Semifinal Coverage
Saturday, March 9 | 5:07 p.m. - Ridder Arena
MADISON, Wis. – The No. 2 Wisconsin women's hockey team continues its postseason journey this weekend with the 2019 WCHA Final Faceoff in Minneapolis. The Badgers, the second seed in the tournament, will face No. 3 seed Ohio State on Saturday in a 5 p.m. contest at Ridder Arena.
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The winner of UW/OSU will advance to Sunday's championship game against the victor of Minnesota/Minnesota Duluth. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. and the game can be seen live on Fox Sports Wisconsin and Fox Sports North.
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Fans are encouraged to join UW Athletics for pre-game festivities at Sally's Saloon in Minneapolis on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and on Sunday starting at 11 a.m. contingent on the team advancing to the championship.
Fans can listen to the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend on 100.9 FM as Reid Magnum and UW goaltender coach
Mark Greenhalgh have the call from Ridder Arena and Saturday's game will be streamed online for free on WCHA.Com.Â
1. ALL OF THE AWARDS:Â The Badgers won A LOT of awards over the past week as both weekly, monthly, and yearly honors were released by the WCHA. The slew of awards was headlined by senior captain Annie Pankowski, a finalist for both the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award and the Hockey Humanitarian Award, was awarded both the WCHA Player of the Year as well as the WCHA Offensive Player of the Year as the WCHA's leading scorer in all games this season with 43 points on 21 goals and 22 assists and five game-winning goals. Three other Badgers received conference honors; freshman Sophie Shirley took home Rookie of the Year in the WCHA for her excellent freshman season of 37 points on 19 goals and 18 assists, junior Kristen Campbell took home Goaltender of the Year for the second-consecutive season after posting an NCAA best 1.09 full-season GAA, leading the country in wins (30-4-2) and shutouts (eight), and finally Head Coach Mark Johnson was named WCHA Coach of the Year after leading the Badgers to the highest win total in the NCAA with 30 victories so far this season.
2. PLAYOFF SUCCESS: Wisconsin is 48-15-0 all-time in WCHA postseason play, winning three of the past four WCHA Final Faceoff titles. The Badgers are 6-2 in WCHA Final Faceoff Championship history when playing in Minneapolis, the best championship record in that city of any conference team. Of the remaining four teams left in the tournament, UW, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota and Ohio State, only the Badgers and Golden Gophers have hoisted the Final Faceoff trophy since 2011.
3. INTERNATIONAL DUTY:Â A pair of UW seniors were selected to represent their countries next month at the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championships in Finland. Annie Pankowski will join former Badgers Brianna Decker, Hilary Knight and Alex Rigsby on the U.S. squad while Emily Clark joins Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull on Team Canada. The tournament begins on April 4 with the medal games on April 14.
4. ROOKIES THAT ROCK:Â Sophie Shirley and Britta Curl have enjoyed fantastic rookie seasons at UW as both Badgers were named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team. Shirley's 37 points rank 10th in school history as she looks to become only the eighth Badger freshman to record 40 points and the first to do so since Annie Pankowski. Curl became the eighth Badger to score 20 goals in her freshman year after her four-goal weekend against St. Cloud State while she's the 17th Badger rookie to record 30 or more points in a year.
5. CLEVER BADGERS: Wisconsin is not only one of the best teams in college hockey, but also one of the brightest. A total of 18 Badgers were recognized to the WCHA All-Academic Team last week. To meet the standards of the conference team, student-athletes must have completed one year of eligibility at their present institution, prior to the current academic year and have a GPA of at least 3.0 for the previous two semesters. Breanna Blesi, Grace Bowlby, Natalie Buchbinder, Kristen Campbell, Emily Clark, Sam Cogan, Mikaela Gardner, Kyleigh Hanzlik, Alexis Mauermann, Presley Norby, Annie Pankowski, Brette Pettet, Maddie Posick, Maddie Rolfes, Abby Roque, Caitlin Schneider, Sophia Shaver and Mekenzie Steffen represent Wisconsin on this impressive WCHA team.
