There is no love lost when the Wisconsin women's hockey team matches up with Minnesota-Duluth. The teams have faced each other in many big games over the last few seasons and have often played for high stakes.
Last season the Bulldogs gave Wisconsin its only loss and one of its four ties on the season. The Badgers, however, took the ultimate prize with a 4-1 win over Duluth in the national title game.
Duluth holds an edge in the all-time series 17-14-6, but Wisconsin is 6-2-2 in the last 10 meetings. The game that started that streak was a 3-2 OT Badger win in the WCHA Final Five that propelled Wisconsin to its first NCAA Tournament appearance three seasons ago.
The rivalry has a rich history, and this season's contests will be important in determining the landscape of this season.
We've had some battles, so that's part of the fun of playing the top team in our league,"" head coach Mark Johnson said. ""If we are going to go anywhere, we are going to have to beat them right now. It will make for two good hockey games, very entertaining and very enjoyable to watch.""
Both teams are ranked in the top four, and a Badger sweep could vault them to the top of the WCHA. However, in a rivalry of this magnitude, the series will be business as usual.
Miller's Quotes
Shannon Miller is UMD's head coach and has led her team to three NCAA women's hockey titles. After the final loss in 2007, she spent much of her press conference discussing how tired her team was.
""How can you contain their best players if you only have half a tank of gas?"" Miller said. ""We can come back and score two goals in three minutes '¦ but we just didn't have the gas in the tank to get it done today.""
Several Badgers declined to comment on Miller's remarks.
Junior defender Rachel Bible could only say, ""I guess we're just better conditioned.""
Even on Duluth's athletic website, the event is chronicled as ""The exhausted Bulldogs fall in the NCAA Frozen Four championship game to Wisconsin 4-1.""
Depth
The Badgers this season lack a top-line point scorer in the mold of the departed Sara Bauer, but make up for it with depth on their top lines that rivals many conference foes.
""If you're going to be successful over the course of a long season you need depth, and we've been able to do that the last probably three years,"" Johnson said. ""You try to find as many quality kids that are able to play at this level and work with them, and develop your team from the stand point that you can have three or four lines that can compete every night.""
Wisconsin has eight players who have registered at least 10 points on the season. To put this in perspective, no other WCHA team has more than five double-digit point scorers.
""I think we have four great lines, we're a deep team. As a defenseman I'm confident with whichever line is out there,"" senior defender Emily Morris said.
Of Wisconsin's top eight scorers, one is a defender, junior Alycia Matthews, and five are underclassmen. Three players are tied for the team lead in goals, including senior forward Jinelle Zaugg, who sits 11 goals behind Wisconsin's career leader Meghan Hunter.
The Badgers' third line is composed of three underclassmen in sophomores Jasmine Giles and Kyla Sanders and freshman Kelly Nash. They have scored 13 of Wisconsin's 56 goals. Their counterparts on Duluth's third line, in comparison, have scored four fewer goals and six fewer assists.
""I kind of feel sorry for the forwards. It's really hard to earn a spot up there,"" Bible said. ""There's so many good forwards, all the way through their fourth line. We can put them out against anybody.""
The Badgers will need their depth to carry them as they host the Bulldogs Friday and Saturday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
