When a group as talented as the No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team (9-1 WCHA, 15-1 overall) outscores its opponent 11-1 over two games, it would be easy to think it was cruising without incident.
But while the games were almost never in doubt, the Badgers’ sweep over the weekend against St. Cloud State (0-10, 1-13-2) was not entirely smooth sailing as Wisconsin ran into pair of good games from the Huskies’ goaltender. Meanwhile, an injury Friday could have a big impact later in the schedule.
Wisconsin’s top forward line of junior Brianna Decker and seniors Brooke Ammerman and Carolyne Prevost accounted for two goals in the first period Friday, with one apiece from Prevost and Decker. But the Wisconsin guns fell silent for the next 40 minutes as senior St. Cloud goalie Tayler VanDenakker withstood their assault with a number of big stops to keep her team in the game.
“She made some unbelievable saves and actually took us off guard a little bit on a couple of them,” Decker said.
“We knew if we just kept pounding at them and peppering the goalie we’d get a couple in,” she added.
The Badgers broke through with three more goals in the third period, finding a way past VanDenakker courtesy of a Decker goal and two more from senior forward Hilary Knight. Having found the back of the net, and with another shutout from sophomore Alex Rigsby, Wisconsin earned its tenth win in a row, 5-0.
Those goals from Knight were the 125th and 126th of her career, pushing her past her head coach, Mark Johnson’s record from his playing days and making Knight the all-time leading goal scorer in Wisconsin hockey history.
The victory came at a price, however, as Prevost went down hard after another player fell at an awkward angle into her left knee. Although she skated off the ice under her own power, and even returned to the bench for a few moments, Prevost did not return after the injury and was out of the lineup Sunday.
“She’ll be out for a while,” Johnson said of Prevost, who was wearing a brace on her leg Sunday. When asked how long that while would be, Johnson said he had “no idea.”
The loss could be a big blow to Wisconsin—with 26 points, Prevost is third in scoring for the Badgers—although the team held up fine without her in Sunday’s game. Despite some highligh-reel plays from VanDenakker, including an unbelievable stick save that knocked a shot from Ammerman out of midair, Wisconsin earned the series sweep with a 6-1 win.
With Prevost gone the Badgers will look deeper into their line chart to make up for that scoring, but if Sunday’s game is any indication that production is there in the form of a talented third line of freshmen. Forwards Karley Sylvester, Blayre Turnbull and Katy Josephs have come together well in their freshman year, and Josephs said they knew the team needed to find a replacement for Prevost’s scoring touch.
“She brings a lot of energy to the team,” Josephs said. “I think everybody felt a need to give a little more.
