Sports

Hawk’s Nest still home for hockey

A pair of shutout victories over Bemidji State this weekend capped a highly successful season for the UW women's hockey team as the Badgers finished 29-1-4 and WCHA regular season champions.

It didn't take long for the cardinal and white to take control in Saturday's game as Erika Lawler scored 1:06 into the game to put the Badgers ahead 1-0 en route to an easy 6-0 victory in the regular season finale. Angie Keseley chipped in a pair of goals for the Badgers and Christine Dufour made 25 saves to record her school-record 17th career shutout as the Beavers failed to present much of a challenge.

Their performance in the second game of the series was in stark contrast to the Badgers' game Friday. In that game, Bemidji State gave Wisconsin a close contest before the Badgers eventually pulled away with a 2-0 win. Sara Bauer's goal as she dived into the net with 14 minutes remaining in the second period put the Badgers ahead, and a third-period laser shot into the top right corner by Megan Mikkelson iced the game for Wisconsin. Bemidji had plenty of scoring opportunities and it took an impressive performance in net by Jessie Vetter to keep the Beavers off of the scoreboard.

A surprisingly close game from start to finish may have been the product of a Badger performance that coach Mark Johnson said lacked energy.

"When our team's excited to play we play a lot better," Lawler said of the need for energy.

Though this weekend's series was somewhat meaningless — Wisconsin's first round WCHA matchup already set with North Dakota — two story lines expected to have a major impact in the playoffs started to take shape.

Appendix surgery left UW without Meaghan Duggan this weekend and perhaps longer as the team's second-leading scorer (42 points) continues to recover. Replacing Duggan on the front line was Lawler, which also altered the rest of the Badger lines and created some unusual ice combinations.

"Well, you're going to get a different look," Johnson said of not having Duggan in the lineup. "Erika is a natural center. We put her up there to try and create some speed. You take Duggan out of the lineup and it puts a twink in everybody's line."

On Friday, the front line of Zaugg, Bauer and Lawler struggled at times and looked uncomfortable throughout the game.

During Saturday's six-goal performance none of the Badgers' goals took place with the three of them on the ice together.

With Bauer at the center position, the speedy Lawler was forced to adjust to a different role-playing on the right wing.

"It was a different position so it was a lot different," the team's regular second-line center said. "You don't really have to break out the puck as much and bang the boards. It's a big change so I have to get used to it."

Additionally the goalie situation, a year-long story line for the Badgers, continues to remain cloudy despite the conclusion on the regular season. Friday, it was last season's playoff goalie Vetter making a spectacular save to shut down a Bemidji breakaway as she recorded a shutout. The next night Dufour extended her unbeaten streak with another shutout.

"Right now we're in a pretty good situation where they're both healthy," Johnson said. "But as we've found out with Duggan, things can change quickly."

As Vetter added, getting really comfortable going into the playoffs is a good thing for the Badgers.

"You have to be peaking at the right time and hopefully this will continue on going into the playoffs," Vetter said.

Last year's NCAA tournament MOP offered no clues as to who would get the bulk of the minutes come playing time, instead echoed the statements made by Johnson throughout the season.

"It's a good situation to be in to have two goaltenders playing well so whatever he decides will work out," Vetter said.

— UWBadgers.com contributed to this report