[media-credit name=’BRYANFAUST/Heraldphoto’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]In the midst of a stellar season, junior forward Sara Bauer continues to the lead the way for the Wisconsin women's hockey team. The St. Catharines, Ontario native leads the team and the league in both total points and assists.

Bauer, just as she was last season when she accumulated 55 points, continues to be a remarkable scoring threat. She has collected eighteen goals along with 21 assists for 39 points despite having missed a series to compete for Canada's under-22 team.

But off the ice, Bauer is one of the most shy, humble and soft-spoken people you'll ever meet. It's those characteristics, as well as her small words of advice and encouragement, that make her such a great leader to her teammates.

"Well Sara has a really great knowledge of the game and a lot of love for the game," team captain Sharon Cole said. "So she brings that knowledge and enthusiasm to the table, so to speak. I think she's a really strong leader, kind of the 'leader by example' type."

Bauer certainly led by example this past weekend when the Badgers swept Ohio State. She finished the series with five points and was credited with three assists as well as the game winning goals in both games, one of which was her third shorthanded tally of the season.

Her offensive prowess earned her the title of Offensive Player of the Week in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. It is already the third time this season that Bauer has won the award.

"I didn't play very well in the series before [against North Dakota]," Bauer said. "So I wanted to come out and get back into the swing of things against Ohio State. I had a lot of opportunities and it worked out well for me … I just try to go out and help my team win."

With just four more points, Bauer will pass former Badger Sis Paulsen for third on the all-time scoring list. Ironically, Paulsen recently became the interim manager for Bemidji State, who will play Wisconsin this weekend.

When asked about it, Bauer said she did not know Paulsen had joined Bemidji State's staff.

Bauer needs 51 points by the end of next season to become the program's all-time scorer. Given that she has more than an entire season to do it, she has a very good shot at taking the number one spot, barring injury.

"She's what we call … the whole package," head coach Mark Johnson said. "She loves to go to school and she loves to play hockey, and she's very good at both. She's one of our major leaders on the ice and she's almost a 4.0 student in the classroom. So it makes our job as coaches a lot easier … she's a really easy person to deal with [because] she comes prepared for practice and comes ready to play in the games and she does the things she needs to do for class."

Bauer's academic success is evident enough from just looking at her bio. She graduated high school as an honor roll student and earned an academic award of excellence. Here at UW, she is majoring in biology.

Bauer is as versatile as she is talented. In addition to being the Badgers' assistant captain, she is capable of playing on any spot on the offensive front, whether it be centering a line or holding things down on the wing.

It's that kind of quiet leadership, success and humbleness that her teammates gravitate towards and which the Badgers will be needing down the stretch of the WCHA season and into tournament play as UW tries to hold on to its spot atop the national rankings.