All season long the Wisconsin women’s hockey team has relied on their top-notch defense to keep them in games while their offense struggled to find its rhythm early in the season. Now as the Badgers are winding down the season on a 13-1-3 run, including six straight wins, the offense is starting to match the defense in its effectiveness. The improved offensive output could not have come at a better time, as the Badgers are battling for a chance to play in the NCAA’s Frozen Four.
One reason for the improvement has been Wisconsin’s depth. While many of the Badgers’ opponents rely on two or three lines, UW relies on all four of their lines to get the job done. Often Wisconsin’s depth pays off down the stretch of games when Wisconsin still has a jump in their step while their opponents are often a step behind. With the Badgers outscoring their opponents 39-11 in the third period, this strategy has seemed to pay off.
Head coach Mark Johnson said of his group, “One of our assets all year has been our depth, our ability to throw a lot of people in and try to keep the pace of the game up and really wear teams down.”
With that depth has come fairly even scoring, with seven players notching 20 points or more on the season. Freshman Sara Bauer leads the way for the Badgers with seven goals, 24 assists and 31 points, but Lindsay Macy (16-12-28), Meghan Hunter (11-14-25), Karen Rickard (14-10-24) and Jackie Friesen (14-10-24) aren’t far behind. The other two players with 20 points this season are the top two defensemen for the Badgers, Molly Engstrom (4-19-23) and Carla MacLeod (5-17-22). Seven more players have at least 10 points for the Badgers. With 14 of the 18 skaters in the starting lineup scoring in double figures for Wisconsin, opposing defenses have a hard time focusing on one line to shut them down.
Another reason for the offensive improvement is the maturation of the Badger freshmen. It is no surprise that any team relying on contributions from the freshman class like Wisconsin will show improvement down the stretch. As the freshmen grow more comfortable with the system, their contributions to the offense will continue to increase. In particular, Bauer and Macy, who lead the team in scoring, have really come on down the stretch since being paired together on a line. Fellow freshman Meaghan Mikkelson’s seven goals and six assists have also been a welcome addition to the squad.
“Lindsay has the knack for finding open space around the net, and when she gets the puck, she can be really dangerous,” said Johnson of his leading goal scorer. “Between her (Macy) and Bauer, they have played real well.”
Wisconsin is just starting to reap the benefits of their strong defense on the offensive end. Early in the year the team seemed poised for an offensive explosion. Often taking 40 or more shots to their opponent’s 10 to 15, it was just a matter of time before the puck went in the net. Johnson admitted that it was frustrating at times watching his team get so many chances, yet score so few goals.
The struggles of the first half of the season were typified by the three goals on 106 shots against Northeastern in early January. The following week, Wisconsin looked like a different team, scoring five goals against three-time defending champion Minnesota-Duluth. Since that series, the Badgers have scored over four goals per game.
“The last three or four weekends we have played very well,” Johnson said. “The puck has gone in and it’s a credit to the kids because they battled through some adversity early on in the year with not being able to score a lot of goals, and their hard work and persistence has certainly paid off in the last couple of weekends.”
With the WCHA’s Final Five this weekend, the Badgers are going to need their offense to continue to shine. While they have proven that they can hold the high-powered offenses that they will face in Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota in check, the offense has to prove that it can score a couple of goals to seal the victory for Wisconsin.
