The No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team is returning to Madison after a commanding sweep over Minnesota-Duluth last weekend.
Friday’s victory ended in yet another 3-0 shutout, which has almost become the norm for this year’s Badger defense. But the result of Sunday’s 4-2 win seemed to remind the Badgers that they are not invincible, head coach Mark Johnson said.
“After a weekend off, I thought that the team came out with some good energy,” Johnson said.
Johnson was still pleased with his team’s performance, and praised the play of junior rover Jenny Ryan, even labeling her as the team’s “number one star” from last weekend. Ryan was a true catalyst for the offense, having an assist in all three of Wisconsin’s goals in Friday’s game.
A goal by Minnesota-Duluth in the third and final period of Saturday’s game, severed junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens’ personal streak of 543 minutes and 53 seconds in the net without allowing a single score.
Her streak shattered the previous NCAA all-time record for this (set by a former Badger, Jessie Vetter) by nearly 100 minutes. This now serves as the record for consecutive scoreless minutes in both NCAA men’s and women’s hockey.
Desbiens also focused more on what this achievement symbolized for the team’s success rather than that of her own individual triumph.
“Being able to set it as a team … and get it done as a group I think is a good thing,” Desbiens said. “It just proves how well our defense has been doing pretty well so far.”
When asked about how it feels to hold this kind of record, she said she isn’t wasting anytime reveling in her accomplishment. Instead, she is already looking to the next challenge at hand.
“It’s also just easy to be able to move on now, I will be honest,” Desbiens said.
That challenge comes in the form of a two-game series against Lindenwood at home for the Badgers this weekend.
Lindenwood (3-7-2, overall, 0-4 WCHA) has been experiencing a rather disappointing season thus far, especially at the hands of some of Wisconsin’s familiar WCHA conference foes. Ohio State and Minnesota-Duluth swept Lindenwood in consecutive series to start the season.
The Badgers defeated both of those opponents earlier in the season, outscoring them by a combined total of 20 goals.
This weekend also marks the beginning of a six consecutive home game stint for Wisconsin. The Badgers take on Lindenwood at LaBahn Arena 2 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
