Facing off against arch rival Minnesota, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team twice found itself trailing the Golden Gophers on the road, needing a goal to stay alive. Both times it was the cool hand of senior Sarah Nurse that brought the Badgers back to level and kept their 14-game unbeaten streak alive.
Nurse scored twice, once in regulation and once in the shootout, to set the Badgers up for what was an emotional victory over their rivals to the West, as No. 1 Wisconsin (22-2-3 WCHA, 27-2-3 overall) played to a 1-1 draw with No. 4 Minnesota at Ridder Arena (19-4-4, 23-5-4) before winning the shootout 2-1 on a goal by senior defender Jenny Ryan.
"The last [shootout], we went through 12 rounds, so I personally just wanted it to end before that," Ryan told UWBadgers.com. "I kind of started freaking out but then Nurse went and took a little bit of the pressure off me, and [goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens] stopping the puck right before I went took a lot of pressure off me, too."
That Ryan would play the hero for Wisconsin looked unlikely early in the game, when she was caught out of position on a long pass to Minnesota’s Nicole Schammel with time expiring in the second period. Caught behind the play, Ryan attempted to tie up the Gopher forward but was unsuccessful, as Schammel made an impressive play to loft the puck over the blocker of Desbiens as Ryan was called for a trip with just two seconds remaining on the clock.
The goal and Ryan’s penalty put Wisconsin in a tough spot entering the third period—down a goal and facing off against the nation’s top power play team without one of its best penalty killers—but Desbiens and the Badgers’ defense held strong to keep the score 1-0.
“The penalty killers did an excellent job of defending and blocking and doing things necessary to keep them off the score sheet," head coach Mark Johnson said.
Still trailing and with the offense failing to generate much pressure, Johnson made a line change, switching Nurse onto a line with senior captain Sydney McKibbon and freshman Presley Norby, the same line that had played together for the majority of the season.
That change paid off handsomely for the Badgers with just over six minutes remaining in regulation, as Norby corralled a turnover by a Gopher defender and sent the puck to Nurse, who fired a laser that snuck between the glove and pad of Minnesota goalie Sidney Peters.
"When I came in I wanted to go far-side," Nurse said. "I knew she's been pretty good down low short-side, so I wanted to go far-side and I think she was screened a little bit."
The Badgers tallied six goals on only 13 shots against Peters the last time these two teams met, but the Gopher netminder showed no memory of that performance, making several huge saves in the closing minutes to preserve the tie. Peters ended the game with 30 saves against only one goal allowed, but gave up back-to-back goals in the shootout to give Wisconsin the extra WCHA point.
Wisconsin and Minnesota will face off again tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the final game of each team’s regular season. The Badgers will be looking to escape the trip to Minnesota with a confidence-boosting win as they enter the WCHA playoffs, while the Gophers attempt to preserve their unbeaten record in 15 games at home this season.
