For Lindenwood, the goal going in to a series with defending national champion Wisconsin must have been to contain the Badgers' offense as best it could. Keep it close and they could get good experience against a quality opponent or, if the unthinkable happened, pull off an amazing upset. And the plan worked – for 20 minutes.
After the first period of Friday's series opener, however, the Lions were far less successful, as the disparity between the two programs on the ice was made abundantly clear through the weekend sweep. Despite a relatively slow start, the Badgers' offense came alive Friday and steamrolled Lindenwood Sunday, outscoring the newest NCAA hockey program 11-0 one night and 13-0 the other, and outshooting it 132-14 in two games.
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said that after unveiling a banner to celebrate the team's 2011 national championship before Friday's game, and with four players away at Hockey Canada camp, his team needed some time to find its feet.
""You had the banner dropping, and you had the celebration going on prior to the game, and you had four or five or six kids out there that haven't played at the Kohl Center yet, so they're going to have the butterflies and the jitters,"" Johnson said. ""After 20 minutes [...]they relaxed a little bit and obviously when the puck starts going in that helps their confidence.""
The puck did indeed start going in during the second period: The Badgers scored seven times in the period, and turned the energy of the series completely, and inevitably, toward a Wisconsin rout.
Freshman forward Karley Sylvester, who scored her first goal as a Badger Friday, said she and the four freshmen debuting that night were feeling the jitters.
""In the beginning I was a little shaky, super nervous – I think all of us freshmen were – but after the first shift we got it out,"" Sylvester said.
On Sunday afternoon, the Badgers suffered no early miscues and dominated throughout, scoring at will and suffocating the Lindenwood offense, allowing just three shots on goal in the game.
""We seemed to start the game the way we started the second period the other night,"" Johnson said.
Senior forward Hilary Knight provided some of the offensive fireworks, as she and junior forward Brianna Decker both recorded hat tricks Sunday.
Knight's came with a bit more flair, though: Eight minutes in to the first period, and seconds after her first goal of the afternoon, Knight took an outlet pass as she crossed the blue line. With one Lindenwood player to beat between her and the goal, Knight curled the puck onto her stick, popped it into the air and batted it down past the defender. She then skated around her hapless opponent and buried the puck in the back of the net.
It was a highlight-reel goal – one attempted more often when players mess around after practice than in a game – and also a play that perfectly encapsulated the disparity between Lindenwood, a program in its infancy at the NCAA level, and Wisconsin, home to Olympic-caliber talent that at times seemed to be toying with how completely it could dominate its opponent.
""Programs have to start somewhere,"" Johnson said of Lindenwood. ""They'll only continue to get better.""
