The game was already 4-0 in favor of Wisconsin and just over eight minutes remained in the third period. Emily Clark, having received the puck along the far-side boards, slid her way past two defenders, deking her way to a spot just before the right-side faceoff circle.
It was in this moment that the Badgers solidified their dominating performance over visiting St. Cloud State.
From almost 20 feet out, Clark ripped a wrist shot over Huskies’ goaltender Katie Fitzgerald’s glove hand and placed the puck top shelf to bring Wisconsin’s tally to five goals.
An all-around showing by Wisconsin, the win added much needed momentum for a team which has recently experienced some slip-ups. Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Huskies and last week’s Sunday loss to Ohio State gave the Badgers their first losing streak since the fourth weekend of the season in mid-October.
However, the uneasy feelings about the recent rough patch can be subsided for now after the 5-0 win Sunday afternoon in front of a packed house at LaBahn Arena, a game in which Ann-Renee Desbiens recorded her 13th shutout of the season, one shy of the UW record.
Wisconsin is not finished with St. Cloud State though. The Huskies will be back to pay one last visit to Madison next weekend when the WCHA playoffs commence and Wisconsin begins its postseason campaign.
Having locked down the number two seed for the tournament, head coach Mark Johnson and his players will have the advantage of hosting their first round matchup here in Madison before potentially heading to Grand Forks, North Dakota for the WCHA Final Five.
When the Huskies look for redemption next weekend, it will come having seen Wisconsin’s style of play and the Badgers’ ins-and-outs the week prior.
Trying to keep St. Cloud State on its toes and jump start a sluggish offense, Johnson made a few line-changes for the Badgers. Brittany Ammerman dropped to the second line from her usual pairing with freshman-duo Emily Clark and Annie Pankowski and Karley Sylvester dropped to the third line away from Blayre Turnbull and Katy Josephs.
“I usually play with Annie and Brittany,” Emily Clark said. “We’ve developed quite a bit of chemistry this year. But coach has been trying to get us going and trying to see what clicks. Whatever he puts together, we’re just trying to work with it and find some success.”
The strategy was unsuccessful though as the Badgers fell in the contest by a score of 2-1. Searching for a win Sunday afternoon, the Badgers came out with their usual lines and delivered a dominating performance.
“Today was about playing the full 60 minutes,” assistant coach Jackie Friesen. “We focused a lot on 50-50 battles, the girls did a great job with that. We were making sure we kept somebody high in the zone to get past their defense because they’re solid in their zone and pack people in front. We’re making sure we create scoring chances through that traffic.”
Heading into next weekend, not only do the Huskies know how Wisconsin plays, but the Badgers know St. Cloud State’s system as well.
The Huskies style of play, as broken down by Friesen, involves staying compact in front of the net to block the onslaught of shots the Badgers deliver. Wisconsin piled on 44 total shots during Sunday’s win, a mammoth amount compared to St. Cloud State’s 10. The Huskies did not tally a single shot in the third period, the 27th time in UW history that it has held an opponent without a shot in a period.
When they weren’t deep in their own zone, the Huskies would break out on a few very sparse rushes down the ice that didn’t result in many quality scores chances.
But come next weekend, both team’s seasons will be hanging in the balance and there should be a new level of intensity. Despite the increasing pressure inside the locker room, the Badgers know they can’t come out flat as they did in Friday’s game and last week against Ohio State.
The determination is still present and the Badgers do not want to drop a game that they shouldn’t against the second-to-last place team in the WCHA.
“They don’t let up,” captain Blayre Turnbull said. “They have great goaltending and if we want to get the puck in the net we need to get bodies there as well. I think we’re going to score on our second and third opportunities, it’s not going to be the first shot that necessarily goes in. We need to be aware of that.”
Having finished off the regular season on a high note and having gotten a grace-period of feeling out their opponent before elimination games, the Badgers are where they aimed to be during this crucial period of time.
“The second season begins now,” Turnbull said.
