In yet another sweep, the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers (8-0-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) beat out the Long Island University Sharks (0-4-0, 0-0-0 NEWHA) 10-2 on Oct. 18, and 12-0 on Oct. 19.
The teams first met Friday night at the Nassau Coliseum, the New York Islanders’ NHL rink, to compete in their first ever series.
"It's a historical rink,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “When I was playing in the NHL, the Islanders were one of the dominant teams, so a chance to be back there should make the game very special."
And the Badgers delivered to make the match-up a memorable one for Johnson.
Wisconsin did not hold back on this historical rink and outskated the Sharks 10-2. They sent six pucks into the back of the Shark’s net in the first frame, with the first from junior forward Daryl Watts. The Boston College transfer and last year’s Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner scored just one minute into the game, marking her eighth goal in seven consecutive games.
That not only marks her 150th career point, but also ties Annie Pankowski’s scoring streak for fourth-longest in Badger history.
Junior forward Brette Pettet followed Watt’s with a goal of her own, along with goals from sophomore forward Sophie Shirley, senior forward Presley Norby and sophomore forward Britta Curl all in the first period.
The six goals scored in the period made it the fourth most scored in a single period in Badger history.
In the second period, Johnson switched up the defensive line and subbed in sophomore goalkeeper and New York native Cami Kronish. This marked Kronish’s first college game.
"That's the fun part about these games,” Johnson said. “If you can come out and do what we did in the first period, then you can get more kids involved in situations and see what they look like. So, for Cami, for her first live action since she's been a Badger, she's excited playing in front of her family.”
Freshman defenseman Chayla Edwards scored her first goal while wearing cardinal and white with a pass from Norby three minutes into the second frame. While the Sharks picked up a goal in the second frame after Edward’s score, the young Badgers kept up their ferocity.
Freshman forwards Grace Shirley and Dara Greig landed a pair of firsts, when Greig picked up her first career point by assisting Shirley’s first career goal.
“Some kids got play more than they normally do, get a couple goals involved in the game,” Johnson said. “A lot of good things happened today, not only on the ice, but away from it as well.”
The teams met again on Saturday night at the Nassau Coliseum to round out the weekend.
Wisconsin shut-out LIU 12-0 with 80 shots on goal, the most shots in school history during a single game. The Badgers posted their first hat-trick this season, when Sophie Shirley earned it in the second match-up.
"It’s obviously a pretty cool feeling and one that I won't forget,” Shirley said. “But a lot of credit goes to my line mates as they made some pretty amazing plays to set me up!”
In addition to Sophie’s career-first, a squad of Badgers took home a couple of career-firsts. Greig, sophomore forward Jesse DeVito and junior defenseman Grace Bowlby scored their first collegiate goals in the match, which added to Wisconsin’s dominance over LIU.
The Badgers will return to LaBahn to take on Bemidji State on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. and Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.
