Last March, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team was sitting in a locker room, their heads down and their season over. It is a feeling most of them can’t forget, watching the season come to a brutal end during the semi-final round of the NCAA Frozen Four tournament.

While the team’s defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, it also gave them something to focus on, both during the summer and the beginning of the season. If anything, they were determined to make sure they never felt that way again.

Sophomore Annie Pankowski, who leads the team in points this year, admits the events that happened in the locker room were enough to motivate her to do better in the next season.

“[The Frozen Four loss] has been the driving force,” Pankowski said. “I still remember exactly what it felt like in that locker room, exactly what coaches said and not wanting to take your equipment off for the end of the season. Once you feel that, you work as hard as you can to not feel that way again.”

So Pankowski and the rest of her team pushed themselves to be the best athletes they could be, keeping that semi-final defeat in the back of their minds. When it came time to start the season, they worked harder than they ever had, and it started showing both on and off the ice.

Starting with a shutout streak that lasted longer than anyone predicted when the season started — nine games — and a defensive average of .76 goals allowed per game, it is not hard to see the motivation to do better was paying off.

As they approach this playoff season, the Badgers know they have to be meticulous if they want to find themselves back in the Frozen Four tournament. Even though their first games of the series are against Minnesota State, a team they swept twice this year, junior Sarah Nurse, who is the team’s top goal scorer, knows they cannot underestimate any team if they want a chance to go back to New Hampshire.

“We’re ready to play any team that we have to play,” Nurse said. “Regardless of what happened in the regular season, it’s playoffs now. There’s more on the line and teams are fighting for the rest of their season so they’re going to come out really hard. It’s just going to be a matter of how we respond.”

As three of the main scorers for Wisconsin, Nurse, Pankowski and sophomore Emily Clark are definitely the players that fans and teams alike have their eyes on. Pankowski knows she sometimes feels the pressure to score, but then reminds herself to take a step back and rely on the rest of her teammates.

“I know how great of a team this is,” Pankowski said. “I know that there are people on this team that can put the puck in the net, and I have all the faith in the world that [goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens] is going to keep them out of the net.

“You do kind of get into that ‘I need to put the puck in, I need to score, I need to produce’ [mentality], but I need to step back and realize that there’s so much talent around that it doesn’t need to be just me.”

One of the beneficial things about this season is that the Badgers are currently the No. 1 seed in the WCHA, which means their first rounds of playoffs is in LaBahn.

Clark knows having that home support system behind the team is an invaluable confidence boost.

“I think that it is definitely in our favor to have [the first round of WCHA playoffs] at home” Clark said. “We haven’t lost a game at home yet this season, and I think that a huge factor of that is the home ice. Our fans are amazing and we get so much energy from them.”

If there is one thing still motivating this team to make sure they do well this playoff season, it is that they don’t want to be the proverbial bridesmaid anymore.

Nurse, who has lost in two Frozen Four semi-final games during her years at Wisconsin, finally wants her chance to play in that cherished game.

“We’ve made it to the semi-finals twice now, [in her career],” Nurse said. “Now I think it’s time to make it to the real game.”