MADISON, Wis. – Senior captain Casey O'Brien notched four points on a goal and three assists to lead the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team to a 6-1 victory and season sweep of No. 3 Minnesota at LaBahn Arena on Sunday.

Five other Badgers (29-1-2, 23-1-2 WCHA) — Vivian Jungels, Kirsten Simms, Claire Enright and Lacey Eden — recorded goals as the Badgers claimed all six WCHA points on the weekend against the Golden Gophers (22-8-1, 16-7-1 WCHA). O'Brien's five points was a season high and the Badger co-captain became the second Badger to record five points this season, alongside alternate captain Laila Edwards, who's accomplished the feat twice.

The Badgers outshot the Golden Gophers 13-3 in the first period but couldn't break the ice to send the game into the first intermission scoreless.

Wisconsin put together a four-goal second period, the most UW has scored in a period since Jan. 18, 2025, against St. Thomas. Jungels opened the scoring four minutes into the second period with her second goal and third point of the weekend. 

Simms extended Wisconsin's lead just 45 seconds later. Simms took a pass across the slot from Eden and beat Golden Gopher netminder Hannah Clark on the one-timer. O'Brien recorded an assist on both of the first two goals to become the second Badger to record 250 points.

Eden recorded her second point of the game, scoring 21 seconds into a power play. O'Brien recorded a secondary assist for her third point of the game.

With nine minutes to play in the second, UW received a five-minute major, sending the Badgers to the penalty kill. Wisconsin found a way to capitalize shorthanded as O'Brien recorded her fourth point of the game with a goal. O'Brien stole the puck from a Golden Gopher and beat Clark on the one-on-one breakaway. With the shorthanded goal, O'Brien now has five shorthanded goals in her career, which ranks seventh in school history. 

The Badgers capped off the performance with two more goals in the third period. Enright recorded her sixth goal of the season with 2:19 to play in the third period. O'Brien assisted Enright's goal to complete a four-point performance. Gorbatenko closed out the scoring with a goal in the last minute of the game.

McNaughton recorded her 28th win of the season, stopping 24 of 25 shots.

Notes of the Game

• With the shorthanded goal, O'Brien now has five shorthanded goals in her career, which ranks seventh in school history.
• O'Brien became the second Badger in school history to record 250 points and now has 252 points. Hilary Knight holds the school record with 262 points.
• Wisconsin has three short-handed goals this season and only allowed six opponent power-play goals on 93 opportunities.
• This season marks the first time the Badgers won all four regular-season games against the Gophers since the 2017-18 season.
• The win extends UW's unbeaten run to 18 games.

Straight from the Rink
Head coach Mark Johnson
On the mentality after the first period:
"Let's play, let's compete, let's do the little things. If we do the little things, then you get rewarded, and it may not score but at least we get to play on that end instead of defending."

On heading into the bye week:
"It's nice, sometimes you don't want a break. You're on a roll and you're playing well, but this comes at a good time. So tomorrow, we can rest and recover and then we can do things over the next three or four days before the weekend to get everyone back and feeling good."

Senior Casey O'Brien 
On the short-handed goal:
"I think everybody on our penalty kill was outstanding today, and so you know when that five-minute [major] got called, I think we all kind of realized that this could change the game either in favor for us or against us depending on what happened. And so I thought every unit that went out there to kill did a great job and that goal was just the cherry on top."

Senior Lacey Eden
On responding to adversity in the second period:
"Definitely we were gunning for one. We had been attacking all day, and it was about time that we got one in. Whenever something like that happens, you get behind your teammates and try to support them. It adds to the chemistry a little bit more, and it makes you play a little bit harder."

Up Next: The Badgers have an off week before heading to the northwoods of Minnesota to take on Bemidji State on Feb. 21 and 22. Puck drop on at the Sanford Center on Friday, Feb. 21 is set for 3 p.m. while the series finale is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.