[media-credit name=’GREG DIXON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]
After starting the season ranked No. 1, the Wisconsin
women?s hockey team had nowhere to go but down. For the entire month of
November, it seemed like all the Badgers did was fall further and further
behind. During an eight-game stretch in November the women?s hockey team went
2-5-1 and looked nothing like back-to-back national champions.
One reason for the team?s early struggles is their
dependence on five freshmen ? who have never had to balance college classes and
college hockey before ? to play major minutes for the team.
?It is always difficult to play your first semester and to
play hockey while you are preparing for your first exams,? junior goaltender
Jessie Vetter said of the freshmen. ?So once school ended, and we just focused
on playing hockey and having fun, our team started to do a lot better.?
Since the rough skid in November, however, UW (16-6-2,
12-4-2 WCHA) is riding a six-game win streak in which almost all members of the
team have contributed. One major reason for the team?s turnaround is the
offense?s rejuvenation and ability to find the back of the net. In the past six
games the team has averaged 3.5 goals per game.
?The biggest reason that we are winning is our ability to
score three or more goals in a game,? head coach Mark Johnson said. ?In the
games that we weren?t successful, we only scored one or two goals. Our defense
has remained pretty good all season, so when we score three or more there is a
good chance that we are going to win.?
Despite their recent offensive success, however, some
players still think the team could be scoring more goals.
?To tell you the truth, I think that we should have scored
six goals in all of those games,? senior Jinelle Zaugg said. ?We had a lot of
chances to score more goals, and we need to work on finishing those
opportunities.?
This weekend, the No. 5 Badgers will face No. 9 St. Cloud
State (15-5-4, 10-5-3 WCHA) at the Kohl Center. The Huskies ? who split a two-game
series earlier this year against the Badgers ? are a scrappy team that has won
a lot of close games this year and will present a strong challenge for UW?s
revitalized offense.
?Their goaltender can play exceptionally well,? Johnson
said. ?We out-chanced them and out-shot them last time, but she came up big,
and we couldn?t find the back of the net in the first game.?
Along with the usual motivation for winning the game, the
Badgers have placed a little extra emphasis on sweeping the Huskies this
weekend. Back when these two teams met in September, UW was on an NCAA-record,
32-game undefeated streak, which ended at St. Cloud in a 2-1 loss.
?We want to win every game, but there is a little extra
motivation because they did break our streak,? Vetter said. ?But in the end it
is just another WCHA weekend, and we have to get four points out of it.?
Along with the pressure to win this weekend, the Badgers are
facing mounting pressure to catch up in the WCHA race. With only ten more games
to play, UW trails University of Minnesota-Duluth by eight points in the
conference and probably needs to win out to have a shot at the WCHA title.
?We have got ten games left, and we are trying to win them
all,? Johnson said. ?With that said, however, you can only take the games one
day at a time, and right now we are focused on St. Cloud State.?
?We like the pressure,? Vetter added. ?Our
team has made it a goal to win out, and we will work hard and see what
happens.?