Lost in the excitement of the Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s 11-4-1 record, lost in the explosive offense of a team that has scored 4.81 goals per game, and lost on a line that is one of the best in the WCHA, a small unassuming forward from Bloomington, Minn., is having the best season of her career — and it is only half over.

Junior forward Sharon Cole may not get as much attention from around the conference as her two linemates, forwards Lindsay Macy and Sara Bauer, but she is as integral a part of the Badger offense as Macy or Bauer and deserves much of the credit for the line’s success.

While Bauer darts around the ice, and Macy waits patiently for the right pass, Cole is there to pounce on loose pucks and create scoring opportunities for each of them.

“The quiet person on that line, but certainly a big part of it, is Sharon,” head coach Mark Johnson said of his junior forward.

Cole may be quiet but her numbers this season have been anything but. She is currently tied for eleventh in the WCHA in points with 18 on the season, which also puts her in third place on the Badger roster to — unsurprisingly — Bauer and Macy. She has scored at a rate of 1.12 points per game and has already surpassed her point total from last season.

“She’s a very good skater, she’s got good work habits, and she understands how to play the game … that’s a tough tool to teach, but she certainly has it,” Johnson said.

Cole owes much of her success to the abilities of her linemates to finish plays that she so skillfully starts. She has an incredible understanding of the game and is adept at finding passing lanes where most wouldn’t.

“She plays in all situations,” Johnson said. “She plays on the power-play, she kills penalties, and she plays on the regular shift. I think her skating ability and her ability to read plays really well helps her in those situations.”

Cole is the first to admit that the offensive production of her line is greatly amplified by the talents of Macy and Bauer.

“All my points have something to do with those two, so without them I probably wouldn’t have near as many points as I do,” Cole said.

The three didn’t regularly share ice time until January of last season when Johnson, in an effort to get Macy more playing time in her freshman year, put her on a line with Cole and Bauer. The trio clicked right away, and the Badger offense has benefited from the combination.

“Me, Bauer and Macy work really well together because first of all, Macy can put the puck in the net really well,” Cole said. “Bauer is just a really good all around player, and I kind of consider myself the grind player on the line.”

What Cole lacks in flare or goal scoring ability, she makes up for with hard work. On a line that seems to spend all of its ice time in the offensive zone, she is the skater that works the corners for the puck and chases after rebounds in order to give her teammates another chance at the net. Her hard work has paid off as her fourteen assists are good for second on the team and ninth in the conference.

“She definitely brings hard work,” Macy said. “She’s always going out there, she’s always working hard, and she brings a good attitude to the team, especially our line.”

The magic behind Cole’s success is the ability of such a talented, knowledgeable athlete to put the team’s success ahead of her own at all times. Whether looking for an assist or a goal, it doesn’t matter because a goal is a goal, and it helps the team win no matter what.

“My big thing is plus/minus,” Cole said. “If you’re on the ice for a goal, you did something whether it was just occupying a player on the other side of the ice. You didn’t get scored on. That’s my big thing is not being scored on but scoring while you’re out there.”

Next year, Cole will be one of five seniors on the team. The younger players will look to her and her fellow seniors for leadership and guidance. Cole fits the role exceptionally well, providing leadership in her play as well as encouragement in the locker room.

“I think she should be [a captain],” Macy said of her linemate. “She’s probably one of our better leaders. We have good leaders at every level, but she is one of our strongest.”

For now Cole doesn’t mind the relative obscurity of playing in the shadows of her teammates. For a player that has more points than the top scorers for half of the teams in the WCHA, she is perfectly content dishing out assists to Macy and Bauer, quietly ascending the conference scoring ladder and continuing the best season of her career.