Thanks to some familiar faces in new places, the Wisconsin women's hockey team completed a season sweep of the St. Cloud State Huskies this weekend at the National Hockey Center.
Making her season debut on the blue line, senior Angie Keseley recorded five assists over the weekend, helping the Badgers to consecutive wins over the Huskies, 5-1 and 6-3.
The sweep of St. Cloud State was Wisconsin's first at the National Hockey Center since 2005.
Wisconsin (16-1-3 WCHA, 22-1-3 overall) got out to a quick start Friday night with a pair of first-period goals. With traffic in front of the SCSU net, freshman forward Carolyne Prevost fired home a rebound from sophomore forward Hilary Knight, putting the Badgers up 1-0. Knight lit the lamp herself on a cross-ice pass from freshman forward Brooke Ammerman less than three minutes later, sending her team into the locker room with a two-goal advantage.
The Huskies (9-10-1, 12-12-2) kept Wisconsin off the board in the second period and managed to cut into the lead on the offensive end. SCSU's Amy Currier notched her second goal of the year on a power play near the end of the game's middle frame, bringing her team to within one.
St. Cloud would not get any closer. Keseley recorded assists on consecutive goals from sophomore forward Mallory Deluce and Carolyne Prevost. Ammerman picked up a power-play tally with just over two minutes to go in the contest, giving Wisconsin a 5-1 victory.
Looking to bounce back, the Huskies struck first Saturday afternoon. After forcing a turnover in the neutral zone, St. Cloud's Sammy Nixon broke into the UW end and beat senior goaltender Jessie Vetter less than four minutes into the game.
Sophomore defender Anne Dronen tied things up with her second goal of the season, a wrister from the high slot, midway through the period. Less than two minutes later, senior captain Erika Lawler put home a Keseley rebound to give the Badgers a 2-1 advantage.
SCSU's Caitlin Hogan drew the Huskies even in the second period, but Wisconsin took over in the final 20 minutes, netting four goals to close out the game. Hilary Knight put the UW in front 62 seconds in, and junior forward Meghan Duggan followed on a power play 47 seconds later to stretch the lead to 4-2.
After St. Cloud's Brita Schroeder recorded a power-play goal to bring the Huskies back to within one, Knight scored her second goal of the game on assists from Keseley and junior forward Jasmine Giles. Senior defender Rachel Bible added her first goal of the season late in the period to ice the game for the Badgers en route to a 6-3 win.
With three goals and three assists on the weekend, Hilary Knight brought her season point total to 49, moving back into a tie for the national points lead with Minnesota's Monique Lamoureux. Knight is still first in the nation in goals with 28, good enough for third on the UW's single-season goals list.
Knight and the Badgers are back in action next weekend when they face the Ohio State Buckeyes. The puck is scheduled to drop at 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
