Coming off a sweep of St. Cloud State, Wisconsin looks to add to their program-record 16-game win streak this weekend at Ohio State.
The Badgers showed this past weekend that they can both score goals, tallying eight on Friday, and compete when the scoring is not as abundant.
In Saturday's 2-1 overtime win, the Badgers launched 43 shots on St. Cloud State goalie Kendall Newell, managing to put the puck past her only twice. It was Newell's play who kept the Huskies in the game, as Wisconsin out shot St. Cloud State 43-21. Jinelle Zaugg scored her fourth goal of the weekend and nation-leading sixth overall in overtime to complete the sweep of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival Huskies.
In Columbus, the Badgers will face a Buckeye team who did some scoring of their own last weekend, garnering 16 goals in their season opening series against Northeastern.
Last season ended for Ohio State with a disappointing second half and their top two scorers graduating, including Patty Kazmaier award top ten finalist Jana Harrigan. The Buckeyes will have to rely on a team-oriented effort this season rather than an individual based system to win more games. They illustrated their ability to succeed this way in their sweep of Northeastern, with nine players each night putting up points.
WCHA Defensive Player of the Week Tessa Bonhomme, who scored seven points against Northeastern, will need to focus her efforts not toward scoring but toward preventing the puck from getting to goalies Erika Vanderveer and Liana Bonanno early. In three of Wisconsin's first four games, they put the puck on net over 30 times. As a result, they scored 18 times.
Wisconsin will turn to its top line of Sara Bauer, Zaugg and freshman Kyla Sanders to provide a spark early for the Badgers. Zaugg was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week for her performances against St. Cloud State.
In goal, the Badgers will continue to use their rotation of Jessie Vetter and Christine Dufour, two of the top goalies in the nation. Together they have given up just four goals to begin the season.
Throughout the first three games, Wisconsin proved that it can score early and at will. In its last game, the team had to play overtime for the win, which showed that they can also play in the clutch.
The key to the Badgers winning in Columbus is that they score early and avoid the lapses they underwent in the second St. Cloud State game which led to multiple scoring opportunities for the Huskies. Vetter and Dufour are good, but some of their success comes from the fact that their defense rarely gives up a good scoring chance.
Expect Wisconsin to come out firing as it attempts to silence a Buckeye team that broke two school records in scoring this past weekend.
