The Wisconsin women's hockey team's home series against Wayne State University this weekend matched a clearly dominant No. 3 Badger unit against an overmatched Warrior squad with only three lines to juggle during the games. The Warrior women fought hard throughout, but the Badgers cruised to a pair of victories, winning 11-0 Saturday and 8-1 Friday at the Kohl Center.
In Saturday's win, a game in which all four lines had at least one goal scorer, the Badger women dominated from the first period to the third. The Badgers got off to a quick start in the first period with a goal from senior Molly Engstrom about three minutes in.
The Badgers continued to dominate the ice as they controlled the neutral zone, cut off passing lanes and out-hustled the Warriors. Wisconsin's aggressiveness paid off as the squad broke through with two more goals within a minute and a half of each other from junior forward Nikki Burish and forward Lindsay Macy to make the score 3-0.
In the second frame, Wisconsin pushed even harder. They managed to put the puck in the net five times. Burish and Macy both got their second goals of the night to put Wisconsin up 5-0.
Forward Sara Bauer was next as she took the puck across the blue line in a two-on-two situation. Coming up on the right side, she sped past her defender, crossed over to the left side of the crease, juked Warrior goalie Val Turcotte and planted the puck securely in the back of the net. Grace Hutchins scored the next one, followed by Lindsay Macy, a goal that gave Macy her second career hat trick.
"I just put the puck into the net," Macy said after the game. "[The hat trick] doesn't really matter."
The Badgers headed into the third period up 8-0, but they were not done. Wisconsin added three more goals, as sophomore Phoebe Monteleone tallied her first two goals of the season and junior Cyndy Kenyon got her second of the year, to put the final touches on an 11-0 blowout victory over Wayne State.
The game saw sophomore Christine Dufour get her fourth career shutout as she stopped 13 shots. The Badger women won by the largest margin of victory for a home game in school history, as well as the most goals ever scored at the Kohl Center — in men's or women's hockey.
In Friday's game, the Badgers dominated in the opening period. Wayne State got off only two shots as the Badgers shot 30 times, scoring twice. Sara Bauer got both of those goals, the first one coming on a smooth cross in front of the net as she went top-shelf over Wayne State goalie Tina Thibideau.
"I was thinking of passing it," Bauer said. "But then I just ended up carrying it to the net."
Wayne State wasn't ready to be pushed around, however, as Jessica Snelgrove scored on a breakaway to cut the lead to 2-1. One of the Badger defenders fell down on the play, allowing Snelgrove the opportunity to score on Wisconsin goalie Meghan Horras.
The Badgers quickly answered, however, as Engstrom scored her first goal of the season to put Wisconsin up 3-1.
The third period clearly belonged to the Badgers. Macy scored her first goal of the season to get the ball rolling. Sharon Cole tallied her first goal as well, as the Badgers went up 5-1.
Then, in one minute's span, freshman Jinelle Zaugg, Kenyon, and Macy each scored a goal to give the Badger women the 8-1 lead they would carry to the end of the game.
The Badger women's hockey team showed why they are the No. 3 team in the nation this weekend. They played defense, controlled the neutral zone, worked well on offense, hustled to the puck and made very few mistakes. However, coach Mark Johnson will not read too much into the first weekend of play.
"It's only a start," Johnson said after Saturday's game. "It's only two games out of 34. You don't get comfortable in this business, you just keep working. We'll try to make strides this week in some areas we need to work on, and hopefully next weekend we'll play better than we did this weekend."
