The sixth-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team allowed a pair of third period power-play goals to No. 10 Ohio State and finished in a 3-3 tie with the Buckeyes at OSU Ice Arena on Saturday.
Kerry Weiland (Palmer, Alaska) beat one forward before firing a successful wrist shot for the Badgers first goal of the game. Kendra Antony (Yorkton, Saskatchewan) fed Weiland at the blueline to start the UW's fourth power-play goal of the series. The goal came at 8:57 of the first period.
Karen Rickard (Bowmanville, Ontario) scored her third goal of the series and fourth of the season at 11:23 to give the Badgers a 2-0 lead. Meghan Hunter (Oil Springs, Ontario) recorded her second assist of the period with a pass to Sis Paulsen (Eau Claire, Wis.) cutting down the slot. Paulsen's shot was stopped, but Rickard pounced on the rebound for the score.
OSU cut the lead in half at 13:50 with an unassisted goal by Jeni Creary. Her sixth of the season came after her original shot was stopped, but the rebound bounced off the skate of a Badger defender and over the goalline for the goal.
The UW regained its two-goal lead at 14:50 of the second period when Jocelyn Cookson (Edina, Minn.) deflected Jackie Friesen's (Regina, Saskatchewan) shot from along the right boards. Cookson's redirect was stopped by OSU goalie April Stojak, but Steph Boeckmann (St. Cloud, Minn.) was in place for the rebound and scored her second of the season.
Creary scored at 7:14 of the third period to cut the game to 3-2, following up her own rebound for her second of the game. It was the first of back-to-back power-play goals for the Buckeyes.
The frosh Creary then completed the hat trick and scored her eighth of the season to tie the game. Emma Laaksonen's wide point shot bounced off the back boards and out the other side to a waiting Creary. The power-play goal came at 12:39.
Wisconsin had its chance to win with 3:00 left in the third. OSU was called for a penalty and the Badgers stayed in the offensive zone through most of the play. Antony fanned on the a shot in the low slot on the UW's best chance.
'We need to strike a better balance,' said head coach Trina Bourget. 'The last two weekends in the first night of the series, the end result was pretty one-sided and the scoreboard showed that. I think when you are team that gets beat, you get a pit in your stomach and you get motivation to come back the second night even harder. We knew they were going to come back hard at us.'
OSU had the best opportunity of overtime when Jeanne Chapple took a pass from Creary in alone on Jackie MacMillan (Buffalo, Minn.) with 1:03 left, but the junior stopped the shot with her left shoulder to preserve the deadlock.
'Sometimes we take Jackie for granted,' Bourget stated. 'She is the mainstay of our program. She definitely keeps us in a lot of games and makes the big save at the right moment. A goaltender like that is an asset to have. She gave us the opportunity to come out of this game with a point.'
MacMillan made 19 saves in her first tie of the season and is now 4-0-1. Stojak made 23 saves for OSU and sits 1-1-1 on the year.
'In the first period they had a little motivation and beat us to the puck,' Bourget concluded. 'In the second period we turned it around. The team came out strong and had a great second period. Obviously, the penalties killed us in the end with two power-play goals in the third period. We have to make sure to stay out of the box and stay disciplined. Overall to take three out of four points on the road is a pretty good weekend.'
Wisconsin returns home next weekend for a series against defending NCAA Champion and No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth. The Badgers and Bulldogs meet on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2 and 3 at Capitol Ice Arena. Both games start at 7:05 p.m.
