The Wisconsin women's hockey team (9-4-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, 13-4-3 overall) had not beaten the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (8-5-1,12-8-2) in Madison in any of their previous 22 meetings.
Wisconsin had no business stealing a game from the three-time defending champion Bulldogs, but sophomore goalie Meghan Horras never got the memo.
In the second game of a two-game series with UMD, already having tied the first game 1-1, UW came away with a 5-2 victory. Horras stopped 51 shots in a shocker, considering UMD's potent offense.
However, a goalie stepping up is nothing new to UW. The Badgers have another skilled goaltender, freshman Christine DuFour, who has eight wins to her credit thus far. With the experience of Horras and the developing talent of DuFour, this tandem of UW goaltenders looks to wreak havoc on offenses for years to come.
In limited playing time last year, backing up then-senior Jackie MacMillan, Horras showed promise as a freshman and was poised to take over in net and anchor the Badgers' defense. She worked her way into the starting lineup and her improvement culminated Jan. 18 when she stonewalled the Bulldogs and was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week by the WCHA and U.S. College Hockey Online.
Horras is satisfied with the team's play and looks to contribute even more than she does at the moment, saying, \After last year I sat on the bench just about every single game, and knowing that you can play and do well, and finally getting a chance to come out there this year and face some good competition.""
While Horras is a Wisconsin native and former goalie for the Appleton United High School boy's team, Dufour hails from Quebec, a French-Canadian tried and true who has picked up English remarkably well.
She grew up in a hockey environment, and much like Horras, was an accomplished hockey player prior to coming to UW, having been a part of the 18 and Under Team Quebec that received a silver medal in the Canadian Championships in 2001. A year later she was playing for the Connecticut Polar Bears, who finished second overall in the USA National Tournament.
She leads the Badgers in saves this season with 186, while her counterpart Horras sustains a marginally better, and nothing short of miniscule, goals against average of 1.32 goals per game. The two have developed a supportive relationship and play in harmony as not to disrupt the team chemistry and make their personal contention for the starting job more important than the team's overall success.
""Obviously, I wish I played more because it's easier to get in some kind of a streak if you play consecutive games, but the team is winning so that is the most important thing,"" Horras said.
Dufour has an equally impressive outlook as she describes her relationship with her teammate, Horras.
""I think we're really competitive, but then we'll help each other even if we know that the other one is going to play,"" DuFour said. ""We know it's a big competition but we deal with it and we're just friends on and off the ice.""
Coach Johnson is very confident in both Horras' and Dufour's ability to accept their respective roles, and impressed with not only the contributions they make on the ice, but with their maturity as underclassmen.
""I was really happy with the way they progressed the first half of the season,"" Johnson said.
Johnson is evidently comfortable with his gameplan, and rightfully so, as is reflected in the Badgers' record and standing as second overall in the conference. Johnson decides nightly who has the hot hand.
""It's a good dilemma to have,"" Johnson said. ""They both have to be team players because both of them can't play [at once].\
