No. 4 Wisconsin Ties No. 1 Minnesota Duluth, 2-2
December 09, 2005 | Women's Hockey
The No. 4 Wisconsin women's hockey team out-shot (37-23) the No. 1 team in the country, Minnesota Duluth, but settled for a 2-2 tie in game one of the WCHA series. The game was just the second overtime game of the season for both teams and the first tie for either. With nearly identical records, Wisconsin and UMD are 14-2-1 overall while the Bulldogs have played two more conference games and are 12-2-1 to the Badgers' 11-1-1.
In the first, the Bulldogs got on the board first with a power play goal at 10:57 and went into the first intermission with the lead. Closing out the second, Sara Bauer (St. Catharines, Ontario) finally put the puck in the net for Wisconsin to tie it up at one apiece at 16:34. Skating out of the penalty box after serving her time for holding the stick, Bauer walked around two defenders en route to the net and notched her 15th goal of the year.
Junior Bobbi-Jo Slusar (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) wound up her slap shot from the left end of the blue line early in the third period. Through traffic Slusar scored to put the Badgers ahead at 1:02. But there would be a lot more hockey left to play. The Bulldogs evened the score at 13:04 and despite using their timeout with two minutes left to play did not score and neither did the Badgers.
The always intense overtime period ensued with UMD winning the initial faceoff. Clearing the puck, Wisconsin had a number of real chances but was denied. The puck was cleared just once and quickly returned to Bulldog territory. UMD goalie Riitta Schaublin gave a stellar performance with four saves in the extra five minutes and preserved the tie. The Bulldog defense did its best to protect the zone blocking three UW shots while three more sailed wide.
Though commanding the overtime period, Wisconsin settled for the tie. Badger goalie Meghan Horras (Appleton, Wis.) made 21 saves in her first tie of the season while Schaublin stopped 35 for the Bulldogs.
Penalties were even with six apiece, but Minnesota Duluth made better use of the advantage with both goals coming on the power play while Wisconsin was 0-6.
The Badgers will battle the Bulldogs again Saturday evening at the DECC. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m.
