DULUTH, Minn.—For almost the entire regular season, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team appeared close to invincible. But after falling to Minnesota-Duluth 3-1 in the opening game of the WCHA Final Face-Off Friday, a game in which the Badgers seemed unprepared for their motivated opponent, Wisconsin has now lost two of its past four games heading into the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers will open that eight-team tournament as the No. 1 seed against Mercyhurst, knowing that if they win three games they will repeat as national champions, but if they lose one their season will be over.
After a dominant run from September until February, Wisconsin has picked March—the time of year with the highest stakes—to start showing signs of weakness.
Though they were WCHA regular-season champions and swept the season series against Minnesota-Duluth, the Badgers struggled mightily against the Bulldogs, who needed a win in the Final Face-Off to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs fell Saturday in the conference championship game to Minnesota, ending their season, but with their backs against the wall, UMD head coach Shannon Miller said Friday her team was playing at its peak against the top-ranked Badgers.
“Obviously this is the biggest win of the year for us,” Miller said.
After being overmatched in a game where his team was the heavy favorite, Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson stressed preparation as a lesson the Badgers will take from the loss. He said players will have to ask themselves, “Did I do the things necessary so when they start the game, I’m ready to go and I’m sharp and I’m firing on all cylinders?”
“It’s an opportunity for us to take some lessons away from how we … prepared for this game, and make sure we do the job necessary the next five or six days to prepare ourselves a little bit better for our next game,” Johnson said.
The Bulldogs out-worked and out-hustled the Badgers Friday, forcing turnovers all over the ice—most notably in Wisconsin’s own zone—while using their own speed to blow past UW defenders in the neutral zone for good chances on the rush. It was those kinds of plays that led to two UMD goals.
A turnover from senior Wisconsin forward Brooke Ammerman in her own zone led to the Bulldogs’ first goal just over eight minutes into the opening period. The Badgers would even the score in the second period on a highlight-reel play from junior forward Brianna Decker, who created her own breakaway with impressive stick work and beat otherwise-flawless UMD goalie Jennifer Harss.
Ten minutes later, however, Duluth reclaimed the lead for good as Jenna McParland made a nice move of her own to get by junior defenseman Alev Kelter, and tucked the puck between sophomore goaltender Alex Rigsby’s left skate and the post. The Bulldogs would add an empty net goal in the third period’s dying seconds—moments after Rigsby sprinted back and made a diving stop after going off for an extra attacker at the wrong moment—to make the result secure.
While the Badgers’ disappointment and frustration was evident after the game, it was clearly tampered by the knowledge that they will soon have a chance to redeem themselves and play for the NCAA championship that has been their goal all season.
“Nothing’s guaranteed, and I think that’s a great reminder from our loss today,” senior forward Hilary Knight said. “On the upside, we do have another shot.”
With the Badgers now in a win-or-go-home position, Johnson said he will be looking for his team to find the level of energy necessary to succeed at this high-stakes time of year when that next shot comes.
“The magnitude of the next game is certainly higher than it is for today’s game,” Johnson said. “You lose next weekend and then your season’s over, so you have to play with urgency, you have to play to win, and hopefully in the next five or six days the mindset of our players will be at that point.”
