MADISON, Wis. – The No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team extended their home unbeaten streak to 21 games with a 5-1 over Minnesota-Duluth on Friday evening.
After suffering the first loss of the season last weekend in Washington D.C., it was a welcome return to the warm and welcoming confines of LaBahn Arena where the Badgers average more than 2,200 fans.
The loud LaBahn crowd provides a boost to the players on the ice, almost like an extra attacker. They intimidate the opponent, energize the Badgers and create a hostile spot to play.
“I would say LaBahn is easily so much of a different game for us. We always start strong, we always play well. I just think playing in LaBahn our team is always better,” said sophomore Abby Roque.
This year, visiting teams have the double difficulty of facing the number one team in the country in the rowdiest arena in the country.
“Playing at Wisconsin is very unique. It’s awesome, it’s a great atmosphere but it’s intense and when you’re playing the No. 1 team they have a lot of confidence and those first give minutes are really critical,” said UMD coach Maura Crowell.
The Badgers controlled the puck in the opening minutes of the game as they worked to figure out Minnesota-Duluth.
“They defend really well. They get into that scoring area between the faceoff dots and usually have a minimum of three people there. The first six or eight minutes was like a game of chess,” said Wisconsin Mark Johnson.
The Badgers finally broke through at the 7:34 mark.
Sophia Shaver set up the first by cycling the puck behind the net and picking out Mekenzie Steffen, who was open near the top of the far circle. She went bar down over Convery’s right shoulder, ringing the crossbar and putting UW up 1-0.
Roque doubled the lead just 17 seconds after Steffen. She carried the puck into the zone and seemed to see her opportunity the whole way. She sniped one from beyond the circles beating Convery high stick side in a near identical spot to Steffen.
Shaver extended the lead less than two minutes into the second period on a great individual effort. She fought off a defender just in front of the net and took the puck across the goal mouth to try to beat Convery. She whiffed on the first shot, but it was enough to make Convery commit and give Shaver another opportunity, which she did not miss.
Brette Pettet made it 4-0 the Badger lead with persistence at the net, knocking home a puck that Convery couldn’t get ahold of. The Bulldogs were working to clear the puck, but turned it over in the neutral zone. Pettet picked it up as she moved to touch up and tried to feed Wellhausen or Rolfes. The pass was broken up in front of the net and ended up back at Pettet’s stick right at the post where she was able to jam it home.
Roque scored her second of the game about halfway through the third when she brought the puck from behind the net and tucked a backhand past Convery at the far post.
UMD broke the shutout with just 2.3 seconds left in the game when Lynn Astrup’s shot was deflected by Wisconsin goalie Kristen Campbell and bounced off Anna Klein and into the net. It was a small step, but Crowell hopes her team can build off the momentum it could provide for Saturday’s match.
Despite the final score, the Bulldogs actually outshot the Badgers in two of three periods.
“I liked the way that we stuck with it all the way through. It’s hard to stay locked in and I think we did and we got better as the game went on and to get that goal at the end was great,” said Crowell. “I was really proud of the way that we kept attacking. It wasn’t always pretty, but we never gave up. (There were) little victories throughout a tough game for us.”
