The Wisconsin women’s hockey team defeated St. Cloud State, 5-0, Friday afternoon to take the lead in the best-of-three WCHA quarterfinal series the two teams play this weekend.
After struggling to find the back of the net during their final regular season series against Ohio State last weekend, Wisconsin responded with a solid five-goal performance that helped shake off any lingering frustration.
Senior Emily Clark opened the scoring for Wisconsin less than seven minutes into the game. She received the puck down low from senior Annie Pankowski, nearly even with the goal line and just placed it top shelf over St. Cloud State goalie Janine Alder’s far shoulder to give the Badgers the lead. Clark, who has 13 goals on the year, has now scored six goals in the last seven games.
Just 46 seconds later, freshman Britta Curl got the puck in nearly the same spot Clark had scored from and wristed the puck past Alder to give Wisconsin the 2-0 lead.
It was a free and loose week of practice, said Pankowski, and the team was feeling comfortable heading into Friday’s game, but there was still a sense of relief that came with scoring two early goals and setting the tone.
“Last weekend was a wakeup call,” she said. “The whole week in practice has been awesome — just the intensity and the effort and the fun. It definitely rolled into today. You could feel, it was a different atmosphere on the bench … It’s a big thing to get those early goals. (It) changes the momentum for us.”
Curl, who was named to the WCHA All-Rookie team this week, scored midway through the second period to extend the Badgers’ lead. It was her 18th goal of season, and she is now one goal shy of tying Sophie Shirley for both the team lead and the lead among WCHA rookies.
“Last weekend was a little frustrating for us; we just felt like we deserved more,” said Curl. “(Scoring early) got our confidence up so we could just play free.”
By the final frame, the Badgers were in control. They outshot SCSU, 33-8, over the first two periods, dominated puck possession, and had a 3-0 lead, but they did not let up.
Pankowski made it 4-0 in the third period, scoring her own 18th goal of the season. Junior Presley Norby sniped one from between the circles on a gorgeous pass from Pankowski to score her ninth goal of the season and extend the lead to 5-0. The two each put eight shots on net in the game and found themselves rewarded.
The two teams return to the ice on Saturday at 3 p.m. Central. If the Badgers win, they move on the to WCHA Final Faceoff tournament in Minneapolis next weekend. If the Huskies win, the teams face off in the rubber match on Sunday at 2 p.m. Central.
It will be an uphill battle for St. Cloud State as the Badgers extended their win streak over the Huskies to 20 games and have outscored them 82-10 over that stretch. In addition, Wisconsin has won 13 of its last 14 WCHA postseason games and is 46-15-0 all-time in conference playoff games.
