The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s Sarah Nurse won WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors in a weekend sweep of Minnesota State. The senior forward has been one of the most dominant players in the country this season, winning her third conference honor with the 7-point performance.
The No. 1 Badgers took two in the best-of-three series with the Mavericks, winning 7-0 and 6-0 and preventing the final game from happening. Nurse tallied a goal and two assists in the opening win, following it up with an even more impressive display in the second, notching a hat trick alongside another assist.
The Canadian has been on a mission as of late, as this is her final postseason wearing the scarlet and white, improving to a team-leading 23 goals on the season while sitting at second in total points with 46. Only Annie Pankowski, one of the leading candidates for NCAA player of the year, has more points on the year with 50.
The potent combo of Pankowski and Nurse will be what the Badgers need if they want to take home their second-straight conference tournament championship and get back to the Frozen Four for the third-straight year. But this senior-dominated squad has been going after something much bigger in winning the program’s fifth national championship in 18 years.
Women’s hockey: Badgers make easy work of Minnesota State in first round of WCHA Playoffs
Wisconsin now travels to Minneapolis for the WCHA Final Face-off for the conference semifinals, where they will take on North Dakota Saturday. The winner will stay in town for the championship game to take on the winner of the other semifinal matchup between University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and University of Minnesota, Duluth.
