Eastward Trip a Homecoming for Four
November 15, 2007 | Women's Hockey
When the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team (9-2-1, 5-2-1 WCHA) heads out east this weekend to face No. 2/3 New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H., it will be a homecoming of sorts for a few of the players.
The weekend series against Hockey East's Wildcats (9-2-0, 7-0-0) will have extra special meaning for four current Badgers - Hillary Knight, Emily Morris, Erica Lawler and Meghan Duggan - who all have ties to the state of New Hampshire and the New England area.
Knight is a native of Hanover, N.H., a town less than 100 miles northwest of the UNH campus. The freshman expects to see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd.
'I'm really excited because I haven't seen my family in a few months,' said Knight. 'All my brothers will be there to watch me and it 's going to be nice to see everyone.'
Knight's family won't be the only people in the crowd this weekend. 'I have some friends coming up from Connecticut as well and then my brother is bringing a bunch of friends too,' Knight added.
Senior captain Emily Morris, a native of Massena, N.Y., has slightly different ties to the Granite State. Morris' father, Mark, is the head coach of the AHL's Manchester Monarchs. Manchester is just 45 minutes west of Durham, and Morris, who along with Knight has never competed at the Whittemore Center, is excited to play in front of a lot of friends and family, including her dad.
'I'm excited to play in front of everyone,' said Morris. 'I can't wait. My parents will be coming so that will be nice. Heading out there will also be a nice change of scenery from playing all these games in the Midwest.'
'My dad came to our first game against Union but our schedules really conflict, ' said the senior captain. 'We are usually playing the same days that his team is, so he is really excited to see me out there.'
Junior Erika Lawler and Meghan Duggan are both from New England as well, and both attended Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts that is less than two hours from UNH.
The Badgers are 0-4-1 all-time against the Wildcats, however the two teams have not met since Nov. 27, 2005. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, Wisconsin leads the nation in both number of wins (81) and winning percentage (.894) while New Hampshire ranks second in both categories, recording 70 wins and an .859 winning percentage.
Live stats for both games can be found id=6564BC0A-DC83-43DB-B16B21C4DC7987EA&stat_dir=hockeyw"> --> here while free audio for Saturday afternoon's game can be found here . Pay-per-view video for both games can be found here .
Faceoff between the Badgers and Wildcats is set for 4 p.m. CST on Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Whittemore Center.
