Meeting for the first time in the 2019-2020 season, No. 2 Wisconsin (6-1-1-0, 12-1-1-0) will take on the St. Cloud State Huskies (3-8-1, 0-8-0-0 WCHA) in conference play.
The last time these two teams met, Wisconsin beat out St. Cloud State at home with an 8-0 sweep in the first round of the WCHA Playoff series. The Badgers have a 84-2-3 record against the Huskies, and will go into the weekend on a 21-game unbeaten streak which started four years ago on Feb. 2, 2015. Wisconsin has shutout SCSU 14 times in their history.
Last week, the Huskies came off a three-week losing streak by beating Lindenwood (2-9-3, 0-4-0 CHA) in their second game after tying in their first game. SCSU is coached by Steve Macdonald, with assistant coaches Jinelle Siergiej and Molly Engstrom. Siergiej and Engstrom are former Badgers.
Siergiej, who was a forward from 2004-08, scored the game-winning goal in the 2007 NCAA quarterfinal game against Harvard, which sent Wisconsin into the Frozen Four.
Engstrom, who was a forward 2001-05, was the fifth top defensive scorer in history with 28 goals and 57 assists. She also won the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year twice in her career as a Badger.
Wisconsin swept Minnesota State (6-6-2, 2-6-2-2 WCHA) last weekend after being swept in their series with No. 1 Minnesota (12-1-1, 8-1-1-0 WCHA) two weeks before. The Badgers captured nine goals over the course of the weekend, beating out the Mavericks 3-2 in a hectic match on Saturday and a 6-1 win on Sunday.
Senior forward Abby Roque was awarded a couple of honors Tuesday. She was named the WCHA Forward of the Week and the NCAA First Star of the Week. This came after the Badgers’ series with the Mavericks, where Roque picked up six points, the most by a WCHA player last week. Two points came from her game-winning score and an assist on Saturday afternoon along with four points on Sunday due to two goals and two assists.
On Sunday, Roque shattered her career high for goals in a season by sending a puck into the back of the net in the third frame. If Roque assists two goals this weekend, she will become only the eighth Badger in the program’s history to record 100 career assists.
In addition to the senior alternate captain’s awards, the Badgers overall have gotten off to a very good start. In the power play, Wisconsin has converted on 21 of its 47 chances (0.447) and leads the NCAA with that number. The team needs only eight power-play tallies to match its record from last season.
The first match-up will be on Friday night, starting at 6 p.m., with a rematch following the next afternoon at 3 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minn., at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Both games will be available to stream on FloHockey.
