Nov. 6, 2010
1 Wisconsin 5, 8 Minnesota 0
Ridder Arena • Minneapolis, Minn. | |
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | | Wisconsin (9-1-0) | 2 | 3
| 0 | 5 | | Minnesota (6-5-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | Scoring Summary | | 1st | 10:55 | WIS | McKeough (Decker), (Prevost)
| | 1st | 13:01 | WIS | Knight (Duggan), (McKeough)
| | 2nd | 03:12 | WIS | Knight (Duggan) | | 2nd | 07:15 | WIS | Duggan (unassisted) | | 2nd | 11:54 | WIS | Prevost (Nash), (Deluce) | | | Goaltender Summary | Min | GA | Sv | | MINN | Raty (L, 5-3-0) | 60:00 | 5 | 31 | | WIS | Rigsby (W, 5-0-0) | 60:00 | 0 | 25 | | | Statistical Comparison | WIS | MINN | | Shots on Goal | 36 | 25 | | Power Plays | 0-7 | 0-4 | | Penalties-Minutes | 5-10 | 8-16 | | |
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• Final Stats | Final Stats 
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Freshman Alex Rigsby (Delafield, Wis.) made a career-high 25 saves and junior Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) scored two goals to lead No. 1 Wisconsin (9-1-0, 7-1-0 WCHA) to a 5-0 win over No. 8 Minnesota (6-5-0, 3-5-0 WCHA) at Ridder Arena Saturday night.
Senior Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) led the Badgers with three points on one goal and two assists. Along with Knight's two goals, junior Carolyne Prevost (Sarnia, Ontario) and sophomore Stefanie McKeough (Carlsbad Springs, Ontario) both added one goal and one assist.
Fast Facts
| | • No. 1 Badgers earn series split with No. 8 Gophers | | • Rigsby posts a career-high 25 saves | | • Duggan, Knight, Prevost and McKeough all have multi-point games for UW | |
"We didn't give up a lot of golden opportunities," head coach Mark Johnson said. "When you can score first and then get a second goal, it just creates energy and helps everybody on your bench play a little bit harder and a little bit smarter. I thought the second period was probably one of our better periods we've played from that standpoint. We got rewarded with a good solid effort today."
The Badgers outshot the Gophers, 36-25, including a 24-15 advantage over the first two periods. Minnesota's Noora Raty made 31 saves and fell to 5-3-0 on the season, while Rigsby improved to 5-0-0 with her second career shutout after allowing three goals on 10 shots in the first period of Friday's game.
"Part of becoming a good goalie is having difficult nights and situations and how you respond to that," Johnson said. "I thought Alex responded very comfortable in the first period. Minnesota got some opportunities, so that was a good sign.
"You don't know how a freshman is going to react in a hostile environment against a good team like Minnesota, but it is all part of a learning process. Next time she's in a similar situation, she's certainly going to be more comfortable like she was today."
McKeough scored the game-winning goal at the 10:55 mark of the first period as the Badgers shut out the Gophers for the first time since posting a 3-0 win at the Kohl Center on Nov. 2, 2007. Prevost fed the puck to sophomore Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.), who found McKeough at the point to give UW a 1-0 lead.
Knight scored the Badgers' next two goals, solving Raty at 13:01 of the first period and again at 3:12 of the second frame. Duggan assisted both of Knight's goals before recording a tally of her own 4:03 later.
Duggan's short-handed goal put UW up 4-0. The Badgers' captain blocked a shot at the blue line and collected the rebound, cutting past Minnesota's defense on a breakaway and beating Raty glove-side for her eighth goal of the season.
Prevost capped Wisconsin's scoring with a goal at the 11:54 mark of the second period. Seniors Kelly Nash (Bonita, Calif.) and Mallory Deluce (London, Ontario) picked up assists on the play.
"Today, the game definitely rolled the way we wanted it to," Knight said. "We fought hard both days. The first game, the pucks didn't bounce the way we wanted them to. We were unlucky in certain situations.
"Getting the win today was very important. The first loss of the season is always tough. We definitely don't like losing. Coming out here the way we did and carrying the momentum from yesterday was huge. Today we were fortunate to get the bounces we didn't get yesterday."
Wisconsin finished 0-for-7 on the power play but held the Gophers scoreless with the man-advantage (0-for-4) as well.
With the win, UW earned the series split. The Badgers suffered their first loss of the season in a 7-5 decision in favor of the Gophers Friday night. Wisconsin outscored Minnesota, 10-7, in the series, tying the most goals UW has allowed in a series this season. The Badgers also surrendered seven goals in a series sweep of Ohio State (W, 6-5; W 5-2) Oct. 22-23.
"We'll take away the positives from both games this weekend," Knight said. Yesterday didn't really feel like a loss because we battled back. There are great lessons from both games that we'll take, looking on to our next weekend."
Wisconsin is off next weekend but returns to action with a non-conference series at Robert Morris Nov. 19-20.
