The Wisconsin women’s hockey team (7-1-0 WCHA, 15-1-0 overall) hosts the Syracuse Orange (4-3-0 CHA, 4-10-0) for the first time at LaBahn Arena this weekend. The two squads have only faced off three times in the history of the two programs. The Badgers lead the series 3-0, with the Orange raking in two defeats in 2008 and one in 2017.
The Badgers are coming off a series in which they swept Harvard, winning a pair of overtime games on Friday and Saturday night.
“When you get in a situation where you have a lot of momentum, you get some quality scoring opportunities, you have to keep talking to yourself and those on the bench to continue to create those opportunities,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “The way we ended, very dramatic and with lots of energy in the building from the crowd, it was very exciting.”
After her two overtime goals lifted the Badgers to victory on Friday and Saturday, redshirt senior forward Annie Pankowski was named the WCHA Forward of the Week and became the first player in Wisconsin’s program history to score the game-winning goal in consecutive overtime games.
“When you’re on the winning side and playing at home with the crowd into it, it’s a lot of fun when you leave the rink,” Johnson said of the overtime experience.
These goals, along with earning the co-captain her first WCHA weekly award of the season and the seventh in her career, also scored her time on ESPN’s Sportscenter Top Ten countdown. Her short-handed overtime goal on Friday night clocked in at No. 3 and the goal from Saturday night won the No. 9 spot on the countdown.
"Everybody's super proud of her,” said senior forward Sam Cogan. “She's the first Badger to ever do a double-OT goal. Everybody's very proud and fired up, and we are all excited for her."
Coming into their last non-conference series for the regular season, the Badgers are excited to play a team they haven’t seen in a while.
“Every week, every team is going to come out strong and want to beat us, but we just have to want it more,” Cogan said. “The teams, especially those not in our league, are built off of pure work, and they are work-horse teams. We just have to come out and work that much harder than them, which will be a good challenge."
Syracuse, which most recently lost to No. 8 St. Lawrence last Saturday, is hoping to snap a four-game losing streak this weekend against Wisconsin, but the Badgers are prepared to see how the Orange has grown since the two teams last played.
"We never know what we are gonna get with non-conference games because we only get to go off of their last game film,” said senior forward and co-captain Sophia Shaver. “We feel really good and we have a lot of energy. We had a day off yesterday to rest and get back at it, so we're excited.”
The puck is set to drop on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at LaBahn Arena, followed by a rematch on Sunday at noon.
