After exams in mid-December, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team sent athletes around the globe for training to come back even stronger for the second half of the season.
Five players practiced with national teams and the rest returned to Madison after a short break to get ready for a huge series against rival Minnesota to kick off the 2015 portion of the season.
Sophomores Sarah Nurse and Ann-Renée Desbiens worked on and off the ice with Team Canada in Austria and Germany for almost two weeks. The trip to Austria included training and a few exhibition matches before heading to Germany for the Nations Cup.
The two Badgers helped lead the Canadians to a gold medal in the Nations Cup. Desbiens was strong in goal for Canada in her two starts while Nurse scored one goal and added four assists. Nurse and Desbiens returned to Madison Jan. 8, just in time for Wisconsin’s series with Minnesota.
Three Badgers, freshman forward Annie Pankowski, sophomore defenseman Jenny Ryan and senior forward Karley Sylvester, trained with Team USA. The three used the time to train with former Badgers and the rest of the national team.
“They were tested, off ice conditioning, exercises, had three or four games through their camp,” Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said. “That helps them get up to speed.”
The training sessions and games with the national teams kept these players in form during the break from school before returning for one of their toughest opponents of the semester, Minnesota.
But on Jan. 10 and 11, in an all too familiar way, Wisconsin again fell just short against Minnesota. It was a disappointing end to one of the more anticipated series the team has scheduled this season.
In the first game of the series, No. 3 Wisconsin fell to No. 2 Minnesota 4-1. The Badgers were held to a season-low 23 shots in the loss. Sylvester tallied the lone goal for UW.
In the second game of the two-game series, the Badgers lost a chance at redemption, tying the Gophers 1-1.
Wisconsin put up the first goal of the contest when Emily Clark tallied her sixth goal of the season with 22 seconds remaining in the second period. But the team’s youth showed when they were unable to hold their one-goal lead going into the third period.
With 13:28 remaining in the third period, a defensive lapse from the Badgers proved costly and led to the Gophers’ Hannah Brandt tying the game at one. The score remained tied the rest of the way.
The Badgers played well aside from that mistake, and Desbiens stopped 29 of the 30 shots she faced in regulation and overtime.
UW went on to lose in a shootout after killing a Gophers’ power play in overtime, leaving the Badgers unable to win in four attempts against the Gophers this year.
“The first game was obviously not the result we wanted,” Nurse, the sophomore forward, said. “But in the second game, I think we came out and refocused, we calmed down. We were dominant for three periods and realized that [Minnesota] is a very beatable team.”
Wisconsin (17-3-2, 13-3-2 WCHA) still remains in first place in the WCHA as of Jan. 15 despite the loss and tie to Minnesota. The Gophers sit in second place with a 12-1-3 record in conference play.
After the away series at Minnesota, the Badgers return to Madison for back-to-back series against Bemidji State and Clarkson. The friendly confines of LaBahn Arena will be a welcome site for the Badgers as they look to get back on the winning track.
“Our schedule is always tough,” junior defenseman Courtney Burke said. “But it puts us in the position to be highly ranked. Playing in LaBahn [Arena] will definitely help a lot. Our fans are great, and they give us that extra push that we need when we’re at home.”
After the series against Bemidji State and Clarkson, UW will travel to Mankato, Minnesota for a two-game series against Minnesota State to close out the month of January. The Badgers will play host to Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State and travel to Ohio State in February to finish their regular season schedule.