The WCHA season continues for Wisconsin as Ohio State comes to the Kohl Center for a pair of games this weekend.
The last time the two teams met, the Buckeyes handed the Badgers a ticket home from the WCHA playoffs, sweeping a best-of-three game series.
“I think the girls are a little bitter after last year,” senior captain Meghan Duggan said.
In order to avenge last year’s heartbreaking finish, Wisconsin knows it must bring its best effort Friday and Saturday night. Like No. 1 UW, 10th-ranked OSU comes in with an undefeated record (4-0 overall and 2-0 in the WCHA) and is loaded with talent.
“They certainly have got the personnel that if you’re not playing at the top of your game you’re going to get beat,” head coach Mark Johnson said.
The Badgers’ netminders are likely to see much more action than Bemidji State provided two weeks ago. And although Duggan missed last season while at the Olympics, she still remembers the level at which Ohio State can play.
“They have some good goal scorers on their team,” Duggan said. “Some girls that like to get in there put the puck on net and go for rebounds.”
Specifically, Wisconsin will have to look out for Ohio State’s two talented junior forwards, Natalie Spooner and Laura McIntosh. Spooner and McIntosh make up 19 of their team’s 43 total points and nine of its 17 goals this season.
However, the Badgers are downplaying the idea that in order to be successful they must keep tabs on the Buckeyes’ dynamic tandem.
“[We need] to just do what we can do to be better than them instead of pinpointing specific players on their team,” Duggan said.
One aspect the Badgers will try to control is their special teams.
Two weeks ago against Bemidji State, Wisconsin often found itself short-handed, committing several penalties throughout the course of the two-game series.
According to Duggan, the team plans on watching film of the Buckeyes to gauge some of their tendencies during power plays.
“They’ve got some great, powerful forwards. They put up numbers and they put the puck in the back of the net,” Duggan said.
Adjusting to Ohio State’s fast paced game might prove even more difficult this weekend, as Wisconsin has not played a game since the Bemidji State series after having a bye last week.
Johnson is concerned about a possible slow start on Friday, as the long layoff might take a toll on his players.
“You always [worry]. Once you get into a game routine and you take a weekend off, usually that first period when you come back things aren’t the same because you can’t mirror a game situation in practice,” Johnson said.
Still, the respite does have its perks. An extended period of time between games can bode well for a young team that needs to keep its legs as fresh as possible during a long season.
“This weekend off kind of came at a pretty good point,” Duggan said. “We kind of jumped into it pretty fast there, we had preseason and four games right off the bat and I think the break gives people a little bit of time to reflect and focus on what we’re trying to do here. We can come back healthy strong and rested and kind of get after this next part of our season.”
The Badgers will begin that next part with a big target on their sweaters, as the team was recently awarded the top spot in the national rankings.
Johnson knows that defending that ranking will prove difficult this weekend, as Ohio State brings a balanced and experienced squad to town.
“It’s a good test for us and hopefully we’ll come out Friday night with the same type of energy we’ve had for our first four games and with the same type of production,” Johnson said. “It’ll be our best challenge of the early part of the season.”
