Top-ranked Wisconsin (22-2-4 WCHA, 29-2-4 overall) will look to win back-to-back WCHA Final Face-Off titles this weekend after sweeping Minnesota State last weekend at LaBahn Arena.
They will first have to get past a physical North Dakota squad in the semi-finals.
Wisconsin’s top line of Emily Clark, Sarah Nurse and Annie Pankowski has continued to produce at a high rate, tallying eight goals and 21 points in the series against the Mavericks.
“They’ve been good in almost every game we’ve played them together,” head coach Mark Johnson said during his weekly press conference Monday. “The message for [last Saturday] was try to get a quick start and maybe create something in the first five or six minutes, and Emily took care of that in the first 30 seconds.”
“They’re three high-level players, they’ve got good chemistry and I certainly enjoyed the way they performed Saturday afternoon.”
Badger goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens, the WCHA Defensive Player of the Month for the second straight month, will enter the game against North Dakota with seven-straight shutouts in WCHA postseason play. Desbiens’ last goal allowed in the tournament came on March 7, 2015 against North Dakota.
UW swept the Fighting Hawks (11-12-5, 16-15-6) in the regular season in four close and physical games.
Johnson is expecting to see another tight game.
“They’re playing for their lives right now, trying to get to that championship game, and obviously whoever wins the championship on Sunday gets an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament,” Johnson said. “You look at what’s behind the game and the importance of the game and that will probably dictate, it’ll probably be more of a try not to make many mistakes and trying to stay out of the penalty box … that one penalty that you take might cost you the season.”
The puck drops Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ridder Arena, with the winner facing either Minnesota or Minnesota-Duluth in the championship game Sunday at 2 p.m.
