Wisconsin Badgers
29-3-2, 23-3-2
St. Cloud State
11-21-2, 7-19-2
No. 1 Wisconsin clinches 11th WCHA regular season title
February 22, 2026 | Women's Hockey
UW finishes regular season with 4-2 victory over SCSU
MADISON, Wis. — The No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team (29-3-2, 23-3-2) sealed its 11th WCHA regular season championship after a 4-2 win against St. Cloud State at LaBahn Arena this Sunday.
Wisconsin ties Minnesota for the most regular season championship in conference history. The Badgers finish their regular season with 29 wins, and now have the one-seed for the WCHA Tournament.
Laney Potter put the Badgers on the board during a UW power play in the first period. Potter netted the one-timer off a great past from Lacey Eden.
Captain Lacey Eden made it 3-0 with 10:33 remaining in the second period. It was her fourth score of the series after recording a five-point hat trick in yesterday's win.
In the final seconds of a St. Cloud State power play, the Huskies were able to tally one goal, but the Badgers still led 3-1 after two periods..
Cassie Hall added another for UW to begin the third, her 23rd of the season. Hall's goal was assisted by Finley McCarthy and Eden.Â
The Huskies snuck one more goal halfway through the third, but were unable to cut the deficit further with an extra-attacker. The Badgers concluded their regular season with a 4-2 victory, winning the Julianne Bye Cup in front of their home LaBahn crowd.
The Badgers outshot the Huskies 44-27 while freshman goaltender Rhyah Stewart recorded 25 saves.
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On Eden's leadership the last four weeks:
"They became a team within a team. I give them a lot of credit. The leader of that group has been Lacey Eden, not only on the ice, but off the ice. I'm extremely excited for her, I complimented her after the game because she's the one that led us. If you watched all eight games we played, she was our best player, whether it was on the score sheet, winning a face-off, blocking a shot - she just put the team on her back and led us to this finish line."
Senior Lacey Eden
On this group and the mark their making:
"Everyone was willing to come every day, like Coach says, with their work boots on. We really lived up to that. When we started with just this group, he kept reinforcing that we have all the tools that we need here, and we really bought into that and we're able to work towards our strengths and come together and finish out the season strong"
Laney Potter
On the WCHA trophy:
"It's exactly what our coach said - this is the longest, hardest one to win. It's what we've been working for. During the season, you're not really thinking of that, we've got games every single weekend and building off that is huge for us. Very hard to win, especially doing it with not our full team, it's a lot harder than previous years. You have to move forward though, playoffs are starting now, so it's a clean slate. Right now we only have two games guaranteed, so we have to build off that."
Notes to Know
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Wisconsin's 11th regular season championship ties Minnesota for the most of any team in the conference.
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Wisconsin has won back-to-back regular season titles for the first time since the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
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Freshman Mackenzie Jones scored her first career goal.Â
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Lacey Eden now has 68 points on the season - the most of any NCAA DI player.
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Eden tied Casey O'Brien for the third most game-winning goals in a Badger career at 23.
Up Next: The Badgers will host the first round of WCHA playoffs against Bemidji State in a best of three series beginning on Friday Feb. 27.Â
