Badgers Head West To Battle Beavers
November 04, 2003 | Women's Hockey
The Wisconsin women's hockey team, now 5-3-0 overall and 1-3-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, travels to Bemidji State this weekend for its first league road series.
The Badgers drop the puck against the Beavers this Friday, Nov. 7 at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 8 at 2:05 p.m.
Please note: This story information is also available in the UW women's hockey release for Nov. 3 available by clicking "news releases and archives" in the right column of this web page.
THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES: SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
Predicted to finish fifth overall in the WCHA preseason coaches ' poll, Bemidji State has struggled to 1-6-1 overall and 0-4-0 in the WCHA after losing straight series against three nationally-ranked teams: Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State and Mercyhurst.
The Beavers earned their lone win and tie against Wayne State, Oct. 10-11, in their first weekend of competition.
Frosh forward Kelly Hart leads BSU with two goals and two assists for four points, while teammate Helena Tageson isn't far behind with one goal and two assists for three points.
In goal, Bemidji State's top netminder is sophomore Jill Luebke of Neenah, Wis. Luebke has collected 151 stops overall this season for a 3.79 GAA and .858 save percentage. She is 1-4-1 overall in 2003'04.
DAM! BADGERS ARE 16-1-1 ALL-TIME AGAINST BEAVERS
Wisconsin and Bemidji State have played each other 18 times in the history of the UW women's hockey program.
Of those 18 times, the Badgers have won 16. The Beavers' lone 2-2 tie came last season, Dec. 6, on their home ice, while their lone 5-1 win occurred Dec. 9, 2001 in Eau Claire, Wis.
NO. 6 BADGERS SPLIT WITH OHIO STATE AT HOME
Sixth-ranked Wisconsin earned a 1-1 series split with visiting Ohio State this past weekend at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers fell 3-2 Saturday afternoon, but rebounded for a 3-1 win Sunday afternoon against the unranked Buckeyes.
The loss marked OSU's first-ever win at the Kohl Center, while both teams gained two points in the WCHA standings with their respective first wins of the league season.
Three Badgers - junior Jackie Friesen, senior Meghan Hunter and sophomore Sharon Cole - each tallied a goal and an assist for three-point series performances, while frosh defender Bobbi-Jo Slusar earned two assists against the Buckeye net.
BAUER'S STILL ON TOP
Wisconsin true frosh Sara Bauer, a native of St. Catharine 's, Ontario, continues to lead the Badgers in overall scoring this season.
Bauer, who can play all three forward positions, collected her seventh assist of the season Sunday against Ohio State for a season total of 1-7=8 overall.
BADGER CAREER LEADERS
Two UW seniors - Meghan Hunter and Kathryn Greaves - are leading the team in career points and games respectively this season.
Hunter, a native of Oil Springs, Ontario, needs just seven points to break the UW school record of 159 career points set by Kendra Antony last season. She has tallied 1-3=4 in six games (73-80=153 career) so far this season and looks to break Antony 's record before the winter break.
Originally from Mentor, Ohio, Greaves leads all of her Badger teammates in most career games played with 112. She missed just one game last season, the first in her Badger career.
WISCONSIN REMAINS IN TOP-10 RANKINGS NATIONALLY
Wisconsin dropped back to seventh place nationally in the U.S. College Hockey Online Division I poll (Nov. 3), while holding on to its sixth-place ranking in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll for Nov. 4.
The Badgers received a No. 3 nod from the WCHA coaches in a preseason poll released Oct. 2. Minnesota claimed the top spot, while Minnesota-Duluth finished second ahead of Wisconsin.
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.
HEAD COACH MARK JOHNSON
With just one year under his belt as Wisconsin's head coach, Mark Johnson has created a strong foundation on which the Badgers can continue to build success.
Named the 2003 WCHA Co-Coach of the Year with Minnesota-Duluth's Shannon Miller and also one of eight finalists for the American Hockey Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year, Johnson guided Wisconsin to a 22-8-5 overall and 14-6-4 WCHA record last season. The Badgers' 22 wins tied the 2001-02 team for most wins in a season and the .700 winning percentage is a UW record.
The third head coach in the program's history, Johnson joined the staff after serving as an assistant coach with the men's program from 1996-2002.
During that time, he helped the team to a WCHA regular-season title during the 1999-2000 season, as well as a WCHA Final Five championship in the 1997-98 campaign.
A former Badger, he helped Wisconsin to the 1977 national championship during his freshman campaign. The first Badger to ever win WCHA Rookie of the Year honors, he went on to become the school's second all-time leading scorer with 256 points on a school-record 125 goals and 131 assists in just three seasons. Johnson would move on to greater success with the 1980 U.S. Olympic "Miracle-On-Ice" Team and a successful 11-year NHL career.
One of Wisconsin's most decorated athletes in any sport, Johnson is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame and the National W Club Hall of Fame. Johnson earned his bachelor of science degree in kinesiology from Wisconsin in 1994.
He resides in Verona, Wis., with his wife Leslie and their five children: Douglas, Christopher, Patrick, Mikayla and Megan.
