In its second series of the new year, No. 1 Wisconsin (11-3-0 WCHA, 21-3-0 overall) split its rivalry series with No. 2 Minnesota (12-3-1-0 WCHA, 22-3-1). The Badgers walked away with a 2-1 win on Friday night but dropped Saturday’s rematch 3-1 as the top two teams in the nation faced off at Minnesota’s Ridder Arena.
The two rivals faced off in Madison earlier this season with Minnesota handing Wisconsin its first lost of the season. Since that first meeting, the Badgers had won 11 of their past 12 games while the Gophers had won 14 consecutive games to move up to second in the USCHO.com rankings.
In the first game of the series, the Badgers came out strong and aggressive against their rivals with senior forward Emily Clark scoring on a power play five minutes and 20 seconds into the first period.
"Obviously we've been working the power play a lot, and one of the things we've come to learn is that sometimes you've got to just go with the bounces,” Clark said to UWBadgers.com. “I think that was just a case of a scrum in front of the net and the puck bouncing out and getting the goal."
Minnesota responded and tied it up 1-1 with a goal by senior forward Nicole Schammel in the second period, only for senior defenseman Maddie Rolfes to score her second goal of the season after the fourth line won a crucial face-off. Rolfes’ goal proved the winner as the Badgers held on for the final 25 minutes to secure the win.
"To come back a few minutes later [after the referees had disallowed a goal] and win a face-off and again stay ahead, which is always important in these types of games,” head coach Mark Johnson said to UWBadgers.com. “I thought in the first period we were good, the second period they were better and then the third period we tightened things up and tried to eliminate a lot of things, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that."
The Badgers and Gophers had a night of much needed rest before their rematch on Saturday afternoon. And although freshman forward Sophie Shirley scored her 13th goal of the season in the weekend closer, Minnesota junior goalkeeper Sydney Scobee swatted away 37 of the Badger’s attempts to win the series.
In the first period of Saturday’s game, senior defenseman Sophie Skarzynski gave the Gophers their lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest. After the Gophers scored again to double their lead, Shirley slammed a rebound of her own shot into the back of the net, past Scobee. The rebound and goal came just 22 seconds after the Gophers second goal, a crucial moment of the game for Wisconsin.
"Coming in after the first period, we just kind of wanted to get pucks to the net, and that's what I was trying to do,” Shirley said to UWBadgers.com. “I just tried to get it on net and was able to my rebound, so it was nice."
Although Wisconsin outshot Minnesota 38-25, the Badgers couldn’t hold steady against their rivals. The Gophers came out in the third period and scored again, this time with Schammel coming in to cinch the win 3-1 with her second goal of the game and third of the weekend.
Despite dropping a second decision to the Gophers this season, Wisconsin remained No. 1 in the USCHO.com rankings following the series, setting up a potential No. 1-No. 2 rematch in the WCHA tournament, and perhaps down the road, in the Frozen Four.
