Badgers Blanked By Bulldogs 3-0 In Duluth
December 05, 2003 | Women's Hockey
The fifth-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team fell 3-0 to fourth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth Friday evening after a physical battle at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on the shores of chilly Lake Superior.
UW defender Molly Engstrom led the Badgers in shooting with four shots on goal, while frosh goaltender Christine Dufour collected 16 saves in the loss. Minnesota-Duluth goaltender Riitta Schaublin posted 35 saves in net.
Wisconsin stayed true to form and outshot its WCHA opponent 35-19, in addition to killing two of three power-plays by Minnesota-Duluth. However, UMD's top line of forwards Caroline Ouellette, Jenny Potter and Jessica Koizumi would prove fatal to the Badgers' hopes of an upset.
The Bulldogs leapt to an early 2-0 start in the first period to surprise the Badgers with back-to-back goals 44 seconds apart on just their second and fourth shots-on-goal.
Following a Wisconsin penalty for hooking at 5:14, Minnesota-Duluth cashed in on its first power-play opportunity as UMD frosh Koizumi chipped the puck in past Dufour for the first goal at 5:35 with assists from Olympians Potter and Ouellette.
Potter and Ouellette would tag up again for the `Dogs second goal at 6:19 as Ouellette and Julianne Vasichek set up the Potter score for the two-goal advantage. The Badgers outshot the Bulldogs 11-7 throughout the period and earned their own five-on-four advantage courtesy of a UMD cross-checking penalty at 15:08, but couldn 't break Schaublin, a 6-0 frosh from Basel, Switzerland, to make a mark on the scoreboard.
Ouellette and Potter continued to be the thorn in Wisconsin 's side during the second stanza. The Bulldog lead grew to 3-0 after Ouellette tallied her own goal at 4:16 with an assist from Potter, despite Wisconsin again outshooting the opposition 11-7.
A body-checking penalty on Minnesota-Duluth at 5:41 presented Wisconsin with a second advantage, but the Cardinal and White were unable to convert against Schaublin and the Bulldog defense. The Badger defense, however, would find its rhythm and began shutting down the attack of UMD's forwards.
After a UW penalty just 54 seconds in, Wisconsin began the third period successfully killing Minnesota-Duluth's second power-play of the contest to give the Badgers confidence on the Bulldog's home ice.
Still down 3-0 entering the final few minutes of the period, Wisconsin killed off another Minnesota-Duluth power-play opportunity and gained one of it 's own at 16:17. Despite six shots on goal against Schaublin by the UW special teams, the Bulldogs held off the Badgers through the power play and the remaining minutes of the much-anticipated league game.
Wisconsin, now 11-4-0 overall and 7-4-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, returns to the DECC Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. looking to even up the series against Minnesota-Duluth in game two of the weekend.
