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Coming off an impressive home sweep of St. Cloud State last
weekend, the UW women?s hockey team is currently riding a lot of momentum. That
momentum is something very valuable to the fifth-ranked Badgers, who play host Saturday
and Sunday as the North Dakota Fighting Sioux come to Madison looking to take a
bite out of a team focused on the path ahead of them heading down the home
stretch of their season.

?My message I?ve been pushing since the beginning of the
season is one of consistency. When you can create good habits, you can build on
them over time, and that?s what we have continued to try and do every week,?
head coach Mark Johnson said.

The methodical way Johnson?s teams have powered through
their second stretches of the season have been very well-documented, especially
in the past three years. During that time, he has built an unbelievable 47-2-1 record.

Though North Dakota ? now sitting
in second to last place in the WCHA with a 4-20-4 record ? is certainly not the
most intimidating of foes, Johnson is still making sure his players don?t
overlook the opportunity to use this weekend as a great launch pad into the
next, when the Badgers travel north to face the top-ranked Bulldogs.

?At this particular point in the
season, you cannot make the mistake of getting ahead of yourself,? Johnson
said. ?So as a team and as a coaching staff, the concentration has to be on
Friday afternoon and North Dakota. Any talk about anything else beyond that,
well, let?s just say you aren?t going to hear it from me.?

If Wisconsin thinks it has it bad,
with Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota in the last three weeks of the season, they
shouldn?t be complaining to North Dakota, who ? in facing the Badgers this
weekend ? has played three straight series against the top teams in the
conference.

After getting swept at home by
second-ranked Minnesota, they lost 8-1 and 5-0 to the highest scoring team in
the country, the UMD Bulldogs.

The last time the Sioux and the
Badgers tangled was right before break, when the Badgers ? still smarting over
their overtime loss to UMD the weekend before ? took out their frustrations on
the struggling team, shutting them out in the second game. Wisconsin hasn?t
dropped a game since.

It won?t get any easier for the
Sioux this time around, however, as senior Jinelle Zaugg, one of four seniors
set to be honored before today?s game, has been on a tear lately. Goalless for
seven games earlier this year, Zaugg seems to have found her shot since winter
break, scoring in each of the last four games to up her total for the year to a
team-high 13. Her play has not gone unnoticed either, as she was awarded the
WCHA Offensive Player of the Week following her three-goal, one-assist
performance last weekend against St. Cloud State. Should her pace continue, it
is only a matter of time before the UW record for career goals (84) is broken,
as she is only six away.

The offensive side of the puck
isn?t just being recognized, however, as junior goalie Jessie Vetter was also
awarded Defensive Player of the Week honors after coming within 24 seconds of
posting back-to-back shutouts last weekend.

?(Getting both awards) certainly
speaks to how well we?ve played over the last week,? Johnson said. ?It shows
that, as a team, we were able to take care of both sides of the puck. When you
are able to play as well as we did as a team, you?re bound to get individual
recognition; on top of that Jinelle (Zaugg) and Jessie (Vetter) deserved it.?