MADISON, Wis. – The No. 8 Wisconsin women's hockey team heads to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to face No. 3 Minnesota this Friday and Saturday at Ridder Arena. Puck drop on Friday is set for 6 p.m. while Saturday's series finale begins at 7:30 p.m.
Friday's game will air on Bally Sports North Extra and can be heard in the Madison area on 1070 AM as Reid Magnum has the call from the Twin Cities. Fans can also view the game live on Big Ten Plus. Saturday's contest will air nationally on BTN and can be seen online through the Fox Sports App.
1. FILLED THE BOWL: Last Friday night the Badgers drew 14,430 fans to their seventh Fill the Bowl at the Kohl Center for their showdown with St. Cloud State. That mark ranks second in NCAA history behind the crowd of 15,359 that attended the 2017 edition of Fill the Bowl. The Badgers now own the top seven NCAA single-game attendance marks and their crowd on Friday night outdrew every other women's hockey college game combined.
2. EDWARDS HONORED AGAIN: For the second time this season, Badgers freshman
Laila Edwards was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week. The Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native had two points in UW's 3-2 win on Saturday against St. Cloud State, including the game-winning goal, and finished the weekend with a +3 plus/minus rating.
3. HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL STAR: A trio of Wisconsin women's hockey legends were invited to partake in the NHL All Star Skills Competition last weekend in Sunrise, Florida, in Emily Clark, Hilary Knight and Sarah Nurse. The trio all competed in the NHL Tendy Tandem competition on Friday night as Sarah Nurse stole the show during the competition, pulling the Peter Forsberg deke on New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin.
4. AGAINST THE GOPHERS: The Badgers took their earlier series against the Golden Gophers on Nov. 19-20. UW rallied from a 3-2 deficit as
Britta Curl scored with 10 seconds to go to force a 3-3 draw with Minnesota. The Badgers blitzed the Golden Gophers, 4-1, the following day thanks to goals from
Nicole LaMantia,
Sarah Wozniewicz,
Kirsten Simms and
Jesse Compher.
Cami Kronish made 64 saves during the series, including a highlight-reel save, to be named WCHA Goaltender of the Week.
5. HEADING DOWN THE HOME STRETCH: The Badgers enter the second-to-last weekend of WCHA play with 53 points, good for third place in the WCHA, but face league-leading Minnesota this weekend before welcoming second-place Ohio State to LaBahn Arena next weekend. UW has secured home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs and would earn a top-three seed in the tournament with at least three points in the coming four games.
