MINNEAPOLIS - Two weeks after suffering their first sweep of the year at No. 2 Minnesota, the No. 3 Wisconsin women's hockey team sought redemption on Sunday as the two Border Battle rivals squared off in the 2016 WCHA Final Face-Off championship contest at Ridder Arena.

The Badgers were up to the task as 2016 WCHA Player of the Year Ann-Renée Desbiens made a career-high 35 saves and Sydney McKibbon scored midway through the second to give UW a 1-0 victory.

"It's huge for us," McKibbon said. "We've been 2-2 against them this year, so this was kind of for all the marbles. Championship Sunday is a big day, so we were pretty hyped up for this game. It's a confidence builder going into next weekend, whatever happens and wherever we end up."

Sunday's triumph gave UW its second-straight WCHA playoff title and its sixth tournament crown in program history.

Wisconsin (34-3-1) was outshot 35-24 by Minnesota (32-4-1), but Desbiens stopped every Gopher attempt at net, including 27 saves in the final 40 minutes. A top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, Desbiens leads the nation with a 0.73 goals-against average, and a .961 save percentage. The La Malbaie, Quebec, native added to her NCAA single-season record with her 20th shutout of the year.

"At no point early in the season were we talking about defense and shutouts like this - it just transpired," UW head coach Mark Johnson said. "Every season has a story. I've been in hockey a long time, I've never had a story with shutout streaks and a defense like this."

McKibbon scored the deciding goal for the Badgers as the alternate captain paces the team with six postseason points off two goals and four assists.

"The last two or three weekends, she's really stepped up her game," Johnson said. "About halfway through the season, she was getting frustrated because she expects a lot for herself and goal production wasn't where she wanted. But, we kept working with her, all of a sudden a couple pucks went in and last 4-5 games she's played as well as she's ever played for us.

"That's what you need this time of year - for players to step up, make plays, block shots. She does a lot of little things that may not show up on the stat sheet.

McKibbon's performance earned her a place on the WCHA All-Tournament team, alongside Desbiens, senior captain Courtney Burke, and sophomore Emily Clark. Desbiens was also named the WCHA Final Face-Off's Most Outstanding Player after earning a pair of shutouts during the tournament.

Wisconsin allowed Minnesota to take only eight shots on goal in the first period, as both Desbiens and Minnesota goaltender Amanda Leveille held strong to keep the game scoreless thought the first frame.

Minnesota took charge of the second period, outshooting Wisconsin 13-7, but Desbiens made numerous big saves to keep her team in the game.

McKibbon's goal came at the 13:12 mark of the period, when line mate Rachel Jones shot the puck low on Leveille. McKibbon crashed in on the crease, knocking the puck loose and into the back of the net for the eventual game-winning tally.

"Rachel Jones made a nice play, she had the puck in the slot and I was just yelling 'shoot, shoot, shoot' because I had the screen in front," McKibbon said of her goal. "She got a nice shot off and I just kind of whacked away and luckily it went in."

"It usually comes down to one team being a little more opportunistic than the other," Johnson said. "We were fortunate to get the goal in the second period and then withstood the third period and a couple power-play situations for Minnesota, and we earned ourselves a 1-0 victory."

The teams fought through a scoreless defensive battle in the final stanza, and Minnesota pulled Leveille for an extra attacker in the final minute but could not capitalize. The Badgers' defense held off Dani Cameranesi and Hanna Brandt, who rank first and second respectively in WCHA scoring.

Desbiens made a game-high 14 saves in the third period, while her teammates blocked six of Minnesota's shot attempts.

"To be honest, they're all just as important," Desbiens said of her 35 saves. "Sometimes it's not pretty but you have to do whatever you have to do. That's what I tried to do."

"You never know what's going to happen when it's a 0-0 game, one goal can be the decider," McKibbon said. "Ann-Renee played unbelievable and made some huge saves for us."

The Wisconsin penalty kill, sporting an NCAA-leading .945 clip, held off the dominant Minnesota power play four times to keep a hold on the lead.

"Whoever comes out on top, the power play or the penalty kill, is going to have a lot of confidence going into the next shift," McKibbon said. "We're a gritty team and we really take a lot of pride in our penalty kill, so that was huge for us."

With the tournament title, the Badgers earned the WCHA's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin will face Mercyhurst in an NCAA quarterfinal game at LaBahn Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m.