In its final regular season home game, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team found the back of the net multiple times to get back on track.

The Badgers defeated visiting St. Cloud State 5-0 Sunday afternoon at LaBahn Arena to end their two-game losing streak.

“Especially after the loss on Friday, I think we really didn’t want to lose again,” senior captain Blayre Turnbull said. “We came here ready to work yesterday, learned a lot of things in video we could do better and we were able to transfer that onto the ice and make the most of it.”

Head coach Mark Johnson wanted to see increased intensity, especially in the first 10 minutes of the game.

The Badgers played with intensity for 60 minutes, but Johnson was only able to see the final period of the game. He was flying back from New York for a reunion celebrating the “Miracle on Ice” when the United States defeated the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympic games.

Wisconsin sophomore Sarah Nurse opened up the scoring with a goal fewer than four minutes into the game, when she skated around the net and into the right circle before taking the shot to beat Huskies’ goaltender Katie Fitzgerald high. Sydney McKibbon and Melissa Channell recorded assists on the goal.

Wisconsin dominated possession throughout the game, and didn’t allow the Huskies to record their first shot on goal until the 9:40 mark of the game. That dominance continued into the third period where Wisconsin didn’t allow a single shot on goal.

“It was a great day for us to bounce back from the loss on Friday,” Wisconsin assistant coach Jackie Friesen said. “The girls played hard for 60 minutes, and it showed, especially in the third period not allowing them a shot. We were pretty happy with that and really happy with the effort as we move forward into the playoffs.”

Turnbull and fellow senior Brittany Ammerman each lit the lamp for the Badgers to extend the lead to three halfway through the second period.

Annie Pankowski scored later in the second when she got a rebound from Emily Clark’s shot attempt.

The fifth and final goal came from Clark as she sped past three St. Cloud State defenders before flicking a backhanded shot past Fitzgerald.

Badgers offense sluggish in Friday loss

St. Cloud State handed the Wisconsin women’s hockey team its second consecutive loss Friday, a feat last accomplished by Minnesota four months ago.

An early goal put the Huskies ahead, but the Badgers dominated the pace for the majority of the game.

Wisconsin attempted 106 total shots, with 53 of them on target. St. Cloud State goalkeeper Julie Friend stopped 52, with the lone goal given up with mere seconds left in the game.

“It’s the tough thing about our sport,” Johnson said. “Their goaltender was obviously better than any of the shots we took today. It took us until 15 seconds to go in the game to get one. There’s not much you can say. We played a pretty good game, but we didn’t get rewarded for a lot of our efforts out there today.”

The Huskies opened up the scoring in the first period with a goal off a Wisconsin turnover. St. Cloud State’s Alyssa Erickson scored her third goal of the season when she went top shelf on Ann-Renée Erickson, who had only faced two shots before the initial goal.

Abby Ness and Amanda Arbogast assisted on the lone first period goal.

Late in the third period, after the Badgers pulled Desbiens for an extra attacker, the Huskies forced a turnover and Payge Pena found the back of the empty net to extend the lead to 2-0.

Wisconsin bounced back just 45 seconds later with a goal of their own from Pankowski from between the circles. The Badgers went with an empty net again, so an extra attacker helped find holes in the defense. Ammerman and junior Courtney Burke recorded assists on the goal.

But it was just a little too late, as only 15 seconds remained in the game for the Badgers to find the equalizing goal.

Johnson started the game by switching up some lines on the front end to see if they could produce against the Huskies’ defense and Friend.

Wisconsin and St. Cloud State will see even more of each other in the coming week, playing again next weekend in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

These games may not be the best indicators for next weekend’s matchup, as both teams have solidified their position in the WCHA. Neither team may want to give away their strategies with playoffs looming right around the corner.

“When you play this team multiple times, you have to do things over the course of those games to try to have success,” Johnson said.