The Wisconsin Badgers won their second straight WCHA Playoff Championship this weekend in Minneapolis, beating Ohio State 4-0 in the semifinals and Minnesota 3-1 in the finals. With the tournament championship, the Badgers earned the top seed in the NCAA tournament and will play Harvard in the first round Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
Against Ohio State, the Badgers used goals by two of their freshman forwards, Jasmine Giles and Meghan Duggan, to spark a 4-0 victory against a Buckeye team that needed to win to make the tournament.
Giles' first-period goal was the game-winner for Wisconsin as the Badger defense continued its dominant play, extending its shutout streak to 16 periods before Minnesota scored in the first period Sunday.
Sophomore forward Angie Keseley put Wisconsin up 3-0 in the third period, and junior forward Jinelle Zaugg's 25th goal of the season closed out the scoring for Wisconsin.
In goal, sophomore Jessie Vetter presented her case to start in the NCAA tournament, making 22 saves and lengthening her postseason shutout streak to four games, dating back to last season's Frozen Four.
Senior goalie Christine Dufour received the start Sunday in the WCHA Championship Game, and made 16 saves as the Badgers defeated the Golden Gophers as they did last year in the conference finals.
Duggan began the scoring for the Badgers in the first period, scoring on a 5-on-3 advantage for the 1-0 lead.
Gopher junior forward Bobbi Ross ended Wisconsin's current and playoff shutout streaks. The current-season mark ceased at 324 minutes and 57 seconds, while the playoff run closed at 397 minutes and 57 seconds.
Freshman forward Emily Kranz notched the game-winner for the Badgers 10:58 into the second period.
Junior defenseman Rachel Bible scored in the third period to give UW insurance. Bible's goal was her second of the playoffs after she went the regular season without scoring.
Senior forward Sara Bauer, who had two assists in the two contests, was named the tournament's MVP. Now Wisconsin looks ahead to the Harvard Crimson, which finished second in the Eastern College Athletic Conference and lost in the conference's semifinals to Dartmouth, the eventual ECAC tournament champion.
Harvard is the only other NCAA team (besides Wisconsin) that features two Patty Kazmaier award finalists. Senior forward Julie Chu is currently second in the nation in points while sophomore forward Sarah Vaillancourt is fifth in the country.
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
