Sports: Women's Hockey

UMD welcome in Kohl Center

Competition upcoming between No. 2, 3 teams in WCHA; Kelter twins join squad

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SAJIKA GALLEGE/Herald photo

The women’s hockey team will face the UMD Bulldogs this weekend, a team it is very familiar with.

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Related stories:

• Thanks, Carl Polhad (November 6, 2001)
• Women's hockey team begins season vs. UND (October 2, 2009)
• Ice Badgers slip in WCHA tournament (March 22, 2004)
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Also by Kelly Erickson:

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• Olympians provide major learning opportunity (January 18, 2010)
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After a two week road trip, the women’s hockey team is back on home ice, getting ready to face division rival Minnesota-Duluth. Despite their struggles this year, the Badgers feel as if things are really coming together — they just need to be more consistent in finishing their games.

The team has been dominant for stretches on the ice, consistently outshooting its opponents, but has not been able to walk away with as many wins as they hoped for. UW interim head coach Tracey DeKeyser thinks that the home stand against Duluth is timed perfectly.

“I know we’ve had some trouble scoring,” DeKeyser said, “But if you look at the dominance of the play or the number of shots taken per game, it’s pretty clear that we should feel confident in the direction we’re going and people have stepped up and made contributions. I just think it’s a great time to be matched up with Minnesota-Duluth.”

Bringing home two wins, a tie and a loss, the Badgers are still working toward the success they had at home last year.

While the confidence is high, Wisconsin knows it has to face a talented Duluth team. The Bulldogs are fierce competitors and sit in second place in the WCHA, one spot ahead of the Badgers.

“They’re speedy [and] they’re skilled,” DeKeyser said. “We need to make sure we hone in on particular individuals as we line up … and see what they have in store for us.”

Wisconsin has a 9-5-2 overall record (6-4-0 in the WCHA), and outshot its opponents this season 565 to 391. Despite the advantage in shot, UW has been unable to consistently get the puck in the net more often to seal wins.

With all of their dominating factors, the Badgers still have a record that does not seem to support their statistics. DeKeyser feels the problems fall in Wisconsin’s inability to consistently finish games as strong as they start them.

“I’m not sure if it’s consistency or just finishing,” DeKeyser said. “We’re doing the right things. If you count the number of scoring chances for each game and the number of shots on net, it’s too bad we haven’t been able to put the puck in.

“I don’t want the players to get discouraged simply because we haven’t been finishing, but that is our focal point.”

The rivalry between the Bulldogs and the Badgers is intense — UW defeated UMD for the 2007 national title but fell to them in the title game the next year. While they sit in second and third in the conference, respectively, both teams carry formidable rosters that will provide an even match up. No extra motivation is needed to get Wisconsin ready for the series.

“I’m quite sure there will be no need to try and motivate the players for this particular series,” DeKeyser said. “They understand the importance of these games and they know this opponent is a highly skilled opponent … I think it’ll be a wide-open game and playing on the big ice that should be fun to watch more so than trying to attack four people in front of their net. Hopefully that’ll be good for our players.”

Kelter twins in lineup

With the soccer season over after an exciting run in the NCAA tournament, freshmen Alev and Derya Kelter finally take their places in the Badgers lineup. Although the team has had only a short amount of time to see what they can do, DeKeyser feels the girls have a lot of potential. The coach has already seen it from Alev Kelter.

“True to form, kind of like her soccer game, [Alev] is a physical presence out there. She can go into the corner against two opponents and come up with the puck. We know she can do that, we’ve seen her play for the past couple of years and that’s why she got the nod and got some playing time this [past] weekend.”