As the No. 4 Wisconsin women's hockey travels to border and conference rival No. 1 Minnesota this weekend, the recent norm of Badger athletic teams facing top-ranked competition continues.
But while the Gophers (16-0-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, 21-1-2 overall) pose a challenge for the Badgers (12-5-1 WCHA, 18-5-1 overall), Wisconsin certainly knows the caliber of the Minnesota team facing off against them at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.
\We know who we're going to be up against,"" senior defender Molly Engstrom said. ""We've got to go in and play like we've been practicing. The mentality ... it's not hard to get psyched for the game. We've just got to bring our work habits from this week into the series and hopefully we'll be successful.""
The Gophers are the top-ranked team in the nation for a reason: Minnesota has yet to lose a conference game and its sole loss of the year??-a 5-7 shoot out-came from No. 2 Dartmouth December 11.
Since that loss, Minnesota has reeled off seven straight wins, three of them shutouts. But the Badgers have not been far behind, keeping pace in the conference race, winning seven of their last eight. In their first match up of the year at the Kohl Center, Wisconsin lost 2-0 in the first game, but salvaged the series with 3-3 tie in the second game.
This weekend's series will be a battle between two of the WCHA's top dogs. Minnesota owns the best record in the WCHA but is tied with No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth (16-2-2, 18-2-2) in the point standings. Duluth hosts WCHA cellar-dweller Bemidji State this weekend, making the Wisconsin series critical to Minnesota in order to stay atop the conference. Wisconsin is all alone in third place, but as Nikki Burish said, each conference game grows in importance with the season winding down.
""We want to take every game one at a time and just win,"" the junior forward said. ""Basically [this] next weekend is going to be our toughest weekend, our biggest weekend, seeing as they are ranked ahead of us. So if we can beat them, then we move up in the rankings and then for the tournament that'll put us in a better position.""
The Gophers are loaded offensively. Minnesota boasts an electric and high-powered trio of upperclassmen forwards. Juniors Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, along with senior Kelly Stephens, have scored 30, 26 and 24 goals respectively this season.
Throw in sophomore defender Lyndsay Wall's 1.46 points per game (first in the WCHA among defenders) and the conference's top scoring freshman, forward Bobbi Ross (0.83 ppg), and stopping the Gophers proves to be a tough task. But head coach Mark Johnson and the Badgers are up to the challenge.
""These are the games as coaches and as players you look forward to, when you play the top teams in the country, you play good opponents, you play undefeated opponents, you play Olympic players,"" Johnson said. ""Minnesota still has the dynamic players that they had a couple years ago in Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell. Kelly Stephens has developed as a real fine player and is part of our Olympic program now. And they brought in Lyndsay Wall, a defenseman who's going to be part of our Olympic team. And so they have four players that not only are probably the better players in our league at their respective positions, but are probably some of the top players in the world.""
If any team in the WCHA can match up with these high-octane rodents, it is Wisconsin. The Badgers lead the conference in goals against average (1.29 per game), total goals allowed (31) and team save percentage (.932). But Minnesota sits second in both goals against average and goals allowed. Minnesota and Wisconsin sit one-two atop the rankings for combined special teams. How each team takes care of the puck when they have the advantage will go a long way in determining the outcome of this series.
""We have to outwork them on the ice and our special teams have to play really well,"" Burish said. ""I think that is going to be one of the major parts of the game, special teams. So, if we can perform well on our special teams and stop theirs, I think that will be a major factor this weekend.""
Wisconsin has done a little better job on the penalty kill, stopping 89.2 percent of their opponent's advantages, but Minnesota is not far behind at 89.1 percent. The Gophers have been aggressive and dangerous on the power play, converting on 31.3 percent of their opportunities. Johnson knows that prowess can cause any team problems.
""They've got three of the top scorers in the country,"" he said. ""And so they present a lot of situations for a lot of teams that can give you a lot of headaches.""
The Badgers swept North Dakota last weekend at the Kohl Center and Johnson was pleased with the team's effort. But the Badgers will have to step it up a notch to stay with the Gophers. With the season winding down, those points become increasingly more important.
""I feel the energy in our team right now, which is a great thing,"" Engstrom said. ""I think your team goes through ups and downs through the whole season. Right now, for this series and throughout the rest of the year, we're confident in our energy level and our work ethic.\
