After a dramatic series last weekend against the University of Minnesota, the Wisconsin women's hockey team is riding a surge of momentum. Head coach Mark Johnson won his 100th career game as head coach, and Wisconsin clinched the school's first-ever WCHA title, which was a goal the team set out to accomplish from the start of the season.
"I hope it means a lot to the team," Johnson said. "It's the first time in the history of our program that we've won a championship. It's a credit to our players and a credit to the players that have been here in the past. … It's a nice piece of hardware to have, but the prize at the end of the journey is bigger than that."
It may be a bit early to look toward the playoffs now, given the Badgers still have two regular-season series remaining. Wisconsin will first take on Minnesota State this weekend at the Kohl Center in its last regular-season home series before wrapping up the season on the road against Ohio State.
Winning the WCHA title was just one of several goals the Badgers had set for themselves at the beginning of the season. The next is a successful run in the playoffs.
"So it's a good feather in the hat. The players should be proud of their accomplishment in winning the WCHA," Johnson continued. "So hopefully they still have some more in the tank and want to win a few more things [because] we still have some goals out there as far as what we want to accomplish."
"It gives us a lot of confidence," assistant captain Nikki Burish said. "One of the goals at the start of the season was to win the [conference]. … We've accomplished our first goal of the season so far."
"We try not to think too far ahead," Burish continued. "But hopefully we'll get home ice, which I think we'll have, and then we'll hopefully win the first two games we have so we don't have to play three games because fresh legs are a good thing to have … and we can try to make a run at the finals."
This series could be a very good chance for the Badgers to flex their offensive muscles. Wisconsin leads the conference with nearly four goals per game, while the Minnesota State Mavericks average just over two goals per game.
"I'm expecting a pretty tough series [this weekend]," Burish said. "It's the end of the season and they're fighting for position, too … so we're going to play hard and hopefully we'll beat them this weekend."
The biggest vulnerability the Mavericks have is their special teams. While they have a good penalty kill, their power play is dead last in the conference, which gives the Badgers a decisive edge. The Badgers convert nearly 20 percent of all power plays.
Another notable advantage goes in favor of Wisconsin, which is the least-penalized team in the conference, with less than 10 minutes per game. Minnesota State receives an average of more than 14 penalty minutes per game. That discrepancy in team discipline means that UW could receive a fair amount of time with a one-man advantage during the series.
Wisconsin also has an edge in goaltending with three reliable goalies. Senior goaltender Meghan Horras has the best winning percentage of any goalie in the conference and splits time with junior goalie Christine Dufour and freshman Jessie Vetter.
"I'm confident in all three of them," Johnson said, "and I know all three of them can do the job if they're called upon. … Dufour has been battling a bit of an injury, but she's worked hard to come back."
Vetter was in goal last Saturday when she picked up her fourth win of the season to improve her record to 4-1. It was that victory that secured the Badgers' WCHA championship, Johnson's 100th career win and Vetter's rookie of the week honors.
"I'm just thankful I got the opportunity to play in that game," Vetter said. "Every game I play, I just get more confident."
"She's doing well," Johnson said. "Obviously she had to battle through mono to start the season … but she has come back and she played well against Minnesota. … She's a very good goaltender and we knew that when she came [to Wisconsin]."
Minnesota State's starting goaltender, Britni Kehler, has a record of 10-10-2 and has a very good .928 save percentage. However, she has a mediocre goals against average, which indicates she sees a high number of shots every game.
The Mavericks are led on offense by freshman forward Maggie Fisher, who has 15 goals and 21 points on the season. She and sophomore Kristina Bunker are the only players from Minnesota State in the top 32 point scorers in the conference.
The puck drops at the Kohl Center Friday at 7 p.m.
