MADISON – The fifth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers handed top-ranked Wisconsin their first loss of the season on Friday night with a 3-2 victory thanks to goals from National Player of the Month Taylor Heise, Emily Oden and Catie Skaja.
The Badgers last lost on February 26, 2021 against UMD. They were on an eight game unbeaten streak against the Gophers.
It was a marquee win for a Minnesota team that has been in transition this season and looking to figure out exactly who they are.
“This is a huge win for our team. Our identity has been changing from past years to this year and we’re just trying to play a little harder and with a little more grit. Tonight was an opportunity to see that on display,” said Gopher coach Brad Frost.
Minnesota scored just 27 seconds into the game, which was pretty much the exact situation Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson hoped to avoid. The Badgers were coming off a bye week and had played just four games in November and Johnson feared a slow start.
The Gophers dominated the first period from the jump thanks to Heise, who received the puck with her back to the net in the neutral zone. She pivoted around defender Chayla Edwards and had a free path to the net, where she beat Wisconsin goalie Kennedy Blair near side.
As goes Heise, so go the Minnesota Gophers. In their loss to Colgate last weekend, she didn’t register a point. Her goal set the tone for her team.
“I have not seen a better player in the country this year. It’s been so fun to see her progression. She’s playing tremendous hockey. She hasn’t had an off game,” said Frost.
It looked like the Gophers were going to take a two goal lead before five minutes had passed, but Emily Oden’s shot that beat Blair didn’t cross the goal line.
Wisconsin struggled to string together passes and with clearing the zone. They looked off-kilter and out of sync. Minnesota’s second goal came with less than two minutes in the period off some sloppy defensive play from the Badgers.
Blair laid out to try and poke check the puck away from Ella Huber as she was in on net. She didn’t get good contact on the puck and it popped out to the boards to Catie Skaja. Her shot hit the near post, but popped out to the stick of Emily Oden, who easily tapped it in to make it 2-0.
That play started on a pass from Oden deep in the corner of her defensive zone. It was indicative of how each team played in the first that she beat everyone up the ice and to the front of the net to be in position for that rebound.
Wisconsin recovered in the second, as they came out firing, putting three times as many shots on Minnesota goalie Lauren Bench as they did in the first. The Badgers got on the board when Casey O’Brien picked up a rebound in the far circle and slotted it home. She had just skated off the bench and picked up the puck second later to get Wisconsin on the board.
While Wisconsin struggled to get the puck to the net in the first, the Gophers had difficulty in the second. Minnesota managed just five shots on goal, with nearly 10 minutes between shots four and five.
The teams both looked evenly matched as the third period started and it looked to be a new game when Maddi Wheeler tied the game just about five minutes into the final frame. Sarah Wozniewicz carried the puck the length of the ice in front of the benches. Nicole LaMantia was trailing and it looked like Wozniewicz was going to drop the puck to her. Instead, she held it a second longer and then passed it back to Wheeler, who was trailing further back. Wheeler placed a perfect shot near post past Bench.
But the tie game lasted exactly nine seconds. The puck was sent down behind the Wisconsin goal off the faceoff where Blair went to corral it. She did not see LaMantia right behind her and passed the puck along the boards. It went directly to Minnesota’s Skaja, who easily scored the game-winner.
It was demoralizing for the Badgers, who could not recover.
“I was proud that we got it to 2-2. It wasn’t 2-2 very long. That’s the problem,” said Johnson. “(Giving up the goal) takes that momentum and that energy that you created out of you. It becomes harder.”
Johnson took his timeout in the final minutes and pulled Blair for the final 2:36 of the game, but his team did not get a shot on goal during that time. The Gophers did a great job of blocking shots, lifting sticks and keeping Wisconsin from ever getting set up.
“We didn’t have the jump necessary to make the play. We needed somebody to come out and make that play. Unfortunately, they defended well enough. We didn’t get much,” said Johnson.
“Tomorrow we have to play three periods. Today, we played two and that is what ended up costing us the game,” said Johnson.
The teams return to the ice on Saturday at 3 pm central for game two of the series. The Gophers will look for their first sweep of Wisconsin since February 19 and 20, 2016. Wisconsin will be looking to bounce back and salvage the split.
