After a grueling but successful October schedule playing North Dakota, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and Boston University in consecutive series, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team has shown significant progress so far this season.

At the beginning of the month, the Badgers (7-1) displayed several signs of weakness as they started off slow and were unable to maintain consistent high-energy play. But with each successive series, the team improved, leading to UW’s decisive sweep of BU this past weekend with scores of 3-0 in game one and 6-1 in game two.

The saga began with the Badgers’ struggle for consistency, which was apparent as they were outshot 28-17 by North Dakota in the combined second periods of the series. While Wisconsin was able to come back and win in overtime after being down 2-0 in game two, its play raised eyebrows as to whether or not it would be able to come out of October successfully.

The Minnesota series showed an improved consistency but gave the Badgers their first loss of the season in game two. Learning an early lesson on the importance of not letting up, Wisconsin headed to Minnesota-Duluth and swept the Bulldogs. Despite being outshot 49-31 in the second game, the Badgers never stopped fueling their confidence and riding the intensity into the home series against BU.

“I think the series in between, Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth, were a good challenge, and they always bring up our game,” senior forward and assistant captain Brooke Ammerman said. “We are always getting better coming off [playing] those teams.”

Playing against a multitude of top-ranked teams provided the Badgers with the opportunity to challenge themselves early. The stretch of games forced the incoming freshmen to experience playoff-like games early and understand the level of competition they would be facing.

“The hard thing to duplicate is game experience; we can try to do it at practice, but the chance to get to play high-quality opponents multiple times throughout October forces [the team] to play at a higher level,” Johnson said. “Our younger players are more experienced playing against these top-rated opponents and are a lot better off today than they were a month ago.”

The freshmen also provided the team with depth and made several key contributions to the team. With the completion of the October games, the group has racked up seven goals and 14 assists thus far.

Most notably, freshman forward Blayre Turnbull scored two goals in game two against BU, leading the team to a 6-1 victory. While understandably nervous to be thrown into difficult games right off the bat, the freshman players agree it was only to their benefit.

“I think it was better that we played the harder teams right away; it gave me a real feel of what playing would be like and how tough the competition is going to be,” freshman forward Katy Josephs said. “Because they are on you that much faster, my shooting, my skating and everything just has to be that much quicker.”

Another underclassman, sophomore goalie Alex Rigsby, stands out in the eyes of Johnson and others as a player who has taken advantage of this stretch to become more confident and comfortable behind the net.

To begin her sophomore year, Rigsby has proven herself almost unbeatable, being named WCHA defensive player of the week for the past two weeks. Most notably, she stopped a career high 46 shots against Minnesota-Duluth in game two for a combined 80 saved shots in that series. She carried this momentum over to BU as she assisted her team in handing the Terriers their first shutout since January 2010.

“She seems to be confident, and she is a big reason we have won a bunch of games,” Johnson said.

Rightfully enthused with the results they achieved this past month, the Badgers are looking ahead to a very different looking schedule. With the mash of top-ranked teams is behind UW, five of their next six opponents will be on the road, with the first five against currently unranked teams.

While excited to continue their season on the road, there is some concern that the intensity and energy created thus far will begin to fall as the competition lets up. Ohio State is the next opponent Wisconsin will face this coming weekend and figures to be a true test of the progress Wisconsin has made.

“I think it is harder to keep the team mentally focused when we don’t have that challenge,” Ammerman said. “I think all of us love to compete, so the month of October was really fun to come into every game knowing it was going to be a battle. We have to realize that if we are going to be number one, [our opponents] are always going to bring their best game, … so that means we have to always be at our best.”