Three was a magic number for Hilary Knight and the No. 1 ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team this weekend against North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D.
Knight, a sophomore forward, recorded three assists in the Badgers 5-1 victory Saturday and followed up Sunday with a natural hat trick, three consecutive goals, in a 4-0 shutout. Even though Knight was shining brightly this weekend, the Badgers remain unbeaten for the season thanks to a team effort.
That was evident in the scoring column Saturday with four different Badgers combining for the five goals and seven Badgers contributing with assists.
Freshman forward Brooke Ammerman was the first to light the lamp recording a goal late in the first period with a shot from the blue line.
Forward Carolyne Prevost, also a freshman, continued the youth movement recording the second goal of the game early in the second period.
Senior forward Angie Keseley extended the lead to 3-0 with a shot from just outside the crease in the middle of the second period.
No team effort is complete without strong goaltending, and that is exactly what senior goalie Jessie Vetter has been providing all season. Vetter recorded 24 saves, including a few big stops on Sioux breakaways.
Junior forward Jasmine Giles rounded out the balanced offensive attack with two power play goals in the third period.
The Fighting Sioux recorded their only goal of the weekend late in the third period with a power play goal by senior defender Susanne Fellner. That final stanza turned out to be a testy one as six penalties were assessed.
Although the scoring wasn't as distributed Sunday, it was another strong game as a team for Wisconsin.
En route to the 4-0 victory, Wisconsin dominated all aspects of the game. On the offensive end the Badgers controlled the puck for most of the game
outshooting North Dakota 46-11. On the defensive end the Badgers surrendered few scoring opportunities and Vetter only needed 11 saves to record her fifth shutout of the season and 30th of her career.
For the second straight day, Ammerman was the first Badger on the board with a goal late in the first period. It was the 14th goal of the season for the freshman from River Vale, N. J., and gave her the second highest goal total in the nation.
The rest of the game belonged to Knight whose first goal came on a power play the second period. Knight completed her second hat trick of the season and added two more goals within two minutes of each other early in the third period.
The weekend sweep of North Dakota pushes Wisconsin women's hockey team unbeaten record to 12-0-2 and 8-0-2 in WCHA conference play.
Next up for the Badgers is a two game set against New Hampshire November 21-22 at Fort Myers Skatium in Fort Myers, Fla.
- uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
