Wisconsin women's hockey caps off a six-game road stint this weekend, traveling to Minnesota State to take on the Mavericks. Puck drop on both Friday and Saturday is scheduled for 2 p.m. (CT).
Team Notes
Coming off of a second-straight road sweep of a top-10 opponent, the No. 1 Badgers look to continue the trend at Minnesota State this weekend.
Wisconsin hopes to repeat history, as the Badgers went 6-0-0 against the Mavericks last season. The Badgers outscored MSU 25-1 in 2015-16, securing the WCHA regular season title with a home sweep of the Mavs.
UW head coach
Mark Johnson earned his 400th career victory on the Badger bench earlier this month, as UW dispatched Clarkson 4-1 on Oct. 15.
The Badgers boast the nation's top defense so far this season, as UW has allowed only eight goals in its eight games so far this year.
Player Notes
Senior Sarah Nurse leads the Badgers' offensive charge, scoring 11 points off eight goals and three assists. Nurse is coming off of a career weekend at North Dakota, as the senior lit up Grand Forks with five goals, including a four-goal effort in the Badgers' 5-2 win over the Fighting Hawks on Saturday. For her efforts, Nurse was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week. Her eight goals are tied for the most in the NCAA, while her 11 points rank ninth in the nation.
The Badgers will be without junior Annie Pankowski, a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-10 finalist in 2015-16, as she prepares for the 2016 Four nations Cup with Team USA. Pankowski led the offensive charge for UW last season after notching 22 goals and 36 assists for a team-leading 58 points. After assisting the first goal of the Badgers' 6-0 win over Mercyhurst, Pankowski became the 21st UW player to record 100 career points. Pankowski is just the fourth player in program history to reach 100 points as a sophomore, joining Brianna Decker, Meghan Hunter, and Hilary Knight.
Senior Sydney McKibbon and freshman Presely Norby have each tallied nine points so far this season; McKibbon has three goals and six assists, while Norby has notched one goal and dished out eight assists, including four helpers in Wisconsin's 5-2 win at North Dakota on Sunday.
Junior Emily Clark looks to build off a successful sophomore campaign, where she recorded 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points. A member of the 2016 Final Face-off All-Tournament Team, Clark also earned All-WCHA Second Team and WCHA All-Academic Team honors. Clark has tallied four goals and two assists in the Badgers' eight games.
Ann-Renée Desbiens, a 2015-16 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-three finalist, had a record-setting junior season, where she rewrote NCAA history after recording a goals-against average of 0.76, a save percentage of .960, and 21 shutouts. Desbiens was named the 2015-16 USCHO.com Player of the Year, as well as the WCHA Player of the Year. In addidtion to these accolades, Desbiens was recently named the 2016-17 WCHA Preseason Player of the Year.
So far this season, Desbiens ranks second in the NCAA in goals-against average with a 0.99 clip, while her trio of shutouts this year ties for second. The La Malbaie, Quebec, native also sports a .938 winning percentage that ranks eighth nationally.
Senior Jenny Ryan will anchor the blueline for Wisconsin this season, ranking 10th all-time in scoring among UW defensemen. In 2015-16, Ryan tallied eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points.Â
Senior Sydney McKibbon will captain the Badgers this year, with Ann-Renée Desbiens, Sarah Nurse, and Jenny Ryan serving as alternates.
Number of the Week
41Â -
Ann-Renée Desbiens enters this weekend with 41 career shutouts, the second-most in NCAA history. Desbiens needs only two blank slates to match Noora Raty's NCAA record.
The Series vs. Minnesota State
This weekend's series marks the 78th and 79th time the Badgers and Mavericks will have met in program history.
The Badgers lead the all-time series with the Mavericks, 72-2-3.
MSU last defeated UW on March 1, 2014, when the Badgers fell to the Mavericks, 3-0 at home.
The series features a pair of legends from the "Miracle on Ice" team in UW head coach
Mark Johnson and Minnesota State John Harrington. The two bench bosses helped the U.S. men's hockey team win gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics, which included an improbale victory over the Soviet Union.
