The No. 2 University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team (14-1-1, 8-1-1 WCHA) traveled to St. Cloud to take on their fourth straight opponent hailing from the state of Minnesota, the St. Cloud State Huskies (3-10-1, 0-10-0). 

In Friday’s matchup, the Badgers’ explosive top line put them out to a 2–0 lead in the first period of action with goals from Sophie Shirley and Daryl Watts, as Abby Roque picked up an assist on both.

The second period saw Wisconsin pad their lead less than five minutes into the period with a goal from Britta Curl, before the Huskies struck back with two goals of their own to close out the middle frame at a 3–2 score favoring the Badgers.

Early in the third, Mekenzie Steffen provided a power-play goal for Wisconsin to regain a two-goal lead, but the Huskies would respond with their own power-play goal shortly after to crawl back within one. The Badgers were able to hold off St. Cloud State for the rest of the period before scoring an empty-net goal to ice the game, winning 5–3.

Women’s Hockey: Badgers bounce back from border battle to sweep Minnesota State

In the latter matchup of the two-game set, Wisconsin came out flying, scoring two goals in the first 2:19 of game time. Brette Pettet and Daryl Watts provided the goals for the Badgers. Later in the period, the Huskies struck on the power play followed by a Wisconsin even-strength goal 30 seconds later. The opening frame concluded with the Badgers on top, 3–1.

Wisconsin used the second period to build on the lead with a goal from Watts while playing stout defense, giving up only three shots and zero goals. The Wisconsin 4–1 lead lasted all of 23 seconds in the third period as St. Cloud State’s Jenniina Nylund put one past Kristen Campbell to narrow the Badger lead to two goals. But Wisconsin closed out the game strong, getting two more goals from Sophie Shirley and Dara Greig en route to a 6–2 victory and a series sweep.

This weekend series saw Abby Roque notch her 100th career assist as the Badgers grabbed two more wins before they head down to Nashville next week to play in the Country Classic Tournament. In Nashville, Wisconsin will face off against two prestigious programs in Harvard and Boston College. Those games will take place Friday and Saturday, respectively.