In an important No. 4 v. No. 5 matchup, the struggling Badgers were able to split last week’s Friday-Saturday series against the red-hot Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.

Wisconsin faltered going into this series, going 2-2-2 in their last six games — they even got swept for the first time since 2018 by Minnesota. Duluth, conversely, had won 8 of their last 9 games and had all the momentum in this top-5 match-up.

The Bulldogs were able to continue that momentum throughout the first game. They immediately jumped to a lead three minutes into the first period when freshman Gabby Krause scored her third goal of the season — the team’s first shot on net. This remained the score throughout most of the game, despite the Badgers continually outshooting the Bulldogs with a +16-shot differential after two periods.

Even though Wisconsin was doing a remarkable job at keeping the Bulldog’s offense at bay, former Patty Kazmaier Award winner Elizabeth Giguere was able to get past Kennedy Blair for her 16^th goal of the year. Down two scores with under nine minutes left, Wisconsin was eventually forced to pull their goalie. This gave Giguere an opportunity to score her second goal of the game, an empty netter with just 15 seconds of play left, sealing the Badgers defeat 0-3.

Duluth’s goalie, Jojo Chobak, was already the WCHA Goaltender of the Month for Jan. before putting on the best performance of her young career. She stopped all 45 of Wisconsin’s shots against her, and shut out the Badger’s for the first time since Mar. 8, 2020.

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The second game saw Wisconsin’s scoring struggles come to an end. Daryl Watts was able to take advantage of a Duluth penalty early in the first period, ensuring that they wouldn’t be shut out again.

It was Makenna Webster’s turn at the beginning of the second period, scoring in the first 30 seconds — her 20^th goal of the season. Not even half a minute later, Watts scored her second of the night — her 20^th for the season as well.

It seemed as if nothing could go wrong for the Badgers at this point. Even when Delaney Drake gave Duluth the power-play later on in the period, thanks to a tripping penalty, Watts was able to break away and score her 3^rd goal of the game, completing her hat trick.

Duluth’s Kailee Skinner was able to put them on the board at the beginning of the third period, before University of Wisconsin’s Caitlin Schneider answered back, capping the game off as a 5-1 victory for Wisconsin.

Watt’s hat trick was the fifth of her career. She had two at Boston College in her freshman year, and two since transferring to Wisconsin, with one coming earlier this season against Bemidji State.

She is now fifth all-time in NCAA points with 284. She also now shares the team lead in goals (21) and points (44) with Casey O’Brien.

Both Duluth and Wisconsin moved up one spot in the USCHO following this series, with them now being ranked No.4 and No. 3 respectively.

The Badgers will play their last regular-season home series against Minnesota State-Mankato, in a weekend matchup, before facing No. 2 Ohio State to finish out the regular season.