While the WCHA championship trophy sat in its case Saturday night, Wisconsin (27-4-1, 22-3-1 WCHA) was handing Minnesota State its second-straight loss at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers, who were playing in their final regular-season home game, shut out the Mavericks 5-0, giving the five UW seniors a proper sendoff.
Wisconsin's five seniors — Nikki Burish (Madison, Wis.), Sharon Cole (Bloomington, Wis.), Meghan Horras (Appleton, Wis.), Grace Hutchins (Winnetka, Ill.) and Cyndy Kenyon (Sparta, Wis.) — were all honored in a pre-game ceremony to celebrate their tenure at UW.
"Being Senior Night and having five kids who put a lot of time and energy into the program, and who have won a lot of games during their four years, it was really special," UW head coach Mark Johnson said. "The team was playing for that group of five, and you know they wanted to come out play hard and take care of business.
"It's a tribute to those five players [and] what they've done here — they've won a championship now and it's nice to see the group come out and play for them."
The Badgers came out firing Saturday night, unleashing a barrage of scoring opportunities before Kristen Witting finally broke through at 11:48 into the first period for her first goal of the season.
After a scuffle in front of the net, the puck squirted out to Witting and she blasted a slap shot passed a screened MSU goaltender.
The Badgers scored twice more in the second period on goals by Burish and freshman Erika Lawler. Burish netted her seventh goal of the year at 12:55; Hutchins and Witting were credited with the assists. Lawler followed it up with top-shelf wrister for the 10th goal of her young career at 14:47.
Burish led the way for UW this weekend, as she tallied two goals and three assists in her final home series.
"This has got to be up there for my career here," Burish said. "Winning our first championship, combined with Senior Night… but I tried not to think about this being my last home game and just tried to focus on winning the games, and that really helped me be successful this weekend."
The Badgers put forth another two-goal performance in the final 20 minutes, giving UW the 5-0 win. Juniors Bobbi-Jo Slusar and Sara Bauer rounded out the scoring with goals at 1:09 and 16:44 respectively, and the celebration was officially on. Players and coaches were waving their WCHA championship t-shirts as "Celebrate" rang loudly through the Kohl Center.
While the Badgers clinched the title last weekend, they were presented with their trophy Saturday. UW team captain Cole hoisted it over her head in front of a modest crowd.
"It has been a good year," Johnson said in the post-game ceremony. "One of our goals was to win a league championship. These players are very committed and very passionate. They won the first league championship for our young program. This is their moment."
Friday night's affair wasn't quite as exciting in terms of pre-game and post-game ceremonies but still saw another Badger win, this time by a score of 3-2.
Wisconsin jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second, thanks to goals by Burish and Emily Morris. Although the Badgers out-shot the Mavericks 35-11 and dominated the face-offs, MSU showed some grit with a third-period surge to tie the game at two. The second Maverick goal came with 7:26 remaining in the game after Felicia Nelson scored on an angled shot from the goal line.
With the game tied at two and 30 seconds left on the clock, UW forward Erika Lawler found herself on a breakaway and scored on a top-shelf shot, giving the Badgers the 3-2 win.
All in all, it was a standard weekend at the office for the No. 3-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team. It was an overall team effort this weekend and the Badgers appear to be clicking on all cylinders as they move on to loftier goals.
"Having the trophy in hand puts closure on one aspect of it, and it looks nice in the trophy case," Johnson said. "But the prize at the end of the journey is the big one, and that's what we're shooting for."
