The No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers defeated No. 4 Minnesota Golden Gophers in a 4-3 thriller in Duluth on Saturday to secure their 11th WCHA Tournament championship.
A great start for the Gophers
Head coach Mark Johnson shuffled his lines going into the game, putting senior forward Lacey Eden on the top line and junior forward Laila Edwards on the second line.
Early in the first period, Wisconsin’s second line, Edwards and sophomore forwards Cassie Hall and Kelly Gorbatenko, challenged Minnesota’s defense but couldn’t score on Minnesota’s freshman goaltender Hannah Clark.
Just over nine minutes in, junior forward Kirsten Simms sent the puck over a Minnesota stick and into the crease to fifth-year forward Casey O’Brien, who buried it to give Wisconsin a lead about halfway through the first.
Wisconsin doesn’t lose a whole lot when they score first. In fact, in 28 such instances this year, they’ve managed 28 wins.
But it appeared Minnesota wanted to challenge that, and only 20 seconds later, a Minnesota shot bounced off the skate of junior defender Vivian Jungels and skipped over sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton to balance the scales at one apiece.
Around the seven-minute mark, sophomore defender Laney Potter tripped a Gopher, but Wisconsin’s top-ranked penalty kill smothered Minnesota’s fourth-ranked power play, only allowing one shot on goal.
Minnesota would take a lead late in the first when forward Josefin Bouveng spotted up from the left circle and pushed the puck past McNaughton’s far side.
Wisconsin roars back in the second period
Less than a minute into the second period, Jungels, who had accidentally deflected a puck into her own net in the first, wristed the puck from the high slot over Minnesota freshman Hannah Clark to even the score at 2-2.
Around the 16-minute mark, Wisconsin broke out on a 3-on-1, but Edwards, who struggled throughout the game, sailed a shot to the right of the net.
At 11:55, freshman forward Maggie Scannell threaded the puck between a pair of Minnesota defenders to score Wisconsin’s third goal of the game.
With 11:27 remaining, the Gophers’ Abbey Murphy body-checked sophomore defender Ava Murphy, and Wisconsin went on the power play shortly after taking the lead. The Badgers put on a solid amount of pressure, but they couldn’t beat Clark, and a questionable offside call against Simms with eight seconds left in the advantage essentially shut the door on the power play.
With around five minutes left in the second period, the Badgers peppered the Gophers with shots, but they couldn’t pad their shaky lead.
With a minute and a half left in the second period, Eden flattened Abbey Murphy, earning herself a two-minute vacation in the penalty box.
Minnesota made that penalty costly when forward Natalie Mlynkova found a loose puck and banked it off of Edwards to beat an out-of-position McNaughton and tie the game up into the third period.
Wozniewicz plays the role of the hero
Wisconsin played sloppy to open the third period, but Minnesota couldn’t punish it.
With about 13:30 left in the game, Abbey Murphy broke free toward the Wisconsin net for what essentially amounted to a penalty shot. If she could convert, it would put her Gophers in the driver’s seat for the game and the WCHA Tournament crown. She shot the puck between McNaughton’s legs, but the Badger netminder dropped into the butterfly position and allowed absolutely nothing.
With 5:28 left, Emma Venusio was sent to the box, and the Badgers bent but didn’t break on the penalty kill. With 25 seconds left, Patty Kazmaier finalist O’Brien dropped a no-look pass to senior forward Sarah Wozniewicz, who hit a wide-open net to give the Badgers a very late lead.
After the clock hit zero, the refs called offsides and put a few seconds back on the clock, and the clock hit zero again, “Jump Around” serenaded the victors as the Badgers celebrated their WCHA Tournament championship.
