MADISON, Wis. – The third-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey heads back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes this weekend for three games. The Badgers will take on St. Cloud State on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. UW closes out its time in Minnesota with a Monday contest at St. Thomas. Puck drop at St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, is set for 7:15 p.m.
Fans can watch all three games on B1G+.
1. SETTING THE STAGE: It's hard to believe that the WCHA playoffs are just a month away. The league is using point percentage this season to determine the regular season champion as Ohio State, St. Cloud State, St. Thomas and UW are slated to play 27 regular-season games while the other four teams are slated to play 28 contests. UW currently sits in third place in the WCHA standings with a point percentage of .741, while Ohio State leads the league with a .796 clip and Minnesota is in second with a .767 clip.
2. ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR DARYL: Badgers forward
Daryl Watts hit another impressive milestone last weekend as she became only the sixth player in NCAA women's hockey history to record 275 career points. Watts is currently 28 points away from the record of 303 set by Meghan Agosta of Mercyhurst. Watts' 124 goals rank seventh in NCAA history.
3. WINTER GAMES AROUND THE CORNER: It's hard to believe that in less than a week 10 Badgers will be competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. Team Canada, which features five Badgers, will take on Switzerland on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 10:10 p.m. CT. The United States, the reigning gold medalists, will open their campaign on Thursday, Feb. 4 with a 7:10 a.m. CT contest vs. Finland. Both games can be seen live on the USA Network or online through Peacock.
4. AGAINST THE OPPONENTS: UW swept its series against SCSU and UST earlier this season. The Badgers swept their series against St. Cloud State back on Oct. 9-10, scoring six goals in both games and only allowing the Huskies to score one goal over the weekend. Watts put up seven points over the series while
Makenna Webster put up six.
UW also swept its series at St. Thomas earlier this year. The Badgers went for a combined 12 goals over the two games and allowed the Tommies to score just one goal in each game. Webster was joined by teammate
Maddi Wheeler for another six-point weekend while
Casey O'Brien put up five points.
5. MONDAY MADNESS: The Badgers will play only their sixth-ever game on a Monday this Monday against St. Thomas. The Monday matchup with the Tommies marks UW's second Monday tilt of the season as the Badgers earned a 15-1 triumph over UW-Eau Claire in an exhibition on Monday, Jan. 10. UW is 2-0 in its previous Monday regular-season matchups, defeating Minnesota Duluth 3-2 on Jan. 7, 2002 and Maine, 6-1, on Oct. 20, 2003.
