Baggot: No. 1 Badgers clear hurdle with sweep of Golden Gophers
December 06, 2015 | Women's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Wisconsin makes statement with victories over its Border Battle rival
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Deep down inside, they all knew.
Members of the Wisconsin women's hockey team could look at their record and see that their 16-0 start to the season was the best in school history.
They could look at the stat sheet and see that their all-around game was almost peerless compared to the rest of the clubs in NCAA Division I.
They could look at the subjective national rankings and see that they were rated No. 1 in both major polls.
But when the Badgers looked in the mirror they knew that their resume, while gaudy, was incomplete.
An 18-game winless streak against Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival Minnesota tainted that document and everyone in the home dressing room at LaBahn Arena knew it when the weekend began.
"We would say to ourselves that we are the No. 1 team, but when people say we haven't beaten the Gophers, I think that we knew that as well," Wisconsin junior defenseman Jenny Ryan said. "I think we wanted to prove it to ourselves."
They did.
The Badgers lifted a weighty burden from their shoulders and solidified their status as the best outfit the nation by completing a rare series sweep of Minnesota at LaBahn Arena.
With boisterous sellout crowds of 2,273 looking on, Wisconsin came away with a 3-2 (overtime) victory Friday night and a 3-1 triumph Saturday afternoon against the defending NCAA champion Gophers.
"I think we really made a statement with those wins," sophomore right winger Annie Pankowski said.
Which was?
"That we're here and we mean business and we're looking to win," she said.
The intense, riveting series marked the first time the Badgers had won a game vs. Minnesota since Oct. 14, 2011 and the first time they swept consecutive regular-season games from their Border Battle rivals since Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, 2009.
Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson was asked if his club, now 18-0 overall and 12-0 in the WCHA, proved anything with the sweep.
"Probably in the back of our minds, especially with our upperclassmen," he said.
The last time Johnson experienced a series sweep of the Gophers was Jan. 5 and 6, 2007. He was on sabbatical, coaching Team USA bound for the 2010 Winter Olympics, when it happened in 2009. Former assistant coach Tracey DeKeyser was in charge in 2009-10.
The last time Minnesota lost back-to-back regular-season games to the same opponent was Oct. 29 and 30, 2010 when it dropped 3-2 and 4-2 decisions to Minnesota Duluth.
Pankowski led the way with a hat trick of sorts and bumped her team-leading totals to 14 goals and 32 points. She scored the winner with 55 seconds left in overtime in the opener and accounted for the first two conversions in the series finale to nudge her scoring streak to 21 consecutive games.
Junior goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens, who leads the nation in save percentage and goals against average, stopped 21 and 23 shots, respectively, as Wisconsin held the top scoring team in the nation in check.
Sophomore center Emily Clark had a pair of assists and won 14 of 25 face-offs – including two key draws in final minute – in the matinee.
Junior left winger Sarah Nurse, who leads the club in shots, had 13 in the series and secured the sweep with an empty-net goal.
Senior captain Courtney Burke and junior Jenny Ryan, arguably the best set of defensemen in the nation, were both plus-3 in the series while playing heavy minutes against the high-octane line of left winger Sarah Potomak (33 points), center Hannah Brandt (37 points) and right winger Dani Cameranesi (38 points).
"Your good players have to be good," Johnson said.
"Everybody did their job," Ryan said. "Every single person came to play this weekend."
Third-ranked Minnesota (15-3, 11-3) came into the series having converted nearly 50 percent of its power plays, but was 0-for-4 against the best penalty-killing unit in the nation.
"We didn't give them that many scoring opportunities," Desbiens said.
"I think it really kind of showed what this team has to offer and the depth that we have," Pankowski said.
Johnson said the series offered a host of teaching points about puck management, poise and defensive acumen while protecting a one-goal lead against a robust offense.
A tangible upgrade came in face-offs. After Minnesota had a 33-20 edge in the opener, the Badgers were 30-29 in the second game.
"It was a point of emphasis and we did a much better job," Johnson said.
Coming into the weekend, seven of the previous 18 games between these teams were decided by one goal. That represented a psychological hurdle that had to be cleared.
"We had to find a way to finish it," Johnson said.
The Badgers got some clutch goals, but their defense defined this series. Minnesota came in averaging 6.06 goals per game and managed three in six-plus periods. It amassed 47 shots in the two games after averaging 36.8 per outing in its first 16.
"I can't say enough great things about our defensive corps that we have back there," Pankowski said.
What did the weekend against Minnesota prove?
"It just gives us confidence knowing that we can beat them," Desbiens said.
"Now we have that streak behind us and we know we can beat any team now," Ryan said. "We knew (that) before we came into the weekend. Now we actually did it, so there's no questions asked now. We're a very good team and we proved it.
"These wins obviously boosted our confidence, but it also brought us even closer together. We didn't really know we could get closer, but it's definitely going to help us going into the rest of the season."
Ryan said the sweep validated the national rankings.
"A lot of people have been saying that our No. 1 spot really meant nothing until we beat this team," she said. "Those two wins really proved something to us and it proved something to everyone else.
"We are a great team and we can actually beat the Gophers now."
