Badgers Shut Down Beavers 2-0 To Sweep Series
November 08, 2003 | Women's Hockey
The seventh-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team shutout Bemidji State 2-0 on the road at BSU's John S. Glas Fieldhouse to sweep the series and improve to .500 (3-3-0) in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Wisconsin's Karen Rickard notched a goal and an assist to lead the Badgers in scoring, while Meghan Hunter also knocked a goal in for the win.
Frosh goaltender Christine Dufour earned her fifth start in net for UW and put up 11 saves for the victory and her first career shutout. Bemidji State goaltender Anik Cote collected 32 saves in the BSU loss.
Much like game one of the series Friday night, the first period of action was scoreless between the Badgers and Beavers. A Wisconsin penalty for interference at 12:05 created a Bemidji State power play, but Dufour and the UW penalty-killing unit shut down all BSU scoring opportunities stopping four shots on goal during the two-minute span and five overall in the period, while firing in eight shots on goal against Cote.
Wisconsin would get its own shot at a power play after a holding call on BSU at 12:27 in the second period. Despite five shots on goal, UW lost its advantage and was forced to make a sudden change to penalty killing again after a second UW fine for roughing at 14:25.
However, a breakaway pass down center ice by Rickard, a senior from Bowmanville, Ontario, and a back-handed chip shot by Hunter, a fellow Ontario native from Oil Springs, beat Cote glove-side for a short-handed goal at 15:23. Hunter now needs just five points to break Wisconsin's all-time career scoring record of 159 points set by former Badger Kendra Antony last season.
Up 1-0, Wisconsin outshot Bemidji State 11-3 and finally tallied a second goal after Cote was pulled from net at 19:03. Rickard scored on the empty net just 11 seconds later off an assist from teammate Molly Engstrom for a 2-0 final score. Overall, the Badgers notched 34 shots on goal to the Beavers 11.
Now 7-3-0 overall and 3-3-0 in the WCHA, Wisconsin will cross over the state line again next weekend, Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15, for a two-game series at No. 10 Minnesota State.
The Badgers have never lost to the Mavericks and own a 15-0-1 all-time record against MSU, however the Mavs are currently 6-1-0 overall and 4-0-0 in league play, including a two-game sweep of three-time defending national champ Minnesota-Duluth earlier this season. North Dakota handed Minnesota State their first loss, a 2-0 shutout on the road, this afternoon.
The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. Friday night and 3:05 p.m. Saturday afternoon. A full recap for both games will be available on uwbadgers.com.
