The No. 5 Wisconsin Badger women's hockey team made history over the weekend, setting an all-time attendance record while sweeping No. 9 St. Cloud State. The Badgers won 4-1 Friday and 4-0 Saturday. They have now won their last eight games and sit firmly at third in the WCHA, one point behind Minnesota.
Saturday's game was attended by 5,377 people, 210 more than the previous record for an NCAA women's hockey game.
It means a lot in probably a couple different ways. One that our community is supportive of our athletic department,"" head coach Mark Johnson said. ""We reach out to them ... and they certainly responded today.""
On Friday, the Badgers struck fast as sophomore forward Kyla Sanders shoveled fellow sophomore forward Jasmine Giles' centering pass past St. Cloud goalie Kendall Newell eight seconds into the game.
Seven and a half minutes later, Wisconsin extended the lead as freshman forward Mallory Deluce deflected a shot from senior defender Emily Morris into the net.
Senior forward Jinelle Zaugg would then extend the lead to 3-0 later in the second and freshman forward Kelly Nash wrapped up Wisconsin's scoring in the third. UW goalie Jessie Vetter had a shutout for the first 59:34 of the game but St. Cloud State's Holly Roberts found paydirt on a late powerplay to finish the 4-1 game.
Vetter would get another chance the next day and made 18 saves to earn the shutout that had previously eluded her.
Saturday's game was filled with physical and scrappy play as junior defender Rachel Bible noted afterwards.
""There was a lot of slashing going on, you could hear it from the bench,"" Bible said.
Many of the badgers however saw that as something to rally around.
""I think the crowd gets the girls going a little bit. St. Cloud brought a little feistiness ... we need to stand up for our own players,"" Zaugg said ""Yesterday, Meghan Duggan kind of got nailed and Erika Lawler stood up for her. That's part of a team, that's part of a family and I believe that's what we need to be doing.""
Zaugg opened Saturday's scoring by putting back the rebound of a Meghan Duggan shot that Newell blocked. Four minutes later, freshman forward Hilary Knight redirected a shot from freshman defender Malee Windmier into the net for a 2-0 lead.
That score would stand until the third period when the duo of Deluce and Zaugg struck. First Deluce found Zaugg in a 2-on-2 rush and Zaugg slipped the puck behind Newell. Two minutes later Zaugg returned the favor when she centered the puck in front of the net and Deluce hammered it home.
""Mallory [Deluce] is a great girl,"" Zaugg said. ""She's really easy to work with. She is one that takes advice very easily. She'll get you the puck and that's really key to Duggan and my scoring and even her scoring because she gives it to us and we give it right back to her.""
St. Cloud State had one last chance to score with a late powerplay but Johnson called a timeout to reinforce the importance of finishing the game strong. The team responded and kept the Huskies off the board.
On the weekend Zaugg had five points including Saturday's game winner. She sits just six goals behind the school record for a career.
""She can do whatever she wants on the ice. If she wants to dominate a game, she has the set of skills, the height, the strength to do those things,"" Johnson said. ""To see her go out today and have a real nice game and a nice weekend, I'm happy for her.""
