The No. 2 Wisconsin women's hockey hosts its final home regular season series of the season this weekend, welcoming Minnesota State to LaBahn Arena. Faceoff on Saturday is set for 2 p.m., while Sunday's contest also starts at 2 p.m. Prior to Sunday's tilt, the Badgers will recognize their eight seniors.

The Badgers lead the NCAA in penalty killing with a .953 clip. UW has killed 82 of its 86 penalties, and has scored seven short-handed goals in 30 games.

Player Notes
Annie Pankowski leads the team with 28assists and 46points this season.Pankowski ranks eighth in the nation for points per game, averaging 1.53points per contest, while her three short-handed goals are tied for secon in the nation.

Sophomore Emily Clarkhas notched 18goals and 17assists this season, averaging 1.25points per game. She's tallied fivegame-winning goals this season, tiedfor thirdin the NCAA.Clark has 13points in her last ninegames for UW.

Junior Sarah Nurse ranks seventh in the country for goals per game, averaging 0.77goals per contest. Her 20goals lead all Badgers, as well as ranking third all-WCHA.The Hamilton, Ontario, native also ranks thirdnationally in game-winning goals with five.

Ann-Renée Desbiens leads the nation in save percentage (.966),goals-against average (0.61), and wins (26). She also holdsthe country's leadin shutouts with 15, the most in program history and ranks third in NCAA history.Desbiens is the only goalie in NCAA history to record back-to-back seasons of 12 or more shutouts.Desbiens also has 32 career shutouts, which ranks second in program history and third in NCAA history

Junior Jenny Ryanranks fourthin the country's defensemen in points per game, averaging 0.93points per contest. Ryan's 28points this season are a career high, coming from sixgoals and 22assists. She also has tallied three game-winning goals this season.

Senior Courtney Burke is seventhin the country in points among defensemen, averaging 0.83points per contest. Her 98career points are the third-most in program history among defensemen. Burke is tied for 20th in program history in career pointsand is twopoints away from becoming the third blue-liner in school history to reach 100 career points.

Number of the week
17-Wisconsin has given up only 17 goals this season through 30 games, holding opponents to 0.57 goals per game. The Badgers have recorded 17 shutouts this season, which leads the NCAA.

The Series vs. Minnesota State
The Badgers lead the all-time series with the Mavericks 68-2-3.

In Madison, the Badgers lead the all-time series 36-2-1.

Earlier this year in Mankato, the Badgers earned a pair of shutouts against the Mavericks, defeating MSU 6-0 on Oct. 30 before earning a 7-0 win on Oct. 31.

In six games against Minnesota State, sophomore Annie Pankowski has six goals and six assists, including her first career hat trick on Nov. 13, 2014.

Last time vs. Minnesota State: Wisconsin 7, MinnesotaState 0 (Oct. 31,2015)
For the first time in program history, the No. 3 Wisconsin women's hockey team jumped off to a 10-0-0 start after defeating Minnesota State, 7-0, on Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Center.

Junior Ann-Renee Desbiens earned her seventh shutout of the season, stopping all 18 Minnesota State shots she encountered.

Six different Badgers scored, as freshman Sophia Shaver paced the UW offense with a pair of goals. Mellissa Channell, Baylee Wellhausen, Courtney Burke, Rachel Jones and Sydney McKibbon scored one goal each in the victory.

After a slow start, the Badgers scored four times in a six minute, 13 second span in the first period to take a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

Channell got the scoring going for Wisconsin, launching a rocket past MSU netminder Brianna Quade on UW's first power-play of the game to give the Badgers a 1-0 lead with 8:30 left in the first.

Two minutes later, Shaver collected the first short-handed goal of her career, sneaking the puck past Quade to double the UW lead.

With under four minutes to play in the first, Wellhausen scored her third goal in as many games to lift UW to a 3-0 lead. The Williams Bay, Wisconsin, native scored on a one-on-one after Pankowski threaded a pass through the MSU defense to Wellhausen.

Burke capped off the first period scoring for UW, launching a laser top shelf, marking her second goal of the series.

The second period was quiet as Minnesota State outshot UW 8-4, but the Badgers' offense woke up in the third.

Just 30 seconds into the final frame, Jones pounced on a rebound and fired it low into the net to give UW a 5-0 advantage.

On UW's second power-play of the game, McKibbon tipped in an Annie Pankowski rocket. It marked the fourth power-play goal of the weekend for Wisconsin.

Shaver scored her second of the game with just over 11 minutes left in the third, marking her first multi-point effort for UW.

Wisconsin outshot Minnesota State 31-18.

Last Time Out: Wisconsin 2, OhioState 0(Feb. 6, 2016)
The No. 2 Wisconsin women's hockey team has had its share of great goalies in program history, including two-time Olympian Jesse Vetter and Alex Rigsby, who won 100 games during her career in Madison.

But none of the UW greats have had more shutouts in a single season than UW junior Ann-Renee Desbiens, who collected her 15th shutout of the season as the Badgers blanked Ohio State, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon at the OSU Ice Rink.

Desbiens turned away all 17 shots she faced, including nine in the final period, to improve to 26-1-1 in net this season. The La Malbaie, Quebec, native leads the NCAA in goals against average with a 0.61 mark, save percentage with a 0.966 clip, shutouts with 15 and wins with 26.

Sophomore Baylee Wellhausen put the Badgers on the board early in the second period and freshman Sam Cogan added a goal in the third to give the Badgers (28-1-1, 22-1-1-1 WCHA) their 10th-straight win.

UW dominated play in the first, outshooting Ohio State (9-20-1, 5-18-1-1 WCHA) 12-2, but were unable to find the back of the net despite two power play opportunities and numerous high-quality scoring chances.

