DULUTH, Minn.—The stage is set for what will be another chapter of one of the fiercest rivalries in college athletics. The Wisconsin women’s hockey team will take the ice Sunday against Minnesota looking for back-to-back national championships.
“I don’t think there could be a better set up for this game,” Minnesota senior forward Sarah Erickson said about playing Wisconsin. “I think we’ve been the best two teams in the nation. To battle off, especially a border battle like this is incredible for women’s hockey game in general.”
Playing in the same league, there is a lot of familiarity between these two teams.
“A lot of us know each other,” junior forward Brianna Decker said. “We are friends off the ice, but on the ice, it’s a different story.”
“On the ice, it’s just completely different,” Minnesota senior forward Jen Schoullis said. “Nobody really cares when their friends go home crying.”
Winning two consecutive titles is difficult enough on its own, but having to face Minnesota in the finals to do so makes it all the more challenging.
For Wisconsin, getting back to the national championship game had more to do with the preparation of this year’s team, not dwelling on the 2011 championship.
“They’ve prepared hard and now their opportunity is there tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. when they drop the puck,” Johnson said about his team making it back to the title game. “You hope you play the best game of the year.”
“If we are sitting here tomorrow at 5:05 and I can say it was the best game of the year that we played, that’ll probably be a good thing,” he added.
