Wisconsin allowed more goals Sunday than it had in any other game this season at Hobbs Ice Arena in a 5-1 loss to Bemidji State.
The Beavers took a 1-0 lead for the second straight afternoon when Amber Fryklund got BSU on the board. Lill Raynard poke-checked a Badger at the UW blue line, and the puck went to Kerri McEwen. McEwen passed to Fryklund in front, who pushed it past Jessica Bernal for her team-leading eighth of the season.
Like Friday afternoon, Wisconsin tied the game at 1 when Karen Rickard scored at 13:30 of the first. Kendra Antony passed to Meghan Hunter, who was camped out behind the Beaver net. Hunter spotted Rickard cutting down the slot, and the sophomore fired past Bre Dedrickson.
Then things began to differ from Friday’s contest, one that the Badgers won 3-1. Lisa Peters stole the puck along the red line and skated across the ice and down the left side. Her wrist shot beat Bernal to the far side, and the Beavers took a 2-1 lead.
Kristie Hofer made it 3-1 before the first ended when teammate Raynard found her cutting down the slot from the point. Her shot beat Bernal through the legs and counted for her third of the year.
“I think Bemidji State came back with more intensity,” head coach Trina Bourget said. “In the first period they were able to capitalize on their opportunities.”
Katie Ward scored the only goal of the second to extend the lead to 4-1. Peters slapped one from the right point that Ward deflected past Jackie MacMillan , who came in to start the second stanza.
McEwen capped the scoring for the Beavers with the only power-play goal of the contest. Alicia Kinsman won the puck after a faceoff in the Badger end and passed back to McEwen at the point. The defender skated along the blue line to get a better angle and fired a slapper that beat a screened MacMillan to the glove side.
Wisconsin out-shot the Beavers 34-15, but managed just the one goal. The Beavers went 1-for-7 on the power-play, while the Badgers were 0-for-5.
“The Kelly Kegley, Steph Millar, Kathryn Greaves line had really good energy and got scoring chances,” Bourget said. “They generated them from forechecking well and working hard. I thought Steph Boeckmann and Jackie Friesen also played well.”
Bernal got her first start of the season and stopped four shots, including a Guylaine Hache breakaway. Bernal absorbed her first loss and now stands 0-1-1. Dedrickson made 33 saves in the win to improve to 5-3-4. MacMillan made six saves in the final two periods for Wisconsin.
The Badgers (7-8-2 overall, 6-5-1 WCHA) are finished for the semester and are off for about a month.
“We’ve gone through some growing pains and have learned some valuable lessons,” Bourget added. “We’ll come back second semester and make some adjustments. I think we did a better job this weekend of getting in front of the net. We want to be stronger in front to win the battles, get free and put the puck home.”
