It’s no joke. St. Cloud was one big sieve.

Kicking off the second half of the season, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team (22-2-0, 16-2-0 WCHA) took on a winless St. Cloud squad (0-22-1, 0-17-1-1 WCHA) at the Kohl Center and outscored the struggling team 16-0 in two weekend games.

The Badgers did not quite manage to score the 10 goals from Friday night’s game on Sunday, but six goals against an already-embarrassed team was more than enough.

With only two minutes left in the first period, senior forward Megan Duggan finally capitalized on a faceoff, putting the Badgers on top 1-0 and essentially sealing the win.

“It was a great win by [Brianna] Decker; she’s been great on her faceoffs today and in the past,” Duggan said. “She made a nice one to Brooke [Ammerman]. She just carried it in and dished it over to me, I had an open net. It wasn’t much on my part; I think [Ammerman] and Decker took most of the credit on that one.”

After giving up 10 goals on Friday, the Huskies came out with a lot more energy, picking up the pace of the game and keeping the Badgers at bay.

Husky goalie Ashley Nixon faced a total of 52 shots from the Badgers and made multiple great saves. The Badgers knew they would have to keep attacking to eventually get the puck in the net.

“Nixon’s a great goalie,” junior forward Hilary Knight said. “When goalies are hot, there’s not much you can do. You just keep on shooting and hope one goes in.”

In a more competitive game, the Badgers stepped up to the challenge. Wisconsin dominated puck possession and rarely allowed St. Cloud to enter Wisconsin’s defensive zone.

While St. Cloud tried to give Wisconsin a fight, it was no contest in the end.

“You never know what’s going to happen, and each game is going to have it’s own storyline. As I told the team, keep creating chances, keep getting opportunities, take the puck to the net, keep being aggressive and most of the time, things will work out as they did [Sunday].”

But with several weeks apart and players attending different camps or playing abroad for Team Canada, any worries the Badgers had meshing back together after the break were quickly put to rest. In an all out massacre Friday night, the Badgers shut the Huskies out 10-0.

After only a period of play, Wisconsin was up 6-0.
“Everybody is making a contribution, and the more people that can contribute, the better that bodes for us,” Johnson said. “Those are the things we have to continue to more forward on. You can’t get complacent.”

Only a spare few Badgers did not have a shot on net out of a team total of 38, but seven different players found the net, proving the squad has multiple weapons.

Four minutes into the third period, with an 8-0 lead, Knight added insult to injury for St. Cloud, scoring her third goal of the night and tallying her third hat trick of the season.

“She can beat goaltenders as we’ve seen now for two and a half years,” Johnson said. “For us, creating those turnovers in those areas like that is an example of getting the puck on the right person’s stick at the right time. Whether she scores high or low, she can beat you in all areas.”

Wisconsin normally finishes games with around six goals. But Friday night, everyone wanted to get in on the fun against a St. Cloud team which just cannot seem to find a rhythm this season.

Even the defense could not resist the chance to score as three defensemen notched goals. Sophomore Saige Pacholok and junior Brittany Haverstock capitalized on the flood goals in the first, while senior Geena Prough hit a one-timer to cap the game off 10-0.

“We always joke about it when a defenseman scores, and we’re all really happy for each other,” Haverstock said. “It’s really nice to see a couple of the defense get a goal.”

Not only did the defense get in on the scoring opportunities, but it also held its own, rarely letting the puck deep into its territory.

“You get [McKeough] back and Haverstock back, and all of a sudden it adds some depth,” Johnson said. “They’re two quality players, so you get them back on the blue line and throw Alev [Kelter] in there – you have three kids back there who can really play the position very solidly, and so you eliminate a lot of scoring opportunities from that position. We end up not playing very long on our end, which is always a good thing.”