MADISON, Wis. – The third-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team picked up its ninth home win of the season after taking down Merrimack College, 6-1, on Saturday night at LaBahn Arena. 

Kirsten Simms found the back of the net twice while Sarah Wozniewicz, Cassie Hall, Laney Potter and Britta Curl each tallied a goal as the Badgers (16-4-0) completed the sweep of the Warriors (6-12-2). 

Wozniewicz wasted no time getting the Badgers on the board with a goal 2:25 into the first period. 

Simms followed up with a score off the rebound before lighting the lamp yet again on the power play shortly after her first goal. Hall capped off the scoring in the first period with her 11th goal of the season. 

Scoring her first as a Badger, Potter extended the lead to 5-0 after finding the back of the net in the second period. 

Curl continued the fun as she went top shelf with nine minutes left in the third frame for her second goal of the weekend.

Ava McNaughton stopped 16 of the shots she faced for her ninth win of the season. 

Three Notes of the Game
- With Laney Potter's first career goal on Saturday night, every Badger skater has scored at least once this season. 
- The Badgers outshot the Warriors 43-17, marking the 18th time this season that they have outshot their opponent. 
- Simms leads all WCHA skaters with 39 points this season, while Curl is close behind in second with 38 points. 

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the first weekend back: 
"As I mentioned yesterday, you can practice for an extended period of time, but you have to play a game, whether it's an exhibition game or a non-conference game or even a league game, to get things going again because that's when you find out where you're at and what you need to do to get better. It was a good way to start the second half."

On getting off to a hot start: 
"I mean when you score a couple goals early in the period you are going to put the other team in a situation where you're going to be put on your heels and you know sometimes it can be tough to recover and it will take multiple shifts it might take a power play that you get or a change in momentum that creates energy."

Sophomore Forward Kirsten Simms
On the first period tonight:
"I think we were just clicking right off the get go. Obviously, yesterday was our first game in a few weeks, so it's gonna take a second to get back into the flow of things. But I feel like today, at the start of the game, we just kind of got in our groove and just kept it going throughout the whole game."

Freshman Defender Laney Potter
On her first goal:
"I kind of blanked on it, honestly. I know it was a good pass from Chayla (Edwards), and it found the back of the net. It was pretty cool to see my whole team excited for me, but a good goal for the team. That was more important."

On the weekend overall:
"I thought we had a good start to the new year. As we go on, we don't have a single weekend off from here. So just building as the weekends go on, they're gonna get a lot tougher, and this was a good start. I thought as the weekend progressed, we got a lot better and had a good finish."

Up Next: The Badgers resume conference action next weekend with a Saturday-Sunday series with St. Thomas. Puck drop on Saturday is set for 3 p.m. while Saturday's contest begins at 2 p.m. Both games are sold out but fans can watch on Big Ten Plus.