Freshmen shine as No. 8 Badgers take down No. 3 Gophers 7-5

Saturday, February 11

Minneapolis, MN

7:30 PM

Wisconsin Badgers

22-8-2, 18-6-2

Minnesota

23-5-3, 20-3-3

Wisconsin

Minnesota

Photo by: Meg Kelly

Freshmen shine as No. 8 Badgers take down No. 3 Gophers 7-5

February 11, 2023 | Women's Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

Six different Badgers score as UW goes undefeated against Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – In one of the highest scoring editions of women's hockey's best collegiate rivalry, the No. 8 Wisconsin women's hockey team took down No. 3 Minnesota, 7-5, on Saturday evening at Ridder Arena.

Claire Enright, Laila Edwards, Kirsten Simms, Caroline Harvey, Casey O'Brien and Jesse Compher each potted goals for the Badgers (22-8-2, 18-6-2 WCHA) as they completed the weekend with a win over the Gophers (23-5-3, 20-3-3 WCHA)

The Badgers went down 1-0 to the Golden Gophers after Minnesota scored a shorthanded tally midway through the opening frame.

Minnesota extended their lead early in the second with a power play tally, but UW was able to kill off a five minute major penalty to keep the game at 2-0.

Just over halfway in the second period, the Badger rookies took the game into their hands, starting with a snipe from Enright to cut the lead to 2-1.

Edwards tied the game up with a power play goal before Simms gave the Badgers the lead with less than a minute left in the second.

Simms lit the lamp yet again at the start of the third period, giving UW their fourth unanswered goal of the game before the Gophers came back with two goals to tie things up.

Harvey gave life to the Badgers with a late third period goal, while O'Brien continued the momentum to make it 6-4 with less than four minutes left.

Compher capped off the late third period scoring with an empty netter to seal the deal.

Cami Kronish stopped 40 of the shots she faced to pick up her 14th win of the season and her second win against the Golden Gophers.

Three Notes of the Game
- Enright set a career high with three points, while Simms enjoyed her first career multi-goal game
- After her two point night, Harvey now sits in seventh place in school history in single-season defender points with 34 points. Only Sis Paulsen and Kerry Weiland scored more points than Harvey as rookie defenders.
- The Badgers took the regular-season series against the Golden Gophers with a 2-0-2 record.

Straight from the Rink
Freshman Caroline Harvey
On the freshmen accounting for five goals:
"It says a lot about our depth, the way we can just steamroll teams like that. I am so confident in our group. We're peaking at the right times and we knew we could do this.

On moving on to No. 1 Ohio State next weekend:
"We're playing the number one team in the nation next weekend so this is a good prep weekend for us and we're going into it feeling good. We're excited for next weekend."

Freshman Claire Enright
On the battle with the Gophers:
"It was a crazy border battle. It was definitely exciting, there were a lot of emotions going through it. There were penalties, almost overturned goals, it was amazing."

Up Next: The Badgers will wrap up regular season action with a series against No. 1/2 Ohio State next weekend at LaBahn Arena. Puck drop on Saturday is set for 3 p.m. while Sunday's series finale begins at 2 p.m. Both games are sold out. The Badgers will honor their seniors prior to puck drop on Sunday afternoon.