The Wisconsin women's hockey team is set to take on Ohio State in the semifinals of the WCHA Playoff Championship in Minneapolis Saturday as it goes for its second consecutive conference postseason title.
The Badgers are guaranteed at least the second overall seed in the NCAA tournament and do not have as much to play for as Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota and Ohio State, the other three teams competing for the title this weekend.
""They're playing to try to get themselves a bid into the NCAA tournament,"" UW women's hockey coach Mark Johnson reiterated to his team this week about Ohio State.
However, the time has come for an important decision to be made: which of the two star Wisconsin goalies will play now that the series portion of the season has ended.
Sophomore Jessie Vetter, who started in all three NCAA tournament games last season and recorded shutouts in both Frozen Four games, has saved 94% of shots faced and has given up one goal per game in 2006-'07.
""Vetter last year [proved] that she likes to play playoff hockey,"" senior defenseman and captain Bobbi-Jo Slusar said.
Senior goalie Christine Dufour leads the nation in save percentage, blocking 95.5% of shots faced this season and has not lost since October 2005. Last season, she did not dress for the WCHA Playoff Championship or the NCAA Tournament, as Johnson elected to go with Vetter and then-senior Meghan Horras over Dufour.
""Maybe Vetter plays the puck a little bit more,"" Slusar offered as she tried to discern between the two goalies.
The likely scenario is that Johnson uses Vetter against Ohio State and if victorious, inserts Dufour against the winner of UMD/Minnesota Sunday.
Talking about Dufour's impressive performance against potential WCHA finals opponent Minnesota-Duluth, he said, ""The thing you look at in back-to-back games is if you have a goalie who is good and she's not tired, that's an advantage,"" meaning that Dufour would be rested because she will not play against Ohio State.
If Johnson's decision to play one goalie in the NCAA tournament last season is any indication, then either Vetter or Dufour will see her season come to an end in Minneapolis this weekend.
In choosing Vetter, Johnson would get a goalie with NCAA tournament experience, while if he goes with Dufour, he would play the ""unbeaten-for-a-year-and-a-half"" card.
Vetter and Dufour both received accolades in the WCHA Individual Awards. Vetter was named to the WCHA first team, while Dufour made the conference's third team and garnered the Goaltending Champion award, based on statistical performance.
Senior forward Sara Bauer was named WCHA Player of the Year while senior defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson was named the league's top defender. Bauer and Mikkelson join Vetter on the conference's first team.
The second team consists of Duggan, who won WCHA Rookie of the Year and also made the league's all-rookie squad, Slusar, and junior forward Jinelle Zaugg, while sophomore forward Erika Lawler was named to the third team.
For the second straight season, Johnson was named the WCHA's top coach.
