NCAA Championship | #1 Wisconsin vs #2 Clarkson
Dates	Friday, March 17 | 5 p.m. (CT)
Location	St. Charles, Mo. | The Family Arena
Follow	Live Stats | @BadgerWHockey
Radio	1310 WIBA
Video	Big Ten Network | BTN2Go
Game Notes	Wisconsin | Clarkson

About the Badgers
The Badgers entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed as UW will make its first title game appearance since 2012.
 
UW enters the championship with a 22-game unbeaten-streak, the longest active unbeaten stretch in the NCAA.
 
The Badgers boast the nation's top-ranked offense and defense so far this season. UW is averaging 4.03 goals per game while allowing an average of 0.82 goals per game.
 
Senior Ann-Renée Desbiens, winner of the 2017 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, leads NCAA goaltenders in goals-against average with a 0.67 clip, winning percentage with a mark of .912, save percentage with a .965 clip, and shutouts with 17. Desbiens now has 55 career shutouts and has had three-straight seasons with at least 14 shutouts.
 
Junior Annie Pankowski, a Patty Kazmaier top-10 finalist, has been on a tear during the Badgers' unbeaten run with 55 points during the span thanks to 25 goals and 30 assists. Pankowski ranks fourth in the country in scoring, averaging 1.57 points per game. Her goals per game average of 0.71 paces the NCAA.
 
Junior Emily Clark has been clutch this year for UW as nine of Clark's 20 goals this year have been game-winners. Clark currently leads the NCAA in the category.
 
Senior Sarah Nurse is tied for the team lead in goals with 25 on the season. Her three hat tricks pace the NCAA while, her three short-handed goals are tied for the third-most in the country this year.
 

Number of the Week
5  – Ann-Renee Desbiens became the fifth player in program history to win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, joining former UW players Sara Bauer, Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan and Jessie Vetter.

About Clarkson
CU is coming off a 4-3 win against Minnesota on Friday to advance to its second Frozen Four in program history. In 2014, the Golden Knights took home the national championship after defeating Minnesota, 5-4.
 
Clarkson sits with an overall record of 31-4-5 and a 19-1-2 conference ledger.
 
The Golden Knights' offense is paced by senior Cayley Mercer, who has 60 points this season from 26 goals and 34 assists.
 
Shea Tiley backstops the Golden Knights, as the junior goal­tender has gone 27-4-5 between the pipes, accruing a 1.62 goals-against average and .928 save percent­age. 

The series against Boston College
Sunday's game marks the fifth time UW and CU have metThe Badgers lead the all-time series with the Golden Knights 3-0-1.
UW faced Clarkson on the road in October, where the Badgers swept the Golden Knights, 3-2 and 4-1, respectively. 

Desbiens named Patty Kazmaier Top-three finalist
After putting up historic numbers in the crease for the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team, senior Ann-Renee Desbiens was honored with the highest individual award in women's college hockey as she was named the 20th recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award on Saturday.

Desbiens is the fifth Badger to receive the prestigious honor, joining the likes of UW legends Sara Bauer (2006), Jessie Vetter (2009), Meghan Duggan (2011) and Brianna Decker (2012).

"It means a lot," Desbiens said. "If you look at Patty (Kazmaier) and everything she did, she's really the spirit, the definition of what hockey means: being passionate, hardworking. If you look at the past winners, everything they've accomplished in the NCAA but also after, it's just awesome to be put in the same class as them."

A native of La Malbaie, Quebec, Desbiens is only the third goaltender to ever win the award, joining Brown's Ali Brewer (2000) and Vetter.

"I thought she was deserving last year, and I'm just glad she was able to win it this year because going off last year she did some remarkable things with the NCAA record," UW head coach Mark Johnson said. "So you look at the history of women's hockey, her numbers got her to where she won the award. She was number one in I think all the categories the goaltenders have, and it's nice that people recognized her. In the big picture if you look at her whole body of work, with the shutouts and win resume, you don't know if you'll ever see it again."

After setting NCAA single-season records in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts a year ago, Desbiens has exceeded her save percentage and goals-against average records this year. She has a 0.67 goals-against average and a .965 save percentage to go along with a 29-1-4 record and 17 shutouts in only 34 starts.

In her career, Desbiens holds a 0.89 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage. Both marks would be NCAA records if her season ended today. An alternate captain for UW, Desbiens has a 99-13-9 record in net.
Desbiens shattered the NCAA shutout record with 55 career blank slates, 12 more than the previous NCAA record.

An accounting major, Desbiens has excelled off the ice, earning a 3.367 cumulative grade-point average, despite not learning English until high school.

A three-time WCHA All-Academic honoree, Desbiens has been accepted in the Wisconsin School of Business to begin her Integrated Master of Accountancy degree and has secured a top-tier accounting internship in Chicago this summer.

Desbiens also spends time before and after games meeting and chatting with young fans that look up to her as a role model and has volunteered with the Badger Life program and at the Veterans hospital.

"She's a special kid," Johnson said. "Very intelligent, and we're very happy not only for her but certainly for her family because she had a leap of faith to come down a long distance from home, not speaking a lot of English. You and I might look at it as a good choice, but for an individual coming out of that area where the culture is totally different than ours, it was a hard choice for her. So, give her a lot of credit and a lot of faith in what we wanted to do, and now she's etched her name in Wisconsin history and women's hockey history at the college level."