Home Away From Home: Badgers Battle Huskies In Verona
November 18, 2003 | Women's Hockey
Fresh off back-to-back series sweeps of WCHA opponents, the Wisconsin women's hockey team, now 9-3-0 overall and 5-3-0 (.625) in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, returns home for a two-game series against St. Cloud State at the Eagle 's Nest Ice Arena in neighboring Verona, Wis.
The Badgers drop the puck against the Huskies this Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Live stats and full recaps will be available on uwbadgers.com.
Please note: This story information is also available in the UW women's hockey release for Nov. 17 available by clicking "news releases and archives" in the right column of this web page.
NO. 7 BADGERS SWEEP NO. 10 MAVERICKS ON ROAD
Seventh-ranked Wisconsin earned a two-game series sweep at 10th-ranked Minnesota State this past weekend with a 3-0 shutout and a 4-3 win against MSU at All Season's Arena in Mankato, Minn.
In just her second game back from playing with the Canadian senior women's national team at the Four Nations Cup in Sweden, Wisconsin's team captain Carla MacLeod assisted on three of the UW's four goals Saturday to lead the Badgers in scoring. She was named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week for helping lead Wisconsin to the win.
With the sweep, UW moved up to second place in the WCHA behind Minnesota and ahead of Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota State tied at third.
THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES: SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Predicted to finish seventh overall in the WCHA preseason coaches ' poll, St. Cloud State has dropped its last two league series against Minnesota and Ohio State. The Huskies swept visiting North Dakota, who will join the WCHA next season, with a 2-1 win and an overtime 5-4 win, Oct. 24-25.
Sophomore forward Ashley Stewart leads the Huskies with five goals and four assists for nine points, while defenders Tina Ciraulo (3-4=7) and Kobi Kawamoto (2-5=7) rank second on the team with seven points each.
In goal, St. Cloud State's leading goalkeeper is senior Ellen Brinkman. A native of North St. Paul, Minn., Brinkman has notched 132 stops overall this season for a 3.45 GAA and .886 save percentage. She is 1-4-1 in five games.
BADGERS DON'T FEAR THE DOG HOUSE
With 16 games between these two teams, Wisconsin owns a 13-3-0 all-time record against St. Cloud State. The Huskies swept just one series against the Badgers back in 2001, while they knocked off UW 5-3 on Nov. 9 last season.
Wisconsin's last meeting with the dogs, however, was a dominating 9-2 victory, Feb. 15, on the road in St. Cloud. After a 2-0 lead in the first period, the Badgers scored seven goals in the second period, including two goals a piece by MacLeod and Madison-native Nikki Burish.
RICKARD'S THE NEW LEADER
Hailing from Bowmanville, Ontario, Wisconsin senior Karen Rickard tallied two points this past weekend from assists to overtake frosh Sara Bauer as the Badgers' leading scorer.
With six goals and three assists, Rickard's racked up nine points to rank first in total scoring.
Assistant captains Meghan Hunter and Steph Millar have also moved up to tie Bauer with eight points overall.
Hunter now needs just three more points to break Kendra Antony 's school record of 159 career points set last season.
ELLE EST UN MUR!
Translation: She's a wall! Wisconsin's frosh goaltender Christine Dufour, a native of Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec, collected 32 saves against Minnesota State and earned her second career shutout to improve to 6-1-0 in eight games played as a Badger.
With five straight wins on her resume, Dufour's built an overall 1.50 GAA and .909 save percentage, while her 1.17 goals-against average leads all netminders in the WCHA.
BADGERS AMONG THE CONFERENCE LEADERS
Now with eight conference games under their UW belts this season, several Wisconsin skaters are ranked among the WCHA's best in stats.
Carla MacLeod is tied for third in defender scoring with four points, while classmate Jackie Friesen is also tied for third with two game-winning goals. Defender Bobbi-Jo Slusar is also tied for fourth in rookie scoring with 2-2=4.
NATIONAL TEAM BADGERS
Five members of the 2003'04 Wisconsin women's hockey roster played for the U.S. and Canadian Under-22 National Teams this past July in a three-game exhibition series that the Americans won 2-0-1.
Junior Molly Engstrom skated for Team U.S.A., while juniors Jackie Friesen and Carla MacLeod joined frosh Meaghan Mikkelson and Bobbi-Jo Slusar on Team Canada.
UW's team captain this season, MacLeod also captained her U-22 teammates and was recently named to Canada's Four Nations Cup team, the first step in being selected to her country's national senior women's team.
Senior Meghan Hunter (Canada U-22) and junior Nicole Uliasz (U.S. Senior and U-22) also earned national team experience in the 2001'02 season.
