Badgers Host UND in Conference Battle
October 26, 2006 | Women's Hockey
Holding a school-record 20-game unbeaten streak, the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team plays host to conference foe North Dakota in a Friday-Sunday series Oct. 27 and 29 at the Kohl Center.
In the Oct. 22 match-up against Minnesota, a late goal by the Gophers brought the game into a 5-minute overtime period. An eventual 3-3 tie ended Wisconsin's winning streak at 19 games. Notably, the UW continues to enjoy its best start in program history. The previous best unbeaten streak to start a season had been six games to start the 2001-02 campaign (4-0-2).
Offensively, Wisconsin is led by senior Sara Bauer and junior Jinelle Zaugg. While Bauer leads the country in assists with nine, Zaugg remains at the top of the scoring category with nine goals. Zaugg is tied for first in the nation with 13 points, one point ahead of Bauer.
Last weekend, rookie Meghan Duggan scored twice on Saturday and added another goal on Sunday to push her season total to six goals. For her efforts, Duggan was named the USCHO.com National Offensive Player of the Week and the WCHA Rookie of the Week.
Duggan leads all rookies in the country in goals and is tied for third in the nation in points among rookies with nine.
The Badgers and North Dakota have played 10 times with Wisconsin winning all 10 meetings by a combined score of 53-9. UW won all six meetings last season.
North Dakota arrives at Madison having lost their last four games. In addition, the Fighting Sioux did not score a goal in those four games, while their opponents scored 19 goals against them.
A group of only three upperclassmen - two seniors and one junior ' leads a young UND squad this season. UND, who holds a 2-4-0 overall record and a 0-4-0 conference record, anticipates a rebuilding season after adding 11 freshmen skaters to the roster.
The Fighting Sioux's offense is led by Randi Motsko, Aynley Allen and Jenny Porter who each have contributed two points on offense. Porter has scored twice, Allen provided two assists and Motsko has tallied one of each. North Dakota has notched six goals in six games, out of 118 shots-on-goal attempts.
In goal for UND, rookie Brittany Kirkham has played 304:57 and holds a .897 save percentage. A second freshman, Jody Karnik saw action in one game this season, collecting 20 saves for the game against Minnesota State.
Additionally, Badger women's hockey fans who cannot make it to the Kohl Center will have the opportunity to watch home games live on their computer during the 2006-07 season. In a new service, all UW women's hockey games at the Kohl Center will be video streamed live on UWBADGERS.COM. Fans can access the free video feed by going to uwbadgers.com and selecting the `webcasts' tab at the top right of the front page. The broadcast will be available there.
The Wisconsin student radio station, WSUM, will provide the play-by-play talent for the games while former Badgers and Olympians Molly Engstromand Carla MacLeod will add color commentary.
The Oct. 27 and Oct. 29 games are both set to begin at 2 p.m. In addition to the game on Friday, Kids Day at the Kohl will be taking place. Kids are encouraged to participate in a variety of activities including: PA Announcing, playing music, being a stick kid and much more. To sign up, go to http://www.buckysbuddies.com/ .
