Game One Coverage
Friday, Feb. 7 | 2:07 pm CT — Mankato, Minn.
Game Two Coverage
Saturday, Feb. 8 | 2:07 pm CT — Mankato, Minn.
MANKATO, Minn. – The top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team head back on the road to battle Minnesota State Feb. 7-8 at the Mankato Civic Center. Puck drop Friday and Saturday are both at 2:07 p.m. CT.
Fans can catch Saturday's game on Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus or follow the action with @BadgerWHockey Twitter.
1. IT'S A RECORD BARNBURNER: For the first time in LaBahn history, the top-ranked Badgers scored double-digit goals as UW took down St. Cloud State in an 11-1 series-finale win Sunday after shutting out the Huskies 5-0 Saturday.
Ten different Badgers posted in the 16 goal scoring frenzy as sophomore Britta Curl, junior Delaney Drake and sophomore Sophie Shirley each posted a pair of goals in the series finale.
Curl kicked off the weekend off with a power-play one-timer just two minutes into the opener, earning her first of four goals. Senior alternate captain Abby Roque then ignited the barnburner Sunday with a coast-to-coast goal that became the first of six Badger goals just within the first period.
2. DANG, DARYL: With a career record-breaking weekend at LaBahn Arena, junior
Daryl Watts earned NCAA First Star of the Week and WCHA Forward of the Week accolades.
Watts recorded an NCAA-best eight points during the No. 1 Badgers sweep of St. Cloud State last weekend. The 2018 Patty Kazmaier Award winner posted four assists in Saturday's 5-0 win to bring her point total this year to 60 and became the first Badger since 2011-12 to record 60 points in a single season.
The Toronto native added another goal and three assists Sunday which moved her to ninth place in school history for most points in a single-season to tie Erika Lawler (2008-09) with now 64 points.
3. TRIPLE THREAT: Alongside Watts, juniors
Grace Bowlby and
Breanna Blesi each earned their first ever league honors as WCHA Defenseman of the Week and WCHA Goaltender of the Week.
Bowlby scored her second career goal while adding an assist in Saturday's sweep and tied for the NCAA lead among defensemen with five points last weekend. The Edina, Minnesota, native posted three more assists Sunday to earn a career-high of 16 assists in 18 points.
Blesi made her WCHA debut against St. Cloud State playing for both games between the posts for the Badgers. She added a shutout to her record after Saturday's 5-0 win which marked her second-career shutout and then followed up with stopping 15 of the 16 shots she faced in UW's 11-1 win Sunday.
The Maple Grove, Minnesota, native was the only goalie in the WCHA to post two wins last weekend while her GAA of 0.50 ranked second in the NCAA among goalies that had multiple starts last weekend. Her .966 save percentage also ranked second among all WCHA netminders.
4. AGAINST THE MAVERICKS: In the last matchup between UW and MSU,
Abby Roque tallied two goals and two assists to lead the No. 2 Wisconsin women's hockey team to a 6-1 triumph over Minnesota State Sunday, Nov. 17 at LaBahn Arena.
Roque has six goals and 16 points in 10 games against the Mavericks while
Sophie Shirley, who led the Badgers with a power-play goal last time out, has six goals and nine points in six games.
UW leads the all-time series against MSU with an 88-2-3 record and holds a 27-game unbeaten streak outscoring MSU 132-16.
5. WHAT A MIRACLE: As the Badgers go head to head with the Mavericks, so do Team USA Men's Olympic hockey teammates and head coaches
Mark Johnson and John Harrington.
Both coaches will be together for the 40th Anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice where the team made history by defeating the Soviet Union on its way to capturing the gold at Lake Placid, New York.
Johnson will be speaking alongside Harrington and several of their teammates for an intimate fundraising event for the Maverick women's hockey program Thursday at Mayo Clinic Health Service Event Center.
