The No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team saw mixed results in their home series against St. Cloud State, winning 5-2 on Saturday and tying 2-2 on Sunday at LaBahn Arena.
Badgers cruise to three-goal win on Saturday
The Badgers didn’t waste any time getting started on Saturday, as sophomore forward Cassie Hall ripped a pass from the goal line to sophomore defender Laney Potter in the slot to put Wisconsin up by one only 46 seconds into the contest.
It didn’t take too long for the Huskies to respond, as just under two minutes later, St. Cloud forward Emma Gentry took a shot from the point that made its way over a screened sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton to tie the game at two.
But Wisconsin struck back only 26 seconds later when Potter sent the puck from behind the goal line to junior forward Kirsten Simms. Fifth-year senior Casey O’Brien then received the puck from Simms and beat Huskie goaltender Sanni Ahola to reclaim the lead.
After mishandling a pass, Wisconsin redshirt senior defender Kate Kotlowski committed a hooking penalty on her backcheck to put St. Cloud on the power play 4:30 into the game. But the No. 2 penalty kill in the country didn’t let the Huskies back into the game, completing the first of their four successful penalty kills of the game.
Wisconsin managed a myriad of high-danger chances but didn’t score for the rest of the period.
Just 33 seconds into the second period, St. Cloud’s Laura Zimmerman sent a shot McNaughton’s way, but that’s the only shot St. Cloud managed over the next 18:29 of play.
It was junior forward Laila Edwards’ 21st birthday, but it was Edwards who gifted the Badgers the game-winning goal on a cross-ice one-timer from Simms during a five-on-three with 16 minutes left in the second period. Hall added to the lead just after the second penalty of the five-on-three expired, rebounding the puck into the back of the net.
The Badgers outshot the Huskies 17-4 in the middle period and entered the third leading 4-1.
Despite the three-goal deficit, the Huskies refused to consider the game lost. With 11:19 remaining, following a penalty from redshirt senior forward Lacey Eden, St. Cloud head coach Brian Idalski elected to empty his net and sent six skaters out in an attempt to mount a late-game comeback.
Idalski pulled his goalie again after sophomore defender Ava Murphy was sent to the box with less than eight minutes left in the game, and St. Cloud went on the power play. This time, the Badgers capitalized on the empty net opportunity, as Eden scored the ever-so-rare short-handed empty-netter from behind her own goal line to bring upon a score of 5-1.
Murphy was sent off once more on a high sticking penalty with just over 20 seconds left in the game, and Idalski once again pulled his goalie. This time, it paid off as SCSU defender Grace Wolfe scored the garbage time goal, the last of the game.
The Badgers challenged the St. Cloud State netminder 49 times in the 5-2 win. LaBahn arena hosted its first-ever Teddy Bear Toss, and 705 stuffed animals were collected and donated to the Ronald McDonald House of Madison.
You can’t win ‘em all
The Badgers may be dominant this year, but they aren’t untouchable. SCSU came to LaBahn on Sunday determined to prove that in their final matchup against Wisconsin this year.
With just under three minutes left in the first period, Gentry backhanded a pass to St. Cloud junior forward Svenja Voigt at the edge of the circle, who ripped in a shot that McNaughton deflected almost completely vertically.
Fifth-year senior forward Ally Qualley saw an opportunity and hit the puck out of the sky into the back of the net for an ESPN top 10 worthy goal. Head coach Mark Johnson challenged the play for a potential high stick, but the goal stood.
Late in the first period, Wisconsin found themselves in an unfamiliar position this year, they were down a goal.
After a St. Cloud forward took Edwards down near the net, Wisconsin went on the advantage with 1:33 left in the first.
Less than 30 seconds later, Simms tapped a pass to Eden, who beat Huskies goaltender Emilia Kyrkkö to knot the game at 1-1. With this goal, Eden notched her 150th career point as a member of the Wisconsin Badgers.
In the first game, the Badgers used the second period to pull away, but they failed to do so in the second game.
Just under three minutes into the second period, freshman forward Finley McCarthy earned a power play for the Badgers after a St. Cloud player hit her from behind into the boards, which the referees reviewed and ruled only to be a two-minute minor. While they couldn’t convert, freshman forward Maggie Scannell was high sticked with 11:36 left in the second, putting the Badgers back on the power play. This time, the Badgers capitalized as Simms, the game’s first star, forced an Edwards rebound behind Kyrkkö to take Wisconsin’s first lead of the game.
Sophomore forward Kelly Gorbatenko flattened a St. Cloud player off of a face-off, sending Wisconsin to the penalty kill with 5:23 left in the middle frame, but Wisconsin stood strong and maintained their one-goal lead.
The game got choppy in the first five minutes of the period, as both teams received power play opportunities, but neither could find the back of the net.
Much to her disbelief, Murphy was sent to the box a third of the way through the third period. Immediately after the penalty, a costly defensive-zone giveaway from Potter led to an equalizing goal from SCSU’s Zimmerman.
Wisconsin controlled play for the rest of regulation, outshooting St. Cloud 2-6, but couldn’t avoid their second overtime of the year.
St. Cloud dominated the overtime period as the Huskies won all four face-offs and took five shots to Wisconsin’s one, but neither team broke the deadlock, and the game went into the books as a tie. But it wasn’t done yet.
The teams went to a shootout to determine who got an extra point in the WCHA standings, the Badgers’ second of the year.
McNaughton weathered a trio of Huskie shots, meaning Simms’ successful second-round attempt was all the Badgers needed to secure the shootout win.
Simms’ goal earned the Badgers their first successful shootout attempt in nine tries. Their shootout success percentage of 0.111 is less than their overall shooting percentage of 0.140.
This tie represented the first time a WCHA team not named Ohio State took a point from Wisconsin in nearly a year.
