The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team hits the road for the second week in a row, taking on the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in a two-game series this weekend.
For the No. 1 Badgers (5-0-1, 3-0-1 WCHA), Saturday’s matchup against North Dakota begins an eight-game stretch of Western Collegiate Hockey Association conference games. The last time the Badgers met the Hawks in Grand Forks, North Dakota handed them their first loss of the 2015 season.
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Including the postseason, the loss would prove to be one of UW’s only four of the entire 2015-16 campaign. Last year’s stumble in the Badgers’ visit to North Dakota wasn’t an isolated result either. In the second matchup of the series, the Fighting Hawks delivered Wisconsin’s sole draw of the season as well. Not to mention North Dakota achieved this against a top-ranked team riding an 18-game winning streak.
No. 9 North Dakota has always been a formidable opponent for the No. 1 ranked UW. The last time the Badgers managed to pull a win away from the Fighting Hawks at the Ralph Engelstad Arena was in 2014, when the Badgers managed to escape with a 3-2 advantage.
Recent series history has shown that every time the Badgers go up to North Dakota, they are in for an exciting game. This means that the Badgers need to be ready for any potential outcome, senior defenseman Mellissa Channell told UW Athletics.
“It is always a great series when we go up to North Dakota,” Channell said. “They always give us two solid games and every series against them is a battle.”
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With such an intense battle looming over their heads, the Badgers are turning to head coach Mark Johnson for guidance and direction this weekend. Johnson is bringing a significantly younger team with him this year, with eight of his current 22 players being freshman.
With the most youth he’s had on a team in the past three years, concerns aren’t only with inexperience, but also energy. Johnson believes that one of the greatest keys to a successful weekend for the Badgers is to capitalize on the energy created by this group of players.
“We know North Dakota will be fired up to play us Saturday afternoon,” Johnson said in a Monday press conference. “So it’s on us as coaches to show some film and show some things that will help us be successful. They will be prepared, they are a bit younger than they were last year. With youth comes excitement and energy, and it will be a great atmosphere.”
The puck drops in Grand Forks, North Dakota, at 2 p.m. in both Saturday and Sunday’s game. Badger fans can also watch a livestream on uwathletics.com
