The University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten) took on the University of Minnesota Gophers (10-2, 6-2 Big ten) in Madison this weekend. Both teams came into the border battle ranked as top 3 teams in the nation, making this a matchup that hockey fans around the nation were watching.
Game one took place Friday night and started off as a defensive battle. A goal from junior Cassie Hall put the Badgers up 1-0 six minutes into the game, Hall’s team leading 11th goal of the season. That was the only scoring until Minnesota’s Josefin Bouveng put one in the net with just over a minute to go in the second period to tie the game.
The game wouldn’t stay tied for much longer as Minnesota scored again just two minutes into the third and wouldn’t stop there as they would put three more goals in within the first nine minutes of the period. This, along with 23 saves from Minnesota’s goalie Hannah Clarke in the period caused the Badgers to pull junior goalie Ava McNaughton with 11 minutes left in the game.
With the game out of reach at 5-1, the Badgers were able to shut down the Gophers for the rest of the game with freshman Rhyah Stewart in the goal to bring some defensive momentum into Saturday’s clash, however they still couldn’t get another puck into the net.
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The Badgers started out quick again Saturday, this time scoring just 14 second into the game then again just 2:42 into the game to go up 2-0 early. Minnesota responded with a short handed goal late in the first to make it 2-1 Badgers at the end of the period.
The Badgers made it hard for the Gophers to get off shots all afternoon, only allowing 21 shots all day. Meanwhile, on offense they added two more goals in the second including a power play goal late in the period to push the score to 4-1.
A Gophers power play goal in the third wouldn’t be enough as the Badgers offense kept the pedal to the metal and added three more goals, including a power play goal of their own to make the final score 7-2. Junior Kelly Gorbatenko scored twice to put her at eight on the season, good for second on the team. Six different Badgers scored showing off the depth of the number one team in the nation.
The Badgers get their first weekend off of the season next weekend before heading to St. Cloud, Minnesota to play Saint Cloud in a two game set Nov. 14 and 15.