The No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team traveled to Duluth, Minnesota, to take on the No. 6 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs last weekend. The Badgers took home a pair of low-scoring wins against their conference foes.
Wisconsin wins an overtime thriller
The Bulldogs got off to a great start on Friday, forcing the Badgers to wait nearly four minutes to first challenge their opposition’s net. The first goal of the game came after sophomore forward Grace Sadura deflected a shot from Farmington, Minnesota, native Brenna Fuhrman that snuck by sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton.
Wisconsin responded with a goal from redshirt junior forward Marianne Picard that beat sophomore goaltender Eve Gascon on her left side to tie the game with six minutes, 31 seconds left in the first. After this, Wisconsin largely controlled the rest of the period, outshooting the Bulldogs 7-4 down the stretch and going into the first intermission tied 1-1.
The second period opened fairly quietly with no shots in the first three minutes, but it didn’t stay that quiet.
Just after the midway point of the second period, McNaughton saw several high-danger opportunities but stopped all of them.
With fewer than three minutes left in the period, Wisconsin earned their first power play opportunity of the game after Duluth sophomore defender Ida Karlsson got penalized for a holding penalty. But the Badgers couldn’t see that power play to the end as an interference minor from sophomore forward Kelly Gorbatenko 1:30 later made the WCHA contest four vs. four. Just 30 seconds later, the Karlsson penalty ended, sending the Bulldogs to their first power play of the game.
The elite Badger penalty kill ensured the game would be tied at intermission.
After the second period, shots were 26-21 in Wisconsin’s favor.
The Badgers killed the remainder of the Gorbatenko penalty in the opening moments of the third period.
With about 17 minutes to go in the game, Wisconsin junior defender Vivian Jungels took a penalty while preventing a dangerous scoring chance from the Bulldog’s offense. This sent Wisconsin back on the kill, but the Badgers’ excellent special teams play continued, as they only allowed two shots.
Wisconsin went on the penalty kill again after sophomore defender Laney Potter took a two-minute delay of game penalty for illegally covering the puck, but this time Wisconsin only allowed one shot en route to killing the penalty.
Wisconsin put in a major effort to win the game late in regulation, taking six shots in the final four minutes, but they couldn’t, and the game went to a decisive three-on-three overtime period.
Wisconsin dominated the overtime period putting five shots on net compared to the Bulldogs’ zero. After junior forward Kirsten Simms caught her own rebound, she bested Gascon to deliver Wisconsin its 26th win of the season.
Both goaltenders shined in this one, stopping a combined 67 of 70 shots.
The Badgers rally late to win game 2
Just under two minutes into the game, the Bulldogs caught McNaughton out of her net, but couldn’t convert to take an early lead.
Then, about 6:30 minutes in, the referees sent Sadura to the box for a two-minute body-checking minor, putting Wisconsin on the power play. Gascon’s Bulldogs stood strong and denied both of Wisconsin’s power play shot attempts.
Nearing the end of the first period, UMD broke the ice when fifth-year forward Olivia Mobley beat McNaughton for the first goal of the game.
The Badgers took a while to get going in the second, only shooting twice in the first 13 minutes.
Wisconsin got their first serious opportunity of the second period when the referees gave junior defender Tova Henderson a minor penalty for body-checking about halfway through.
The Badgers outshot the Bulldogs 13-4 in the second period, but couldn’t close the gap and went into the final period down a goal.
With 16 minutes remaining, the Bulldogs nearly added an insurance goal when a shot hit the crossbar, but Wisconsin would be the next team to score after junior forward and NCAA goals leader Laila Edwards redirected a rebound from redshirt senior forward Lacey Eden to disrupt Gascon’s shutout bid. It took 39 shots, but Wisconsin finally got on the board.
Tied at 1-1, UMD redshirt junior forward Mary Kate O’Brien committed a tripping penalty, giving Wisconsin a golden opportunity to take their first lead of the game halfway through the third. But, Wisconsin couldn’t convert on any of their various grade-a opportunities.
Wisconsin, still hungry, battled up and down the ice for the game’s next goal until senior forward Sarah Wozniewicz beat Gascon up high with just over eight minutes to go in the game, and that was all she wrote.
It seems both goaltenders had this weekend circled on their calendars, as both games were primarily decided between the posts. McNaughton saved 53 of the 55 shots she faced, and Gascon stopped 86 of 90.
Next week, Wisconsin heads back home to LaBahn to take on the University of Minnesota. If Wisconsin can pick up at least one point against Minnesota — by taking a game to overtime or by winning a game — they will clinch their 10th regular season championship.
