The Badger women's hockey team stormed into the postseason this weekend, closing out its regular season with a sweep of Bemidji State, winning 2-0 and 6-0 behind shutouts by goalies Jessie Vetter and Christine Dufour.
The senior Dufour's shutout was the 17th of her career, breaking the all-time UW record Saturday as she made 25 saves at the Eagle's Nest in Verona.
In the season finale, the Badgers were sparked by two goals from sophomore forward Angie Keseley and three points from both senior defenseman Meghan Mikkelson and freshman forward Jasmine Giles.
Friday, Wisconsin struggled to establish momentum but used goals by senior forward Sara Bauer and Mikkelson along with 20 saves by the sophomore Vetter to silence the Beavers. Bemidji State had a few good scoring opportunities but failed to control the puck in the offensive zone, resulting in an easy day for Vetter, who notched her 11th career shutout and is on pace to break Dufour's newly established career-shutout mark. She feels confident about her play at the end of the regular season.
""I'm just a little more experienced this year because I have more games under my belt, and I'm just really excited for the playoffs,"" Vetter said.
Heading into the WCHA tournament, the question becomes who head coach Mark Johnson will play in goal in the WCHA Final Four and the NCAA tournament.
""We'll see what happens in a couple of weeks when we have to make that decision. Right now we're in a pretty good situation where they're both healthy,"" Johnson said regarding Vetter and Dufour.
Bauer remained one point behind Mercyhust freshman Meghan Agosta but fell to third overall in the nation in scoring as Harvard's Julie Chu scored six points in a sweep of Brown this weekend for a one-point lead over Agosta. Co-captain Bauer's four points against Bemidji State were not enough to take the national lead.
The Badgers now look ahead to North Dakota next week, which has not won any WCHA games and has won just three games all season. The Fighting Sioux were outscored by the Badgers 25-2 over four games this season and their head coach Shantel Rivard was fired earlier in the season.
The best-of-three first round series of the WCHA playoffs between Wisconsin and North Dakota takes place at the Eagle's Nest Friday and Saturday nights with a third game being played Sunday night if necessary.
