ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team scored four times in the first period and never looked back en route to its 8-2 win over St. Cloud State on Friday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
Presley Norby and
Annie Pankowski each had two goals for the Badgers (18-1-0, 8-1-0-0 WCHA) to lead Wisconsin to its 16th straight win against the Huskies (5-14-1, 2-11-0-0 WCHA).
The Wisconsin offense got the action rolling just three minutes into the game thanks to sophomore
Caitlin Schneider who delivered the put-in goal off of terrific passing display from the Badgers.
The Badgers went on a scoring frenzy with five minutes left in the opening period grabbing three goals over that time span. Senior
Maddie Rolfes grabbed her first goal of the season and the second of the day for the Badgers, firing in a goal off another showcase of quality passing by UW.
Junior
Presley Norby followed suit, ending the first frame with two straight goals. Norby's first came from behind the net after her shot was deflected-in off the back of a SCSU defender. Norby struck again with 55 seconds left in the frame to give UW a 4-0 lead after the first period.
Senior
Annie Pankowski took over the second period, scoring a pair of goals. Pankowski's first rocketed past SCSU goaltender Emma Polusny at the 4:51 mark of the second period.
After a SCSU goal just halfway through the period, Pankowski quickly responded with her second of the day, sniping in a bullet goal with 6:43 left in the second to give the Badgers a comfortable five-goal advantage heading into the final period.
In the third period, freshman
Sophie Shirley scored her 11th of the year before junior
Alexis Mauermann scored on a power play to round out the scoring.
Play of the Game
Norby's second goal of the first period was a thing of beauty, as Norby accelerated past the SCSU defense before falling to her knees. Despite being tripped up, Norby still was able to send the puck top shelf for her seventh goal of the season.
Three Notes of the Game
- This marks the first time UW has scored six or more goals in three-straight games since UW scored six or more goals in four-straight games during the 2010-11 season.
- After a four-goal first period on Friday, Wisconsin has now outscored its opponents 34-8 in the opening period this year.
- Pankowski now has a six-game goal streak, which is tied for the ninth-longest streak in school history.
Straight from the Rink
UW head coach Mark Johnson
On the win:
 "It was good for a lot of different reasons, I think the most important one was coming off a very successful weekend last weekend against Syracuse. We wanted to keep that momentum in on the first period and establish that and we did a good job at getting some opportunities early on which helped as the game went on."
On the offense:
 "Just capitalizing on our opportunities, we saw that last weekend with our play around the net being very good and again you look at today's game where a bunch of the goals were created off of turnovers around their goaltender whether it was in front or behind the net and put transitions into getting opportunities we can capitalize on. And then we got a couple of power plays we capitalized on, so credit the players for that, they keep working at it and eventually you get rewarded and the last couple games we've gotten rewarded for our efforts."
On the power play:
"Creating opportunities, certain power plays are going to be more important especially like today, it's one to nothing and we get an opportunity on a power play and quickly make it two nothing. Last weekend was a similar situation, where we had it two nothing and had a power play against Syracuse and made it three nothing, those are important power plays where if you can do that, you can capitalize on them."
Senior forward Annie Pankowski
On the win:
"We set a goal for ourselves this weekend to win all six periods. I think we did a really good job of doing that and taking each period as a game by itself and not putting too much pressure on the end goal, so I think that was really good for us."
On winning the first period:
"For our team, I think we play better when we get up by a goal and it makes everybody else play better, play more relaxed where it's easier to play our game and no one is in their head too much. So I think that when we do get that first goal in it's a little sigh of relief and then the floodgates open for everybody else. So that first goal is really going to be our best friend and then the thing that holds us back."
Junior forward Presley Norby
On what's working in the first period:
"I just think we're just trying to get better every single game and what comes along with that is just being ready to play right when the puck drops. I think we're doing a better and better job of that every game."
On expectations for Saturday:
"Playing them on this big home ice I think they're definitely going to come out hard, so definitely not underestimating them tomorrow, but definitely looking forward to it."
Up Next
UW and SCSU wrap up their series on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, which marks the Badgers' final game of 2018. The game can be seen live on Fox Sports Wisconsin and Fox Sports North.
