\In control"" might be an understatement to describe the way the Wisconsin women's hockey team played over the weekend. ""Complete domination"" may be the better words to sum up the Badgers' devastating 8-1 and 11-0 victories over Wayne State on Friday and Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
""There's little things that you have to work on but the big thing is everyone got a chance and an opportunity to play,"" Wisconsin Head Coach Mark Johnson said regarding the weekend. ""We showed a lot of good things but it's only a start. It's only two games out of 34 so we don't get comfortable in this business, we keep working hard.""
In the sweep, two Badgers registered hat tricks. Last year's WCHA Rookie of the Year, sophomore center Sara Bauer, scored the first two and the final goals in Friday's game while sophomore wing Lindsay Macy garnered her second career hat trick on Saturday.
""Sara worked hard this summer, she worked on her shot ... she's a good player, she does a lot of things very well,"" Johnson said. ""Lindsay is just a real natural goal scorer and she really had a great second half last year ... they're stronger and better players right now and it's nice to see them get off to a good start.""
Both players also worked together in each other's hat tricks. Macy tallied four assists in Friday's game; three of which were to Bauer. On Saturday, Bauer assisted in three goals and helped Macy in two of hers.
Besides these two working together, many others racked up the stats, especially in Saturday's game. Seven Badgers contributed to the 11-0 score but most notably were junior forwards Nikki Burish and sophomore forward Phoebe Monteleon's two goals a piece and junior wing Grace Hutchins' one goal and three assists. On the defensive end, sophomore goalie Christine Dufour stopped all 13 shots on goal to earn her fourth career shut out.
As a team, the 11 goals scored will go down in history as the most points scored for any team, men's or women's, on the Kohl Center ice.
The Badgers may have fired on all cylinders this weekend, but they will have even more ammo next weekend. Senior captain Carla MacLeod participated in Canada's Thanksgiving Festival over the weekend but will be back for next weekend's Kohl Center series against Bemidji State.
""She's a very good player obviously,"" Johnson said regarding MacLeod. ""She's very much a stability factor on the blue line. We've got a lot of good pieces but we have to keep working. [Bemidji State is] an up-and-coming team. They were much improved last year and I anticipate more improvement this year.\
