The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team continued its winning ways on the ice Jan. 13 by hosting the University of St. Thomas–Minnesota in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association conference battle.

The Badgers had taken down the Tommies twice before in October toward the end of the month. They were heavily reliant on their offense during that two-game series — posting eight goals in just two matches.

It was more of the same that Saturday.

Forward Cassie Hall opened up the scoring for UW with a goal just over three minutes into the match. A minute later, forward Sarah Wozniewicz found the back of the net off a combined assist from defender Chayla Edwards and forward Marianne Picard. From there, the Badgers’ offense never looked back.

Head coach Mark Johnson and his crew found a rhythm against St. Thomas and eventually won the game 7–0 in a blowout fashion — carrying momentum from the week prior where they outscored Merrimack College 12–2 in a two-game stint.

Goalkeeper Jane Gervais notched another clean sheet for the Badgers — deflecting 10 shots on goal throughout the three periods. It was an all-around successful day at LaBahn Arena, which included some post game festivities that would not go unnoticed.

The UW women’s hockey program provided its fans with more than one win during the afternoon as they partnered with The Open Seat Food Pantry to host ‘Chuck-A-Puck’ Day Jan. 13.

The event was set into motion by Emma Wagner, the head marketing intern for the team, and her supervisor Evan Warwick, the team’s associate director of events and promotional marketing.

“We wanted to find a way to help out the UW–Madison-specific community,” Wagner said.

Wagner not only wanted to be able to help out students on campus but to provide a fun and engaging fan experience. Since the women’s hockey team has such a heavy influence on the community, they were a perfect organization to host such an event, Wagner said.

Wagner and Warwick determined that The Open Seat was a perfect fit. The Open Seat is operated by UW students — through the Associated Students of Madison — to provide food to UW students experiencing food insecurity. Over the past year, The Open Seat has helped over 1,500 UW students and their dependents, according to the group’s website.

Wagner initially contacted Naomi Olsen, The Open Seat’s outreach director to get the collaboration started.

“We were thrilled about the idea and did not think twice about it,” Olsen said.

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Then, the event was planned, with bins and logos provided by The Open Seat and promotional details through UW women’s hockey.

Fans that attended the game at LaBahn Arena could donate an unlimited number of items in exchange for a number of pucks as part of a prize system. Two donated items granted fans one puck, while two pucks required five or more donated items. At the end of the game, fans threw their pucks onto the rink where prizes could be won depending on where they ended up.

“It was extremely successful,” Olsen said. “The final tally was over 750 items.”

The items making up that tally were more than canned food items. The Open Seat also accepts dairy, fresh produce and hygiene items.

While this was the first collaboration between Open Seat and a UW athletic department, it likely won’t be the last.

“We would love to have more of these events,” Olsen said. “The football team liked the idea, but we’ll have to see. We leave that to the departments to reach out to us, for now.”

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The women’s hockey team will likely continue to work with Open Seat, Wagner said. The team has done ‘Chuck-A-Puck’ events before, but not with The Open Seat. Wagner hopes the event on Jan. 13 will lead to a longtime partnership full of future events. The Badgers’ athletic programs are experiencing success at the highest levels as of right now, and that has shown in fan attendance.

“I think this opened up the door for more partnerships with Open Seat,” Wagner said. “It’s there to help UW-Madison students.”

Women’s basketball and men’s hockey have each provided an excitement around campus and shown improvement in their play. Men’s basketball continues to excel, in addition to both swim and dive programs earning national ranks. The same could be said for wrestling as they duel against some of the top competition in the country in the UW Field House on a weekly basis in the Big Ten — which currently houses the last 16 national championship winners.

All of this provides an opportunity for The Open Seat to expand their impact on campus. Fans of UW athletics could see more events such as Chuck-A-Puck Day be promoted in the near future — as campus witnesses their athletes elevate their level of play.

The Open Seat is based in Madison with a location at 333 East Campus Mall, at the Student Activity Center. Olsen described the location of the pantry as “tricky” to find.

“We are in the middle of a huge study area here on the third floor [at East Campus Mall],” she said. “I see students peaking in all the time — please don’t hesitate to come in.”