Last time vs. Minnesota State: No. 3 Wisconsin 6, Minnesota State 0 (Feb. 27, 2016)
MADISON, Wis. — In NCAA Division I men's or women's hockey, no goaltender has had more shutouts in a single season than Wisconsin women's hockey goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, as the junior recorded her 18th shutout of the year as the No. 3 Badgers blanked Minnesota State, 6-0, on Saturday afternoon at LaBahn Arena.
Her record-breaking blank slate along with goals from six different Badgers helped UW advance to the WCHA Final Face-Off for a sixth-consecutive year.
Desbiens made 10 saves in front of a sell-out crowd at LaBahn Arena to break former Minnesota goaltender Noora Raty's record of 17 set during the 2012-13 season.
Desbiens continues to lead the nation with a 0.77 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage. The 2016 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Top-10 finalist has gone 30-3-1 in net for the Badgers this season. The team leads the country in defensive scoring, allowing only 0.72 goals per contest this season.
Wisconsin (32-3-1) outshot Minnesota State (3-29-4) 41-10 through the game.
The Badgers wasted no time lighting the lamp, as Baylee Wellhausen put away a rebound to give Wisconsin a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Later, with less than 10 seconds remaining in the frame, Sydney McKibbon would slam home a loose puck to widen the lead to 2-0.
The Badgers killed off three penalties in the second stanza, continuing to lead the nation's penalty kill with a .942 clip.
Junior Mellissa Channell tabbed her second goal of the weekend midway through the second period on a rocket from the blue line for the Badgers' third goal of the game.
Wisconsin put the game out of reach in the final period, as Emily Clark, Annie Pankowski, and Jenny Ryan each registered goals by the five-minute mark for a lead of 6-0. Ryan's power-play goal marked her 30th point of the season, ranking fourth among the nation's defensemen.
Pankowski scored a team-high three points during the game, raising her career total to 98 points. A top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, Pankowski needs two points to become the 20th Badger to reach 100 career points.
Badgers Tabbed as WCHA Preseason Favorite
The Badgers were picked to win the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, according to a preseason poll of league coaches.
The defending WCHA regular season and tournament champions, UW earned 48 points and six first-place votes, while Minnesota collected 44 points and two first-place votes to finish second in the coaches poll.
North Dakota (36) and Minnesota Duluth (30) were slotted to finished third and fourth, respectively, in the WCHA. Rounding out the poll was Bemidji State (27), St. Cloud State (16), Ohio State (13), and Minnesota State (10). Coaches could not vote for their own teams.Â
Badgers on top in USCHO poll
Wisconsin started the 2016-17 season ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll, and has maintained that ranking through the first four weeks of play.
The Badgers received 150 votes in this week's poll, along with all 15 first-place votes.
Along with Wisconsin, fellow WCHA members Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and Bemidji State also earned a top-10 ranking in the poll. Two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota sits second, receiving 1353 points, Minnesota Duluth slotted in at third with 109 points and Bemidji State comes in at tenth, earning 23 points. North Dakota fell out of the top-10, but received votes.
Five Badgers earn spots on Team USA for Four Nations Cup
Junior Annie Pankowski will join former Badgers Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Alex Rigsby on USA Hockey's roster for the 2016 Four Nations Cup, the organization announced Wednesday.
Pankowski is one of three collegians on the 23-player roster for the international tournament that takes place in Finland November 1-5.
The five Badgers helped the U.S. win gold earlier this year at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships, while the four former Badgers helped Team USA capture the 2015 Four Nations Cup.
Note of the Week
Wisconsin has been dominating puck possession during the 2016-17 season, as the Badgers are outshooting their opponents 40.7 to 16.5 shots on goal per contest. UW has four games this season where they've gathered at least 40 shots on net.
In the News:
Hitting the Mark
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson became the first coach in WCHA history to record 400 career wins earlier this month at Clarkson. Johnson is only the third coach in NCAA Division I women's hockey history to collect 400 career triumphs.
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