Game One Coverage
Saturday, Jan. 2 | 2:07 pm CT ā Mankato, Minn.
Game Two Coverage
Sunday, Jan. 3 | 2:07 pm CT ā Mankato, Minn.
MANKATO, Minn. ā After a five-week hiatus the top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team will resume play this weekend with a trip to Mankato, Minnesota, to take on the Minnesota State Mavericks. Puck drop on both Saturday and Sunday is set for 2 p.m.
Fans can watch the games on FloHockey or follow the action with @BadgerWHockey Twitter.
1.Ā LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers opened the season on Nov. 27 and 28 at No.4 Ohio State. They split the series 1-1 with the Buckeyes, finishing Friday's game with a 3-2 setback, then coming back to win Saturday with a 5-0 shutout.Ā Six different Badgers scored during the split in Columbus, includingĀ
Sophie Shirley, who posted a league-best two goals thatĀ weekend.Ā Shirley and fellow junior
Nicole LaMantia earned WCHA Forward of the Week and WCHA Defenseman of the Week honors, respectively.Ā
2. AGAINST THE MAVS: UW leads the all-time series with Minnesota State 89-3-3, including a 38-1-2 record against the Mavericks in Mankato. The 89 wins are the most UW has against a single team.
UW took three out of its four meetings with Minnesota State last year, including a sweep at LaBahn Arena on Nov. 16-17 before earning a split at MSU on Feb. 7-8.
Sophie Shirley has seven career goals against MSU in eight games against the Mavericks, while Brette Pettet has six tallies and Britta Curl has four career goals.
3. MIRACLE ON ICE BENCH BOSSES: Both the Badgers and the Mavericks feature head coaches from the storybook 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that captured gold in Lake Placid, N.Y. UW head coach Mark Johnson and MSU head coach John Harrington were forwards for the Americans and both recorded points in the team's legendary semifinal victory against the Soviets. Johnson recorded two goals during the 4-3 upset while Harrington provided a secondary assist on Mike Eruzione's legendary game-winning goal.Ā
4. TREMENDOUS TRIO TO JOIN THE BADGERS: The Badgers announced their incoming freshmen class for the 2021-22 season, which features three players with international experience in defenseman Caroline (KK) Harvey (Salem, New Hampshire), forward Marianne Picard (Repentigny, Québec) and forward Sarah Wozniewicz (Cochrane, Alberta).
5. UP NEXT: The Badgers are set to open up a four-game homestand as UW welcomes No. 4 Ohio State to LaBahn Arena for a series on Jan. 8-9 before hosting rival and second-ranked Minnesota on Jan. 15-16. The Badgers' series opener against OSU on Jan. 8 will mark the Badgers' first game at LaBahn Arena since hosting Ohio State on Feb. 15, 2020.Ā
