Badger Hockey Spends Holiday Weekend on the Road
November 25, 2005 | Women's Hockey
The Wisconsin women's hockey team (11-1-0, 9-1-0 WCHA) will be traveling to Hanover, N.H., to participate in the Dartmouth Tournament over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Badgers will face host Dartmouth (4-4-0, 2-4-0 ECAC) Saturday and No. 5 New Hampshire (7-2-0, 3-1-0 HEA) on Sunday. Following last weekend's performance in which UW swept then-No. 4 Minnesota, Wisconsin rose to No. 1 in the nation (USCHO poll)for the first time in team history.
The Badgers hope to continue an 11-game winning streak, the longest in program history. Wisconsin collected 10 consecutive wins beginning in February of the 2004-05 season, but that streak ended after losing 3-2 to top-ranked Minnesota in overtime. The Badgers also hold the nation's longest current winning steak.
Wisconsin's last series against Minnesota proved to be successful. The Badgers swept the Gophers for the first time ever and were only the second team, besides Minnesota Duluth, to sweep the Gophers in their home territory. Wisconsin also scored more goals on Minnesota than any previous meeting between the two teams. In the past, UW maxed out their scoring against the Gophers at four, but Saturday, the Badgers brought their game to another level and cranked out six goals.
On the defensive end, the Badger goalies are interestingly dead even following the Minnesota series with 114 saves apiece, eight goals allowed and a nearly equal goals-against average (Meghan Horras 1.33, Christine Dufour 1.34). With a save percentage of .934, the duo is tied for eighth in the nation.
Currently, Wisconsin's scoring offense if ranked second in the nation; topped only to New Hampshire. UW is led by junior Sara Bauer with 24 points after nine goals and 15 assists. Teammate Bobbi-Jo Slusar also contributed to 15 assists and has scored four times this season, for 19 total points. Notably, five additional Badger skaters have already recorded double-digit points this season.
Wisconsin is facing some demons this weekend with a 0-3-1 record vs. New Hampshire (though they haven't met since the 2002-03 season) and a 0-3-0 record vs. Dartmouth. The most recent loss to Dartmouth ended the Badger's 2004-05 season. After earning its first NCAA berth, Wisconsin fell to Dartmouth, 4-3 and missed advancing to the Frozen Four. Against UNH, the Badgers have been outscored 8-1 scoring the one goal in a tie performance in Madison.
The Big Green split the weekend with a loss to Brown followed by a win at Yale. Dartmouth out-shot Brown, but still fell 2-0 for its fourth season defeat. The loss against Brown dropped Dartmouth out of the national rankings. In its 4-2 win vs. Yale, Dartmouth halted an 11-period scoring slump and evened its season record to 4-4-0. Shannon Bowman and Danielle Grundy lead the Big Green in scoring with nine points apiece.
The Wildcats, on the other hand, played just one game over the weekend and recorded an 8-2 victory over Northeastern. Nicole Hekle highlighted the game with her first career hat trick. She also leads the team in scoring with 15 points. Five members of the team have broken into double-digit scoring. The teams met again in a mid-week match-up Tuesday where UNH topped the Huskies again, 2-0.
This weekend's games are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26 and at noon on Sunday. Times are Central. The UNH game can be heard live by clicking here thanks to USCHO.com. Live stats for both games provided by at the Dartmouth web site .
