[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]There is little left to write about the Wisconsin women's hockey team. They are the reigning national champions, have been ranked No. 1 in the nation all season, and boast an undefeated streak of 24 games. The Badgers are, for the time being, unstoppable.

It certainly doesn't appear that they'll be stopped this weekend either. Wisconsin (11-0-1, 9-0-1 WCHA) will travel to Bemidji State (3-6-1, 2-3-1) this weekend to take on the Beavers, the third straight series in which Wisconsin will face a weak conference opponent. In the past two series, the Badgers dismantled WCHA bottom-feeder North Dakota before rolling over Minnesota State.

Bemidji State doesn't seem to have much hope of stopping Wisconsin from doing the same to them. The two teams are polar opposites, with the Badgers holding a considerable advantage in virtually every category. That won't stop Bemidji from playing hard, however.

"I know they'll work hard, and it'll be a couple of really challenging games for us," UW head coach Mark Johnson said.

Nonetheless, the differences between the two teams are staggering. In terms of offense, the Badgers have the top-two point producers in the conference, senior Sara Bauer and junior Jinelle Zaugg. Bauer has already collected 18 assists while Zaugg has racked up 13 goals, combining for 44 total points.

The Beavers, on the other hand, seem to have no legitimate scoring threats. Their top two scorers, Helena Tageson and Jenn Sadler, have combined for just 10 points. While Wisconsin has outscored opponents more than three to one, Bemidji State has been outscored nearly two to one.

There has also been an amazing difference between the quality of play from the goaltenders of each team. Wisconsin goaltenders Jessie Vetter and Christine Dufour, who split time in goal, are both among the best in the conference in goals against average and save percentages. Just as important, they've produced plenty of wins.

In contrast, Bemidji State's goalie Emily Brookshaw is among the league's worst in winning percentage, save percentage and goals against average.

It will be interesting to see how Johnson will split time between Vetter and Dufour this weekend. Both goalies have been superb, but Vetter has eight starts compared to Dufour's four starts. Vetter has also made three of the last four starts for the Badgers.

In addition Wisconsin has a tremendous advantage in special teams. The Badgers' power play is converting on more than a third of their opportunities, and the penalty kill has stopped nearly nine out of every 10 opponents' power-play chances.

Again, Bemidji State's comparative weakness in these areas is noticeable. The Beavers' power play is stagnant, with a success rate of just under 11 percent. However, their penalty kill count is respectable, stopping 85 percent of opponents' chances.

This is for good reason: the Beavers are very penalty-prone, averaging more than 18 penalty minutes per game. That's nearly an entire period per game spent killing off penalties. This doesn't bode well for Bemidji State, as it allows the Badgers' conference-best powerplay to get a lot of ice time.

It would appear that the Beavers' only hope for avoiding a series sweep this weekend is for the Badgers to come out flat-footed. Obviously there's always a possibility of that, in any series of any sport. But the only likely reason for the Badgers to come out flat would be for them to become complacent.

"It's never good to be complacent," team captain Bobbi-Jo Slusar said. "And I don't think it's ever good to be comfortable, and when that's the case we really need to address that.

"I think games like these are the hardest games to play, because they do have nothing to lose, and that's what's scary," Slusar added. "They're going to give it their all … but we just have to come in and play our game first and hopefully not worry about them too much."

However, this series does have some added significance because Wisconsin's next series will be a home series against conference rival UMN-Duluth, which closely trails Wisconsin in the conference standings. And it would certainly be an extra benefit to the Badgers if they could go into that series with some added confidence.

"Every weekend is a very important weekend; it doesn't matter who we're playing," Slusar said. "So it's very important for us to come out with a couple of wins [against Bemidji State]."