In the inaugural series at the LaBahn Arena, the Wisconsin women's hockey team (1-3-2 WCHA, 3-3-2 overall) shook off a sluggish offensive performance in Friday's loss, 1-0, and responded with a 3-3 tie on Sunday, but won the shootout 2-0 to gain an extra point against Bemidji State (1-2-1, 2-3-1).
In Friday's inaugural game at LaBahn and the program's 500th game, both teams had their fair share of scoring chances through the first two periods but were unable to convert.
The 0-0 tie would finally be broken early in the third period. Wisconsin junior goaltender Alex Rigsby came out of the net to clear the puck but was too far out of position, leaving a wide-open goal that Bemidji State sophomore forward Kristin Huber capitalized on to take a 1-0 lead.
With two minutes left, Johnson pulled Rigsby for an extra skater and the offense kicked it into desperation mode in a final attempt to force overtime, but the Beavers' defense rose to the occasion to seal the 1-0 victory.
The shutout loss marked the first time in program history that Wisconsin was held scoreless in three straight games.
“The hard part is telling someone you need to score a goal," head coach Mark Johnson said. "That's the toughest part of the game. If we're getting chances—and we had a number of good chances tonight, and if the puck doesn't want to go in, you try not to get frustrated."
In the final game of the series, Bemidji State got on the board first in the opening period. After senior defenseman Alev Kelter turned the puck over in the Wisconsin zone, Bemidji State senior forward MacKenzie Thurston corralled the puck and shot it past Rigsby in the top left corner to take a 1-0 lead. Despite not capitalizing on their scoring chances, Wisconsin owned the shots on goal advantage, 11-6.
Wisconsin would finally find their groove offensively in the second period. At the 13:56 mark in the period, senior forward Brianna Decker deked past a Beavers' defender and put a backhand shot in the top of the goal to tie the game, 1-1, and put her name in record books as the first Badger player to score in the new LaBahn Arena.
“I'm happy for her because that's a place in history,” Johnson said. “She's meant a lot to the program and certainly has had a wonderful career here.”
As the third period got underway, the Wisconsin offense continued to play aggressive and it paid off. At the 3:22 mark, freshman defenseman Courtney Burke faked a shot past the Bemidji State defender to the left circle and scored to give Wisconsin their first lead of the game and series, 2-1.
With the Beavers on the power play with a little over five minutes left, Thurston fed a pass to the slashing Rachael Kelly, who slid the puck past Rigsby to knot the score, 2-2.
Moments later, Wisconsin was short-handed again but capitalized on a two-on-one scoring opportunity, as sophomore forward Karley Sylvester fed senior defenseman Jordan Brickner on the wing, who scored it top shelf to take the lead, 3-2. The Beavers wouldn't go away without a fight, though, and scored with 55.6 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
In overtime, the Badgers outshot the Beavers 4-0 but came up empty-handed and the game went to a shootout. Wisconsin wouldn't be denied in the shootout as Decker and junior forward Madison Packer both scored, and Rigsby saved both shots from Bemidji State to earn their first point at the LaBahn Arena.
“Overall, it was a good effort, especially 13, 14, 15 minutes of third period was real good,” Johnson said. “We won the shootout...so we can walk away feeling pretty good about it.”
Wisconsin is back in action next weekend as New Hampshire travels to Madison on Oct. 26 and and 28.
