MADISON, Wis. – Casey O'Brien and Laila Edwards scored twice each to lead the Wisconsin women's hockey team to a WCHA regular season championship with an 8-2 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers at LaBahn Arena on Saturday.

Marianne Picard, Lacey Eden, Maggie Scannell and Vivian Jungels joined O'Brien and Edwards on the list of Badger (28-1-2, 22-1-2 WCHA) goalscorers. Kirsten Simms recorded four points on four assists joining Edwards who recorded four points with two goals and two assists.

The Badgers put together a three-goal first period. The first two goals came within the first five minutes. Caroline Harvey sent a pass across the slot for Edwards to one-time into the net for the 1-0 lead. Twenty-nine seconds later, Jungels sent a stretch pass to Eden, who beat Golden Gopher netminder Hannah Clark on the one-on-one. 

Minnesota got one back halfway through the period. Picard found the reply with 3:32 to play. Emma Venusio sent a slapshot from the blueline that Clark saved but Picard pounced on the rebound to restore a 3-1 Badger lead heading into the first intermission. 

Wisconsin put together three more goals in the second period. Just over five minutes in, Hannah Halverson sent a pass across the slot to Scannell who beat Clark with room to spare. 
With 13:02 on the clock, Edwards scored her second goal of the game, beating the Minnesota netminder in the top left corner. 

O'Brien joined the list of goal scorers with just under five minutes to play in the second. The Wisconsin co-captain took a shot from the right faceoff circle that hit the post and went in to give Wisconsin a 6-1 lead at the end of the second period.

O'Brien scored again just 26 seconds into the third period. Minnesota scored their second with 16:54 to play. Jungels replied with 12:54 to play, beating Golden Gopher netminder Sophia Johnson with a tight-angle snipe.

Wisconsin sophomore netminder Ava McNaughton stopped 18 of the 20 shots she faced for her NCAA-leading 27th win of the season.

Notes of the Game

• This marks UW's 10th WCHA regular-season crown and first since the 2020-21 season. UW's 10 regular-season titles are the second most in conference history.
• With three points tonight, O'Brien now has 248 points and is two points away from becoming the second Badger to ever record 250 career points.
• Mark Johnson's 10th WCHA regular season title is the most of any coach in WCHA history.
• The win extends Wisconsin's unbeaten run to 17 games.
• UW's eight goals scored on Minnesota matched the program's record for most goals in a Border Battle game as UW earned an 8-2 win over Minnesota on Dec. 4, 2017. 

Straight from the Rink
Head coach Mark Johnson
On the historic matchup on senior day:
"Minnesota, Wisconsin. Both teams are gonna be excited to play each other whether it's here or up at Ridder Arena. Then you throw a senior day in there and you know it's our last two home games and so for the senior class it's like, "Hey, you don't have many opportunities to have a day like today where the place is going to be packed, you're playing against a real quality team." Enjoy it. I think we came into the rink today wanting to enjoy this experience and I think they were able to do that obviously by winning."

Junior Laila Edwards
On a strong offensive performance:
"We were just firing all cylinders. We're all playing a 200-foot game, all on the same page; when we're clicking like that, we're a dangerous team, and it showed today."

On winning the Julianne Bye Cup:
"It proves all the hard work we've put in but now the real work begins"

Senior Casey O'Brien
On the border battle:
"When we play teams like Minnesota, it's really easy to get up for it. The message before the game, especially from Coach, was to play free. Anything going on outside of this locker room, leave it there and just dial in and play our game because we felt like we hadn't been. I think that playing free mixed with how much this game meant; everybody came ready to play, so that's where that showed on the ice."

Up Next: The Badgers face game two of the Border Battle series at LaBahn Arena on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 12 p.m.