[media-credit name=’AJ MACLEAN/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Wisconsin women’s hockey team heads to Minnesota this weekend to take on the top-ranked Gophers (21-1-2, 16-0-2 WCHA) in the teams’ final meeting of the regular season. The Gophers have been ranked No. 1 for 15 consecutive weeks now and are tied atop the WCHA standings with Minnesota-Duluth with 34 points. The third-place Badgers (18-5-1, 12-5-1 WCHA) will have an opportunity to make up some ground as they currently trail the leaders by nine points.

The series has historically been a close one. The last 12 times the teams have faced off, the average margin of victory has been 1.5 goals. While Minnesota has taken nine of those last 12 games, Wisconsin has reason to believe they can match the Gophers goal for goal.

The reigning national champions carry with them the weight of four Olympians, three of which play on the same line. Natalie Darwitz, Krissy Wendell and Kelly Stephens are a trio of world-class forwards who also represent the top three scorers in the WCHA. They score almost at will, having scored 80 of Minnesota’s 127 goals on the season. Lindsay Wall represented her country as a defender, but she too can score. She is eighth in the conference with 35 points, many of which come on the power play.

The Badgers aren’t afraid of a few Olympians, however, as they have two of their own. Defenders Carla MacLeod and Molly Engstrom recently represented Team Canada and Team USA, respectively, in the Four Nations Cup in November. Neither is a stranger to international play, and their defense has helped make the Badgers one of the best defensive teams in the country. Wisconsin has given up a conference best 1.29 goals per game this season.

Another reason for the Badgers’ defensive success has been the play of goaltenders Christine Dufour and Meghan Horras. Although Dufour has been out the last few weeks with a leg injury, Horras has done more than carry the load, shutting out UMD for almost six periods two weeks ago, and getting another shutout against North Dakota last weekend. She was also named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for her play against UMD, as she helped the Badgers shutout the Bulldogs for the first time since 2001. Her .927 save percentage is good for third in the conference.

Besides defense, the Badgers have one main advantage over the Gophers, which is that after Minnesota’s Dream Team first line, things get a little hazy. The Gophers have squeezed only 37 goals out of anyone on the team not named Darwitz, Wendell, Stephens, or Wall. The Badgers, on the other hand, have the ability to score with almost any line on the ice. The line of Sara Bauer, Lindsay Macy, and Sharon Cole has been an offensive juggernaut this season, but the Badgers have also gotten production from the likes of forwards Nikki Burish, Jackie Friesen, Cyndy Kenyon, and Jinelle Zaugg, who play on the second and third lines, as well as Engstrom and MacLeod.

The first series between these two teams was a tight battle, ending in a win for the Gophers and a tie. In the first game, the Gophers scored a goal in the second period to go up 1-0, but the Badgers were in it until Stephens put it away with just over two minutes left to play as Minnesota went on to win 2-0. Wisconsin held the lead three separate times the next day, but the Gophers answered back every time, and the game ended up in a 3-3 deadlock.

If the Badgers want to be successful this weekend, they will have to stay out of the penalty box. Minnesota has a power play that scores more than 30 percent of the time, and with Darwitz, Wendell, and Stephens on the ice, it will be crucial that Wisconsin plays a clean game.

“You’re going to get some penalties, but we have to be under five. I think that might be a magic number,” head coach Mark Johnson explained. “If we start getting over five penalties, their chances of scoring are going to be pretty good.”

Even if the Badgers do get in some penalty trouble and get above that magic number, the Gophers still have to deal with a penalty kill that has nullified almost 90 percent of the opposition’s power play opportunities. The Badgers take very few chances when they are down a player, and that should dampen the Gopher attack.

The Minnesota Gophers are an undeniably dominant team, but as the old sports cliché goes, “That’s why they play the game.” Last season the Badgers managed to take a game from the eventual national champions in a late season series split. Nobody on the Badgers’ unit has any reason to believe that they can’t do the same this year.

“I think it’s obvious we’re right there,” said Engstrom of the quality of Minnesota’s play. “I hate to say we steal some games from them, because I don’t think that’s the case. I think we’re right there, and we leave games disappointed because they shouldn’t walk out with a win.”