No.1 University of Wisconsin Badgers (30-3-2, 24-3-2) faced off with the Bemidji State Beavers Saturday in round one of the WCHA playoffs. The Badgers entered the weekend coming off of a regular season WCHA championship and a home sweep over St. Cloud State.
The five Badgers who left for the Olympics in Milan also made their return to LaBahn Arena.
Their impact was immediately felt on Friday’s matchup where freshman forward Adéla Šapovalivová scored two goals and captain Caroline Harvey collected three assists.
Junior defender Laney Potter got the scoring started in the first period and was followed by junior forward Cassie Hall who put Wisconsin up 2-0.
Leila Edwards and Kirsten Simms scored in their homecoming to put the Badgers up 7-0 over the Beavers.
Head coach Mark Johnson was pleased on the return of the Olympians and his team’s win.
“The big thing is trying to get everybody on the same page and play them together, pushing in the same direction,” Johnson said. “For most of the game it was pretty good.”
The Badgers skated into game two on Saturday looking to finish the series off cleanly. But, the Beavers rallied to try to keep their season alive. Both teams were in a defensive standoff and Wisconsin looked to be on upset alert.
Johnson applauded the Beaver’s heart and effort in his post game press conference.
“The hardest part for any team is to end somebody’s season because you know you’re gonna get everything that they have in a tank because if they lose their season’s over and they’re not going to play until September,” Johnson said.
The first period ended 0-0 and it was clear Bemidji wasn’t going down without a fight. The Beavers broke the stalemate when Hailey Armstrong scored off of an Ava McNaughton miscue.
The deficit woke the Badgers up and they quickly fired back with a goal off the stick of sophomore forward Maggie Scannell.
Momentum began to swing toward the Badgers and LaBahn heated up with anticipation for another goal. But, Beaver’s goldtender Ava Hills kept them in the game with her 44 saves.
“That’s why our game’s unique,” Johnson said. “Because the other team, if the goalie’s playing well, they’ll give themselves a chance, and they gave themselves a chance today.”
The Badgers seemingly put the game away when Šapovalivová scored to end the second period 2-1. Yet, an extra attacker off Bemidji State’s empty net allowed the Beavers to tie things up with 25 seconds remaining in the third, sending the game to overtime.
LaBahn went quiet as fans nervously waited for the Badger’s to take the ice for the fourth period. Nevertheless, the Badgers promptly handled business as Edwards scored just one minute into the extra period.
She credited her team’s ability to keep calm for their swift overtime victory.
“I think our group does a really good job of just hitting the reset button, and we have so many good leaders whether they’re wearing letters or not who just bring energy and sometimes that’s all you need is a little bit of energy to flip things around and get a momentum shift,” Edwards said.
The Badgers now head to the WCHA Final Faceoff in St. Paul Minnesota. UW will play Thursday in the semi-final round against Minnesota State.
For now, the Badgers will take a couple extra days to rest and start preparing for their next matchup.
“We’re excited about it just to get in and get some more work right before playoffs, but every day counts just in our work and our habits,” Scanell said. “So we’re really excited to keep going here.”
