Wisconsin Shuts Out Bemidji State for the Sweep
October 17, 2004 | Women's Hockey
The No. 4 Wisconsin women's hockey team shut out Bemidji State, 4-0 Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center and completed the series sweep of the Beavers. The first weekend of Western Collegiate Hockey Association play gave the Badgers a 2-0-0 conference record and a 4-0-0 mark overall. The Beavers return to Minnesota with a 1-3-0 overall record and a 0-2-0 WCHA record.
'I think the most important thing is we played a little bit better than we did last week and we continue to make progress,' said head coach Mark Johnson. 'Everyone got a chance to play again this week, so kids are feeling good about themselves. Now we, as coaches, have to get these kids to push a little harder and play a little stronger.'
Wisconsin began the scoring just 1:50 into the first period when Sharon Cole lit the lamp for her third goal of the season. Lindsay Macy was credited with the assist, her ninth on the season. Macy currently leads the Badgers with 13 points (4-9=13).
Assistant captain Jackie Friesen notched the next goal at 8:53 in the first with help from Cyndy Kenyon and Meaghan Mikkelson. Grace Hutchins scored a 6:21 in the second while captain Carla MacLeod capped the victory with a quick shot to beat the goalie at 6:24 in the third. It was MacLeod's first point on the season and just her second game. The Canada native missed Wisconsin's season-opener last weekend as she was competing in Canada's Thanksgiving Festival.
While the Badgers came away from the weekend match-up with Wayne State in good shape, Johnson is happy to have MacLeod back on his blueline.
'(Carla's) just good,' Johnson said. 'When you have Carla and Molly (Engstrom)'the quality players that those two are'there is a lot of ability on the blueline. Carla's just a good player. The best thing about her is she understands how to play. Her hockey sense is very high. When she's on the ice, things seem to go pretty well.'
Bemidji State certainly didn't back down from the fight. The Beavers made Christine DuFour work in the net as she registered 22 saves in the shutout. In her second game of the season, DuFour has kept the crease clean not allowing any goals thus far.
Next week the Badgers will hit the road for first road series hosted by WCHA foe, Ohio State. The Badgers met the Buckeyes five times last season, going 4-1. With the new emphasis on penalties-calling the Badgers will focus on their special teams situations, among other things, heading into the next weekend.
'We go into a smaller barn next week,' said Johnson. 'Ohio State's got the smallest rink, dimension-wise, of all the rinks in the league. So, we'll do some things in practice to help that. We need to work on our penalty-kill and continue to work on our power-play.'
Penalties have been a factor in Wisconsin's games to this point. Sunday's contest saw 10 Bemidji State penalties and 16 for Wisconsin. Last season the Badgers averaged just 4.2 penalties per game compared to the 2004-05 average of 7.5.
Stay tuned for all the latest on Wisconsin women's hockey on uwbadgers.com.
