ST. CHARLES, Mo. — After falling in the semifinals the past three seasons, No. 1 Wisconsin (33-2-4) began the season with an all-in mentality towards a national title.
Playing in its first-ever NCAA tournament game, Robert Morris took the ice against No. 1 Wisconsin and for the first 13 minutes managed to play toe-to-toe with the top-ranked team in the country. Then junior forward Annie Pankowski forced a turnover, senior forward Sarah Nurse scored, and the Badgers (22-2-4 WCHA, 32-2-4 overall) proceeded to dominate the next 27 minutes of play en route to a 7-0 win over the Colonials (15-3-2 CHA, 24-5-6 overall) in the quarterfinal game.
University of Minnesota-Duluth goaltender Maddie Rooney had stolen the show the day before against Minnesota, and for 40 minutes, she threatened to do the same to Wisconsin in the final of the WCHA Tournament. The sophomore netminder had turned back 42 of the Badgers’ 43 shots, and with the score tied 1-1 the game, and the conference title, were up for grabs in the final period. It took junior forward Annie Pankowski just 33 seconds to break the tie, the first of three goals in the final frame that gave No. 1 Wisconsin (22-2-4 WCHA, 31-2-4 overall) a 4-1 win over No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth (19-5-4, 25-6-5). The victory gave the Badgers the WCHA Tournament title, their third consecutive and seventh overall. "I'm excited for the players," head coach Mark Johnson told UWBadgers.com.
All season long No. 1 Wisconsin and North Dakota have played tough, physical — and at points chippy — games.
Wisconsin was riding high, up 5-0 in the second game of their first-round series against Minnesota State and less than 10 minutes away from completing the sweep. Then Sarah Nurse got hit late and high by Minnesota State’s Demi Gardner, and as the senior forward lay in the fetal position on the ice, what had looked seconds earlier to be a sure win suddenly seemed like it might come with a loss. Ultimately the No. 1 Badgers (22-2-4 WCHA, 29-2-4 overall) did come away with a 6-0 victory over the Mavericks (4-21-3, 7-26-4) to extend their 17-game unbeaten streak and secure a spot in the WCHA semifinal behind six goals from their top line of Nurse and junior forwards Annie Pankowski and Emily Clark. “Emily had good energy, good speed; that’s as fast as she’s probably played all year.
Five different Badgers scored goals as top-ranked Wisconsin (23-2-4 WCHA, 27-2-4 overall) routed Minnesota State (4-22-3, 7-25-4) 7-0 to open WCHA playoff play Friday night at LaBahn Arena. “We had good energy,” head coach Mark Johnson said.
On a campus like UW-Madison, where football and men’s basketball grab headlines week in and week out, women’s sports can go unnoticed, despite achieving continuous success.
Through almost 50 minutes of play Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth, the top two women’s hockey teams in the country, had played a tight, closely-fought game that lived up to the expectations surrounding a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup.
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