Back in late November, Minnesota-Duluth stormed the Kohl Center and stole a game from the Wisconsin women’s hockey team, handing the Badgers their second loss of the season.
In an unusually low scoring game for Wisconsin, Kim Martin, Duluth’s star goaltender, stopped the Badgers’ high-powered offense in its tracks, giving up just one goal on 26 shots.
Up in Duluth, the two teams will match up again this weekend in about the same position they found themselves back in November: The Badgers still own the No. 1 ranking and the Bulldogs still possess Martin, one of the nation’s top net minders with an average of 1.57 goals allowed per game.
This time around, Wisconsin must do more on the offensive end in order to score, as Martin, like most WCHA goaltenders, can shut any team down on any given night.
“Their goaltender is good,” UW head coach Mark Johnson said. “You have to try and create opportunities, tip-ins, rebounds, screen shots. It’s no different than when you are playing Minnesota with [Noora] Raty. She’s the same way, she is a very good goalie and can make 50 good saves and beat you.”
There are other factors working against the Badgers as they enter the highly anticipated series. Last weekend, Duluth went to Minnesota and left without earning a victory.
No team wants to go two weekends in a row, against its two biggest rivals in the conference, without a win.
“They lost to Minnesota last weekend, so they are going to be coming out pretty fired up,” sophomore winger Brianna Decker said. “If we come out hard and take the sweep this weekend, it’s going to be a turning point even more in our season and get us prepared for the last five weeks.”
The other issue for Wisconsin is that Duluth opens the doors to its brand new hockey arena this weekend. The Badgers are to take part in the first ever women’s hockey game in the AMSOIL Arena.
If the No. 1 ranked team in the county coming to town – coupled with the desire to avenge last weekend’s misfortunate in Minnesota – wasn’t enough motivation for the Bulldogs, hoping to open up the new stadium with a bang probably is.
“I don’t know if they’re going to hoist up a banner or what they’re going to do, but I’m sure that team’s going to be very excited and they’ll probably be a little bit angry after the way things went in Minnesota,” Johnson said. “It’ll be a real big test Friday night to see if we’re ready to match that intensity that we’re going to be up against.”
The rink within the arena presents a unique situation for the Badgers, as well. The ice sheet is as small as they will ever encounter, with nets that sit only about three feet away from the boards.
The only other rinks that have ice sheets similar to that size are in North Dakota and Ohio State. But even those rinks are not as small as the one Wisconsin will play on this weekend.
The Badgers, however, feel that they can use the small ice to play to their strengths.
“I think we can use it to our advantage because we can spin out of the corners really quick and then you’re right in the scoring area where you want to be,” Decker said.
Wisconsin’s offense was held down by Duluth’s tough defense and strong goaltending play last time out, which is a pretty incredible feat considering the type of numbers the Badgers are able to put up.
However, it’s the work on the defensive end that is most integral to Wisconsin’s success this weekend.
“I think we just have to continue to get shots and just make sure we’re taking care of our defensive zone so we can go up into the offensive zone and do our work in there,” senior defenseman Geena Prough said.
Hard work is definitely the key to success for UW, because with everything pushing against the Badgers this weekend, they are going to have to work very hard to earn a pair of victories.
