Women's Hockey Opens Season On Top
October 12, 2001 | Women's Hockey
Meghan Hunter (Oil Springs, Ontario) scored twice and set up another to lead fourth-ranked Wisconsin to a 5-1 season-opening win at the National Hockey Center on Friday.
It looked like two teams playing their first games of the year in the first stanza as both the Badgers (1-0-0, 1-0-0 WCHA) and Huskies (0-1-0, 0-1-0 WCHA) played a disjointed period. The UW did outshoot SCSU 15-7 in the period, but neither team could find the net.
'For the first game, I thought we did well,' Head Coach Trina Bourget said. 'We came out a little slow, but achieved our goals. We got shots on net and we got our team together after missing players from Canada's Under-22 National Team and the WCHA All-Star games last week.'
Things settled down in the second as St. Cloud State scored the first goal of the season. Frosh Melanie Pudsey took the rebound of Kobi Kawamoto's shot at 2:39.
Just five seconds later, UW frosh Jackie Friesen (Regina, Saskatchewan) evened the game with a fluke wrist shot from the blue line. The puck found its way between the legs of SCSU goalie Laura Gieselman.
Leaving off where she did last season, sophomore All-American Meghan Hunter (Oil Springs, Ontario) worked a spectacular give-and-go with fellow All-American Kerry Weiland (Palmer, Alaska) at 9:58 to give Wisconsin the lead. Hunter started at the left goal line, hit Weiland at the blue line, who returned the favor as Hunter skated to the slot. Hunter finished for her first power-play and game-winning goal of the year.
The Badgers made it 3-1 when Sis Paulsen (Eau Claire, Wis.) found the net on the power play at 12:45. Hunter found Paulsen skating in from the blue line and the captain scored from the top of the right face-off circle. Kendra Antony (Yorkton, Saskatchewan) got the second assist.
Hunter scored again at 16:35 for the Badgers third power-play goal of the period. Paulsen shanked her point shot and Karen Rickard (Bowmanville, Ontario) pushed it towards the goal. The puck went to Antony, who fired from point-blank range. The rebound then found Hunter just outside the creast to the left of Gieselman. The center placed the puck into the empy net.
Wisconsin wrapped up the scoring in the third period when Julia Ortenzio (Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored on a rebound at 4:49. Molly Engstrom (Siren, Wis.) pinched to keep the puck in along the boards. Steph Boeckmann (St. Cloud, Minn.) recovered the puck in the corner, skated in front and shot. Ortenzio followed for the rebound, squeezing the puck through the five-hole.
Jackie MacMilan (Buffalo, Minn.) made 31 saves and held onto rebounds all night to earn the season's first win. Gieselman stopped 33 shots for the Huskies in the loss.
'I though Jackie played a great game in net for us, ' Bourget said. 'Special teams also made the difference. We had five goals with three on the power play, and we killed all six of their power plays. '
Wisconsin attempts a sweep of the two-game series tomorrow when they again meet St. Cloud State. Face-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
'Things to work on tomorrow - we have to remain composed. We have to stay out of the penalty box and play our game.'