Early on in the second period, Desbiens faced a two-on-one OSU rush, but made a huge save to keep the Buckeyes off the scoreboard. The turnover gave the Badgers an offensive rush, allowing Wellhausen to crash the slot and put the puck behind Ohio State goalie Alex LaMere to give Wisconsin the 1-0 lead.

An OSU player-advantage to begin the final stanza didn't slow the Badgers' offense, as Cogan's goal came just 90 seconds into the third period. She received a pass from Emily Clark in front of LaMere and shelved it to double the UW lead.

Desbiens earns pair of weekly honors
After moving up the NCAA record books last weekend in the No. 2 Wisconsin women's hockey team's sweep of St. Cloud State, junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens was recognized not only as the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week, but the American Sports Network Player of the Week, the organizations announced Tuesday.

Desbiens earned her 13th and 14th shutouts of the year last weekend as the Badgers earned a pair of 3-0 wins over the Huskies. She stopped 15 shots on Saturday, before stopping all 13 of SCSU's shots on Sunday.

With Sunday's shutout, the junior moved into third place in NCAA history for career shutouts with 31 blank slates, passing former UW netminder Alex Rigsby and former New Hampshire goaltender Melissa Bourdon. Only Minnesota's Noora Raty (43) and UW legend Jessie Vetter (39) have more career shutouts than Desbiens.

The La Malbaie, Quebec, native also became the first goaltender in NCAA women's hockey history to record 14 or more shutouts in back-to-back seasons as her 28 shutouts the past two years are the most ever in a two-year span.

This season, Desbiens leads the nation with a .966 save percentage, a 0.62 goals-against average, 14 shutouts and 24 wins. Her 14 shutouts are tied for the most in program history.

Desbiens has now been honored by the WCHA five times this season as its defensive player of the week after earning four honors last year. She picked up her second career award from ASN after being named its player of the week on Nov. 3.

Koch recognized as AHCA Assistant Coach of the Year
Wisconsin women's hockey associate head coach Dan Koch was named the American Hockey Coaches Association Women's Hockey Assistant Coach of the Year, as announced by the group on Thursday.

A Madison native, Koch is in his fifth season as the Badgers' associate head coach after serving eight years as an assistant coach, amassing a 367-81-35 (.796) record behind the bench. Koch has assisted the Badgers to seven NCAA Frozen Fours and saw the team win three of their four national titles.

Koch oversees the stingy UW defense, which has ranked among the top-three teams nationally for scoring defense in 11 of his 12 seasons with the Badgers. That includes the 2006-07 squad that set the NCAA record with a 0.88 goals-against average. His defensemen have led the NCAA in scoring defense in three different seasons.

This season, Koch helped the Badgers set the NCAA men's and women's shutout record, tallying nine-consecutive shutouts that spanned over 624 minutes between Oct. 3 and Nov. 14. The Badgers have recorded shutouts in 12 of their 22 games this season and have a goals-against average of 0.64 to pace the country.

Koch also plays a part in the team's penalty kill, which has led the NCAA four of his 12 seasons. Last year, the UW penalty kill set the NCAA record with a .958 clip.

Koch will be recognized on April 29 during the 2016 AHCA Convention in Naples, Florida. Read more here.

Badgers sign seven for 2016-17 season
The Wisconsin women's hockey program and head coach Mark Johnson announced the signing of seven student-athletes for the 2016-17 season on Tuesday.

Joining the Badgers next fall are goaltenders Alyson Baldwin (Richmond, Texas) and Nicole Cece (Oakville, Ontario), forwards Alexis Mauermann (Janesville, Wisconsin), Presley Norby (Shorewood, Minnesota) and Abby Roque (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) and defensemen Maddie Rowe (River Falls, Wisconsin) and MeKenzie Steffen (Centerville, Minnesota).

"It's a big class," Johnson said. "It's probably one or two players bigger than what we normally have, but with eight seniors graduating we need to fill positions and bring kids in who are capable of playing next year and helping the team. In saying that, you look at the group and whether in net, on the blue line or up front, there's a lot of exciting players and kids who have experienced good things at their respective club and high school teams but also at the national and international level."

Between the seven players, five have represented their respective countries at international events, including Norby, who played earlier this month for the United States National Team at the 2015 Four Nations Cup, helping Team USA win gold.

Learn more about the class here.

Note of the Week
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson and Minnesota State bench boss John Harrington both suited up for Team USA in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The duo helped the U.S. upset the USSR en route to winning the gold medal.Johnson led the U.S. in scoring at the 1980 Winter Games, tallying five goals and six assists. Johnson scored twice in the United States' 4-3 win over the USSR in the semifinal round and assisted on the game-winning goal in the gold medal game against Finland.Harrington recorded five assists, including an assist on Mike Eruzione's go-ahead game-winning goal against the USSR.

The Quest for 400
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson enters this weekend with a 388-72-35record in his 13 years on the UW bench. His 388wins are the third-most in NCAA Division I women's hockey history.

The other three coaches to reach 350 wins at the NCAA Division I level are Katey Stone (Harvard), Michael Sisti (Mercyhurst) and Shannon Miller (Minnesota Duluth).

Johnson passed former UMD bench bossShannon Millerfor third on theNCAA list on Sunday with the team's 3-1 win over North Dakota.

Home, Sweet Home
At LaBahn Arena, the Badgers are tough to beat, as UW is 59-10-3 (.840) at the new barn. The Badgers have outscored their opponents 257-72at LaBahn Arena, and have posted 30shutouts.

In 16home games this year, the Badgers have outscored their opposition 63-8at LaBahn Arena