After sweeping Cornell at LaBahn Arena, No. 1 Wisconsin steps back into WCHA action with a Border Battle match-up against No. 2 Minnesota.
Series Information
Faceoff on Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m., while Sunday's contest, which will air live on Fox Sports Wisconsin, starts at 2 p.m. Both games can be heard in the Madison area on The Big 1070.
Parking for Saturday's game is available in Lot 46, 87 and 91 for $5. Fans parking in these lots must leave immediately after the game. Parking on Sunday is available in Lot 91 for free.Â
Saturday's game is sold out, while tickets are still available for Sunday's game.Â
Player Notes
Sarah Nurse is tied for third in the NCAA with 12 goals scored this season. Nurse currently ranks 10th in school history in career goals with 63.
Senior Ann-Renee Desbiens leads NCAA goaltenders in goals-against average with a 0.74 clip while her six shutouts this year pace the country. The La Malbaie, Quebec, native also sports a .953 save percentage that paces NCAA goaltenders.
Senior Sydney McKibbon has 92 career points, and needs only eight more points to become the 23rd player in program history with 100 career points.
Freshman Nikki Cece earned her first career shutout last Friday in the Badgers' 3-0 victory against Cornell to earn WCHA Rookie of the Week honors.
Number of the Week
44 – Ann-Renée Desbiens enters the weekend with 44 career shutouts, passing Noora Raty for the most in NCAA history. Desbiens earned the record-breaking shutout on November 6th, when the Badgers blanked Bemidji State, 6-0.
Cece earns WCHA Rookie of the Week Honors
After leading the No. 1 Badgers to a sweep over Cornell, Wisconsin women's hockey freshman Nikki Cece as named the WCHA Rookie of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.
Cece starting off the weekend by orchestrating a 3-0 win last Friday, stopping all 11 shots she faced to hold the Big Red scoreless. The victory gave the freshman her first career shutout in her first ever start at LaBahn Arena. Â
The following night, Cece kept Cornell's offense at bay, stopping 12 of the 14 shots she encountered, leading UW to a 5-2 triumph.
Over the weekend, Cece had a goals-against average of 1.00, which ranked third in the league among goalies and led all NCAA rookie netminders. The Oakville, Ontario, native was the only rookie goaltender to record a shutout in the NCAA during the weekend.
Roque named WCHA Rookie of the Month for November
After leading WCHA rookies with eight points in November, it was no surprise when Wisconsin women's hockey freshman Abby Roque was named the WCHA Rookie of the Month, the league announced Thursday.
It marks the second-straight month that a Badger has earned the league's rookie of the month award as Presley Norby earned the recognition for her play in October.
Roque tallied a rookie-best six assists and eight points in November and led all skaters in the WCHA with a faceoff percentage of .659.
A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Roque enjoyed a four-point game in Wisconsin's 6-0 win over Bemidji State on Nov. 6. She tallied two goals and two assists to record her second career multi-point game. Following her career weekend against the Beavers, Roque was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week on Nov. 8.
On the season, Roque has 12 points, which is tied for second among WCHA rookies with Norby.
Six Badgers to Appear on Canada National Teams in Upcoming Months
Six Wisconsin women's hockey players - three current, two former and one incoming freshman - were selected to represent Hockey Canada at upcoming events, the association announced Wednesday.
Junior Emily Clark, senior Ann-Renee Desbiens, former Badgers Meaghan Mikkelson and Blayre Turnbull and incoming freshman Sophie Shirley were selected to the 22-player roster that will compete for the Canadian National Women's Senior Team against the United States in a two-game series in December.
Clark, Mikkelson and Turnbull all helped Hockey Canada earn silver at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship earlier this year, while Desbiens was a member of the Canadian side that earned silver at the 2015 World Championship. Shirley, who signed her letter of intent to play for UW last week, will make her senior team debut next month.
In addition, Clark and senior Sarah Nurse were selected to compete for Canada's National Women's Development Team at the 2017 Nations Cup in Germany and Austria, Jan. 4-7.
The Canadian National Women's Senior Team will play a home-and-home against the U.S. starting on Dec. 17 with a 3:30 p.m. CT contest in Plymouth, Michigan. That game can be seen live on NBSCN. The series wraps up on Dec. 19 with a 6 p.m. CT contest in Sarnia, Ontario.
Clark and Nurse look to regain gold at the 2017 Nations Cup, a tournament consisting of national teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland for a four-day international tournament.
Prior to the Nations Cup, the Canadian National Women's Development Team will play an exhibition against Germany on Jan. 2.
Note of the Week
The Badgers and Golden Gophers are known for playing close games, as 35 games during their Border Battle series have been decided by one goal or less, including four of the six games last season.Â
Last Time Out: Wisconsin 5, Cornell 2
The No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team scored three goals in the final 40 minutes to skate past Cornell, 5-2, on Saturday night at LaBahn Arena. Â
Junior Annie Pankowski continued her scoring hot streak, netting her fifth and sixth goals in three games to help lead Wisconsin to victory.
Learn more here.Â
Ten UW women's hockey regular season games to hit airwaves
The Wisconsin women's hockey team will come together with iHeartMedia in Madison to broadcast 10 of their regular-season games in the 2016-17 season.
The games will all air in the Madison area on Rewind 92. 1 FM (WXXM-FM) or on The Big 1070 (WTSO-AM) with play-by-play announcing done by Reid Magnum.
Both games this weekend against Minnesota will be broadcasted on The Big 1070, along with UW's road series against the Golden Gophers.
In addition, the Badgers' home meetings with WCHA opponents Bemidji State, North Dakota, Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth will be aired on the iHeartMedia family of networks.
In the News:
Hitting the Mark
Wisconsin head coach
Mark Johnson became the first coach in WCHA history to record 400 career wins in the Badgers sweep of Clarkson. Johnson is only the third coach in NCAA Division I women's hockey history to collect 400 career triumphs.
