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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Friday, March 29, 2024
Ann-Renée Desbiens tied the program record for shutouts with her 39th of her career Friday. 

Ann-Renée Desbiens tied the program record for shutouts with her 39th of her career Friday. 

Top-ranked Wisconsin opens season with two victories

No. 1 Wisconsin (2-0 WCHA, 2-0 overall) wasted little time in setting the tone for what it hopes to be a championship season, sweeping St. Cloud State in its opening series.

Friday’s 6-0 victory was historic for senior goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens. Desbiens’ shutout was the 39th of her career, tying her with UW great Jessie Vetter for the most in program history.

"At the end of the day the fact is we won another game and I think that's what matters most," Desbiens told UWBadgers.com. "Whether you win with a shutout, 5-1 or 2-1, it's going to be the same. But it's definitely nice as a team to know what we've been able to do the past three or four years."

On the offensive end, five different Badgers scored, led by junior forward Baylee Wellhausen’s two goals. Wisconsin jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period, thanks to goals from senior forwards Sydney McKibbon and Sarah Nurse.

UW wouldn’t stop there, adding three more goals in the second period. Freshman forward Abby Roque scored her first collegiate goal, minutes into the period. Wellhausen scored her first goal of the night, and sophomore forward Sophia Shaver added another to push the Badger lead to 5-0.

Wellhausen put an exclamation point on the victory with her second goal of the contest in the third period.

The Badgers outshot the Huskies 34-16 and shut down St. Cloud’s four power play chances.

Head coach Mark Johnson was pleased with his team’s performance, considering the overall lack of practice time.

"Usually the first game of the year is the toughest from the standpoint that you're not sure what you're going to see on the ice," Johnson said. "Most years you get 10 or 12 days before an exhibition game, this year we had two or three practices. Now we can start to teach, we can become a better team.”

In Saturday’s afternoon finale, Wisconsin needed a rally to complete a 4-2 comeback victory.

Despite a dominant first period in which the Badgers outshot St. Cloud State 21-3, UW found itself tied with the Huskies 1-1. Shaver netted UW’s first goal, her second of the weekend.

The Huskies would add a power play goal by Julia Tylke to take a 2-1 lead in the second period.

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The Badgers, however, would respond, and in a big way. With just 10 minutes remaining in the game, senior defenseman Jenny Ryan lit the lamp and tied the game at two. Four minutes later, sophomore forward Sam Cogan scored the go-ahead goal, on an assist from junior forward Emily Clark. Cogan locked up the game for good, adding another goal on an empty-netter to give UW the 4-2 win.

The Badgers outshot the Huskies an impressive 56-13, but still needed the third period rally to leave with the sweep.

"I think we showed that we are a team that doesn't give up," Cogan said. "We don't give up, no matter what happens. If we're down a goal, we just keep playing our hardest."

Johnson also praised his team for the fight his team showed.

"I like the way we responded after being down," Johnson said. "I thought the third period was the best period of the six that we played this weekend. We came out and we took the game to another level, competed real hard, created a lot of opportunities and it took a lot of opportunities to get a few goals today."

Wisconsin will be off on a bye week before hosting Ohio State in its home opener at LaBahn Arena Oct. 7 and 8.

UWBadgers.com contributed to this report

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