Wisconsin women's hockey hosts Ohio State this weekend in its home opener. The top-ranked Badgers will take on the Buckeyes on Friday and Saturday, with puck drop slotted for 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.Â
Team Notes
No. 1 Wisconsin is coming off a sweep of St. Cloud State, which saw seven different Badgers light the lamp in the Granite City.Â
The Badgers are 13-4 in their previous 17 home openers, including a 3-1 record at LaBahn Arena.Â
In addition, UW has shut out its opponents in five of its past six home openers going back to the 2010-11 season, including a 7-0 win over Ohio State last year.
Player Notes
Annie Pankowski, a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-10 finalist in 2015-16, leads the offensive charge for UW after notching 22 goals and 36 assists for a team-leading 58 points last season. 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.
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.
Senior Sarah Nurse finished the 2015-16 season with a team-leading 25 goals and 13 assists for 38 points. Nurse led the team with 228 shots on goal, and was named to the All-WCHA Third Team.Â
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.
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
39Â -
Ann-Renée Desbiens enters this weekend with 39 career shutouts, the second-most in NCAA history. Desbiens needs only one more blank slate to pass Jessie Vetter's school record and four to match the NCAA career shutout record.
Number of the Week
39Â -
Ann-Renée Desbiens enters this weekend with 39 career shutouts, the second-most in NCAA history. Desbiens needs only one more blank slate to pass Jessie Vetter's school record and four to match the NCAA career shutout record.
The Series vs. Ohio State
This weekend's series marks the 77th and 78th times that the Badgers and Buckeyes have met in program history.
The Badgers lead the all-time series with the Buckeyes 60-10-6.Â
The Badgers outscored the Buckeyes 19-1 last season, as
Emily Clark led the offensive charge with four goals and four assists for eight points throughout the four games against OSU.
Mikaela Gardner tallied her first career goal against the Buckeyes on Oct. 11 last season, where UW dispatched OSU 8-0.
Last time vs. Ohio State: No. 2 Wisconsin 2, Ohio State 0 (Feb. 6, 2016)
COLUMBUS, Ohio —  The No. 2 Wisconsin women's hockey team has had its share of great goalies in program history, including two-time Olympian Jesse Vetter and Alex Rigsby, who won 100 games during her career in Madison.
But none of the UW greats have had more shutouts in a single season than UW junior Ann-Renee Desbiens, who collected her 15th shutout of the season as the Badgers blanked Ohio State, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at the OSU Ice Rink.
Desbiens turned away all 17 shots she faced, including nine in the final period, to improve to 26-1-1 in net this season. The La Malbaie, Quebec, native leads the NCAA in goals against average with a 0.61 mark, save percentage with a 0.966 clip, shutouts with 15 and wins with 26.
Sophomore Baylee Wellhausen put the Badgers on the board early in the second period and freshman Sam Cogan added a goal in the third to give the Badgers (28-1-1, 22-1-1-1 WCHA) their 10th-straight win.
UW dominated play in the first, outshooting Ohio State (9-20-1, 5-18-1-1 WCHA) 12-2, but were unable to find the back of the net despite two power play opportunities and numerous high-quality scoring chances.
Early on in the second period, Desbiens faced a two-on-one OSU rush, but made a huge save to keep the Buckeyes off the scoreboard. The turnover gave the Badgers an offensive rush, allowing Wellhausen to crash the slot and put the puck behind Ohio State goalie Alex LaMere to give Wisconsin the 1-0 lead.
An OSU player-advantage to begin the final stanza didn't slow the Badgers' offense, as Cogan's goal came just 90 seconds into the third period. She received a pass from Emily Clark in front of LaMere and shelved it to double the UW lead. Cogan averages 0.67 points per game, ranking 17th nationally among the country's rookies.
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 maintained that ranking after the first week of play.
The Badgers received 149 votes in the poll, along with 14 of the 15 first-place votes.
Along with Wisconsin, fellow WCHA members Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, and North Dakota also earned a top-10 ranking in the poll. Two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota sits second, receiving 136 points, Minnesota Duluth slotted in at sixth with 61 points after being unranked in the preseason poll, and North Dakota comes in at seventh, earning 53 points.
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.
Learn more about the Badgers selected here.
Note of the Week
For the first time in program history, the Badgers completed a perfect home slate, going 21-0-0 at LaBahn Arena in 2015-16. Wisconsin also sold out 12 games during the 2015-16 season, a program record. UW averaged 2,018 fans per contest last year.
In the News:
The Quest for 400
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson enters this weekend with a 397-75-35Â record in his 13 years on the UW bench. His 397Â wins are the third-most in NCAA Division I women's hockey history.
Johnson is only five wins away from becoming the third NCAA Division I women's hockey coach ever to win 400 games.
The other three coaches to reach 350 wins at the NCAA Division I level are Katey Stone (Harvard), Michael Sisti (Mercyhurst) and Shannon Miller (Minnesota Duluth).
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