a pair of teammates, it looked as if the No. 1 ranked Badgers were in danger of losing their star goaltender, the NCAA leader in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts. Almost a week later word emerged from the Badgers camp that Desbiens would be out for four to six weeks, a timetable that would have had her missing between two and six WCHA games.
The injury turned out to be yet another chance for Desbiens to exceed expectations, as she took the ice on Jan. 13 against St. Cloud state, 27 days removed from her injury. She missed only a single game.
That game, a road game against Lindenwood in Wentzville, Mo., on Jan. 6, turned out to be yet another scare for the Badgers.
In what was scheduled to be the first of a two-game series, Wisconsin turned in a seemingly strong performance for a 5-1 victory. After the game, trainer Denny Helwig noticed several players and coaches suffering from symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. By the end of the day 19 players—18 from Lindenwood and Wisconsin senior Mikayla Johnson—had been hospitalized and tests had revealed dangerously elevated levels of carbon monoxide at the arena, due to a leak from an ice resurfacer.
The Badgers ended the break on a high note with the third installment of the biennial “Fill The Bowl” game on Jan. 14 at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin completed a season sweep of St. Cloud State with a 2-0 win in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,395 fans, the most ever to watch a women’s hockey game in the United States.
Wisconsin now hosts back-to-back home series against North Dakota and Minnesota State, before finishing their regular season against No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth and No. 2 Minnesota.
