Over break, the UW women’s hockey team (11-4-4) had the opportunity to travel to Canada for a weeklong trip which featured the team’s first game in a month and the opportunity to play against Canadian gold medallist goaltender Kim St. Pierre.
“We were together 24 hours a day for seven days,” captain Sis Paulsen said. “I definitely think we got closer.”
The Badgers’ first test during their road trip came against fifth-ranked St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. UW won the game 2-1, behind goals from Kendra Anthony and Steph Millar. Three-time WCHA player of the week Jackie MacMillan recorded her 11th win of the season, making 16 saves in net and extending the Badgers’ unbeaten streak to a school-record nine games. The Badgers are 6-0-3 over the nine-game span and have won their last three games against top-10 opponents.
“We have finals over, and we’re getting ready to start school again, but now we’re just having fun,” Paulsen said. “We’re eating, sleeping and playing hockey. Everybody’s loving hockey right now, and that’s awesome.”
The Badgers then continued their trip into Canada to play McGill University, the team featuring St. Pierre. The Olympic goalie was no match for the Badger offense as she gave up five goals in the 5-0 Badger victory.
“As a team, we knew she was going to be a tough goalie, so we needed to get rebounds and get screens in front of her,” Paulsen said. “It’s a rush for us to say, ‘I got a point, I scored, or I got an assist off an Olympic goalie.'”
For MacMillan, the exhibition shutout came on the heals of her 15th career shutout, which she recorded Dec. 7 against Bemidji State. The win against Bemidji State also marked her 12th conference shutout and 42nd conference win, both school records.
“She’s been good since day one,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “She needs to stay healthy, keep focused and pay attention to the little details that go into being our goaltender. If she’s able to do that, we’ll be solid the second half of the season.”
Bringing an end to their trip, the Badgers traveled to play the Brampton Thunder of the Women’s National Hockey League in Toronto. The Thunder brought a trio of Canadian gold medallists into the matchup and left the game with a 4-3 victory. Although the Badgers stormed back from a 3-1 second-period deficit to send the game into overtime, the Thunder quickly ended any thoughts of a UW victory.
Ending the first half of their season with an exhibition loss, the Badgers still maintained third place in the WCHA and are poised to make a second-half run at the Final Four. The trip offered the Badgers a chance to come together both on and off the ice.
“It was a good bonding environment,” coach Johnson said. “Not only from a conditioning standpoint, but the trip up into Canada also gave us a chance to spend some time together and bond as a team.”
In his first year as Badger head coach, Mark Johnson has brought his NHL experience to the practice ice with great results. The Badgers have only lost one game to a team that was not ranked in the either of the top two spots in the nation.
“I can’t even say how much he has brought; it’s amazing how much you can learn in one 40-minute practice with him,” Paulsen said. “Every day I come off the ice thinking of four things that I learned today. It’s not the big things that he teaches you — it’s a lot of the little things and the little fundamentals.”
As a team, the Badgers have entered nearly half of their games as the underdog and have still only lost four games. The senior leadership and will to overcome key injuries have bolstered the moral of this group of women, and Johnson has them believing that they can do just about anything.
“We’ve had a lot of senior leadership, which has been great,” Paulsen said. “I think losing Carla MacLeod and Nikki Burish for a couple weeks definitely was a downer for us. They were playing well at the time, and I think as a team everybody really stepped it up and had to play at a higher level.”
Looking forward to the second half of the season, the team has capitalized on the outstanding play of its defense and the terrific goalie work of Jackie MacMillan. Nicole Uliasz and Sis Paulsen are both defensive players who are in the top five in team scoring and have helped their goalie win three Player of the Week awards.
“I think overall we’ve just improved in a lot of different areas,” coach Johnson said. “I think our passing has been a lot better, our defensive game has been solid with Jackie in net, and we’ve been able to overcome a couple of things that we had early in the season when we were playing Duluth and Minnesota.”
Leading point-scorer Meghan Hunter is joined on offense by Kendra Anthony and leading goal scorer Jackie Friesen as the Badger attack features a trio of forwards that have proven they can score on just about anyone.
Ending the first half of the season on a nine-game unbeaten streak has the Badgers thinking about a Final Four appearance, and along with the chemistry and camaraderie the team has developed, they might have what it takes to make it there.
“We’re a close-knit team,” Paulsen said. “We win and lose together, and we do everything off the ice together too. So I definitely think that’s been one of the big contributors [to the streak].”
