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Friday, March 29, 2024
Brittany Ammerman

Sophomore forward Brittany Ammerman broke out of her scoring slump in a big way against Minnesota State, recording seven points (four goals, three assists) on the weekend.

Women's Hockey: Badgers continue rolling, sweep Minnesota State

e Daily Cardinal

Sometimes a good team can fall short of its potential, but still earn a win because—even on an off day—it is better than a weak opponent. Other times that good team plays the way it can, and the results can be impressive.

Both sides of that coin were on display Friday and Sunday in the Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s sweep of Minnesota State, as the Badgers earned two conference wins despite a slow start in one game, and thanks to a consistently dominant performance in another.

With the last-place Mavericks in town, and playing in front of a substantially smaller crowd than the record-breaking one that watched them Jan. 28, top-ranked Wisconsin could be forgiven for lacking some energy in the series opener Friday afternoon.

But even with those factors pulling down the Badgers’ energy level, it still must have been a shock when, less than two minutes into the game, it was Minnesota State that took the early 1-0 lead on a breakaway goal from junior forward Lauren Smith. The Mavericks held that lead through the first period and well into the second, before senior Badger forward Brooke Ammerman scored shorthanded to even the game at one.

Friday afternoon games have been a stumbling block for the Badgers, who have struggled to find a competitive spark in those games for the past few weeks. It is a trend Ammerman said she is hoping to get rid of.

“We shouldn’t have to go down by a goal to get going,” she said. “That’s been a constant theme lately, and hopefully we’ll snap it in our next two Friday games.”

After her goal opened Wisconsin’s scoring, Brooke Ammerman’s sister, sophomore forward Brittany, followed with two goals of her own—and later added a pair of assists—to give the Badgers a lead they would not lose. By the end of the game, it was clear which team boasted a wide array of offensive threats that can wear down opposing defenses, but the memory of that slow start was tough to shake.

There would be no such problem Sunday afternoon, however, as Wisconsin seemed more effective from the start, showing a consistent energy level the Badgers have lacked for the past few series.

“People just came out with a great amount of energy,” senior forward and team captain Hilary Knight said. “They were ready to dig deep and get dirty.”

With that renewed energy, the balanced Wisconsin attack found scoring from all over the lineup Sunday, as the Badgers’ first three goals came from three different lines. Brittany Ammerman found her way onto the score sheet again Sunday, scoring two more times and assisting on one of Knight’s goals to cap off a seven-point weekend.

For Ammerman, a sophomore forward who seemed to hit a scoring slump around the same time her linemate Knight did, it was a welcome change of pace. Knight attributed the change to the work Ammerman has put in to break both players’ slumps.

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“She’s been staying after practice and working on a couple things with different coaches,” Knight said. “If we can get that chemistry and keep going with it, we’re not going to have any problems going forward.”

Along with success on offense, sophomore goaltender Alex Rigsby backstopped another impressive performance on defense Sunday. Rigsby provided 53 minutes of shutout hockey before being pulled for junior goaltender Nikki Kaasa, who made five saves in her conference play debut to preserve the 6-0 Wisconsin victory.

Knight said she was most impressed with how consistent Wisconsin played from start to finish in the series finale.

“We played a three-period game,” Knight said. “And you haven’t seen that from us for a couple of weeks, even a couple of months now.”

“As long as we keep this energy and play three periods,” she added, “we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”

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