Despite all the hype surrounding this weekend's series between the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team and the No. 2 Minnesota Gophers, the series was anything but a letdown. After a 1-1 tie Friday, the Badgers earned a 2-1 win Sunday to gain an upper hand in the Border Battle.
Wisconsin got on the board near the end of the first period Friday. On the power play, junior forward Meghan Duggan fired a shot from just inside the blue line. Gopher goaltender Alyssa Grogan lost sight of the puck, and the Badgers took a 1-0 lead.
There was a lot of chaos in front, and I think one of their players went down to block [the shot],"" Duggan said. ""It got redirected to the back of the net.""
Minnesota's Monique Lamoureux tied the game with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle with just under eight minutes to go in regulation. With things still knotted at 1-1 after three, the game went to overtime.
The Badgers looked tired as they took the ice for the overtime period, getting outshot 6-1 in the extra stanza. Junior forward Kyla Sanders had a breakaway chance with 15 seconds left, but Grogan turned it away, forcing the first shootout of the year.
With Minnesota up 1-0 in the shootout on a goal from Sarah Erickson, Grogan stopped Duggan with her left pad, preserving the shootout win for the Gophers.
Though Minnesota won the shootout, the game is recorded as a tie on each team's record. The Gophers received an extra point in the WCHA standings for the shootout victory.
Sunday's game saw a similarly conservative start offensively for both teams. The Gophers struck first early in the second period as Jocelyne Lamoureux skated into the right circle and put the puck over the left shoulder of senior goaltender Jessie Vetter. Minnesota completely controlled the flow of the game for the remainder of the period, outshooting Wisconsin 20-9 and taking the 1-0 advantage into the third.
After being dominated in most aspects of the game through two periods, the Badgers hit the ice for the third with an entirely different energy. After a couple of near misses early in the period, senior forward Erika Lawler sent a pass into the slot for senior forward Angie Keseley. Keseley eyed up a shot and then thought better of it, dumping the puck down low to Hilary Knight for Knight's 13th tally of the season.
""I was out in the slot and I got a nice pass from Erika, and I saw Hilary on the back door,"" Keseley said. ""She did a really good job finishing.""
With the momentum firmly on their side after Knight's goal, the Badgers put things away midway through the third. With Keseley in the box on a hooking call, Lawler broke into the offensive zone. Cutting right to left in front of the crease, the Badger captain flicked a backhander past Minnesota goalie Jenny Lura, securing the 2-1 win for Wisconsin.
""The best part about scoring was looking back at the bench and seeing everyone just erupt,"" Lawler said. ""The glass was shaking. It was awesome. There was so much energy.""
After two lackluster periods, head coach Mark Johnson was pleased with his team's effort in the third.
""If you play with some enthusiasm and some energy, you can be pretty good,"" Johnson said. ""We saw both sides of things today.""
Wisconsin returns to the ice next weekend to face Minnesota Duluth. Faceoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
