Saturday afternoon, it took 65 minutes and a 12-round shootout to determine who would get the extra point between top-ranked Wisconsin and No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth. Sunday, with a WCHA regular season title on the line, the Badgers put together arguably their best performance of the season.
The Badgers (22-2-2 WCHA, 27-2-2 overall) shutout UMD (17-5-4, 20-5-5) 8-0 on senior day in front of a sold-out LaBahn Arena Sunday afternoon to secure their second-consecutive WCHA regular season championship.
“I just think the way the whole season has transpired, give the senior class and our leadership group a lot of credit because when you’re at the beginning of the year, everybody looks at you and puts you up there, it’s a tough task,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “It takes a lot of commitment, it takes a lot of consistency, it takes a lot of dedication … It’s a trophy that takes a long time to win, and certainly our senior class has a lot of things to be proud of because they had a big impact on it.”
“It’s pretty special, of course senior day it’s kinda sad, but my teammates made sure that we had a lot of fun, and we end up with a trophy at the end of the day, so I think that was pretty cool for a senior day.” senior goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens said. “There are not a lot of teams that can say that, so that’s really special for us right now.”
After UMD’s Sydney Brodt was penalized for hooking midway through the first period, the Badgers peppered Bulldog goalie Maddie Rooney with shot after shot but to no avail. That is, until freshman Abby Roque lasered the puck past Rooney’s left shoulder for the power-play goal.
Wisconsin controlled the puck in the Duluth zone for much of the period. With under two minutes left in the period, junior forward Baylee Wellhausen knocked in Roque’s rebound with her first of three goals to double the Badger lead to 2-0. UW outshot UMD 19-to-4 in the period.
The Badgers didn’t let up in the second period, as they tacked on four more goals. Junior Maddie Rolfes added a power-play goal, while Wellhausen and Emily Clark teamed up and each added a goal 32 seconds apart of one another to push the lead to 5-0.
Wellhausen put the exclamation point on the scoring, securing her first-career hat trick with just under a minute left in the period.
“That was pretty exciting, the look on my face probably showed you I had no idea [on the third goal], I tipped it, I felt it go in,” Wellhausen said. “I’ve never been on the ice when people are throwing hats, so that was pretty surreal.”
Junior Annie Pankowski added two third-period goals to finalize the Badger scoring.
With the blank of UMD, Desbiens added on to her NCAA record with her 50th career shutout.
“I saved it for today actually,” she joked. “It’s really fun. It’s pretty impressive. I cannot believe it. Definitely a good day to have it, just makes it a little more special.”
“I’m not big into numbers, but I was getting interviewed before the game and mentioned how many shutouts she’s had and the number of games she’s played in and that’s pretty impressive,” Johnson said. “It might take somebody who knows how long to get that many shutouts. With all her family down here and relatives and whatnot, it’s just a great way to send everybody out.”
Wisconsin wraps up the WCHA regular season next weekend at Minnesota.
“We’ve been able to meet the challenges, some of the adversities that we’ve had over the course of the winter,” Johnson said. “Hats off to the group, we’ve improved and are a better team than we were in September and that’s always a real positive thing. Obviously our next two games up in Minneapolis will help us prepare as we get ready for the playoffs the following weekend.”
