Wisconsin opens NCAA Tournament play against Clarkson, who dropped Boston on Thursday night.
The Clarkson Golden Knights went up against the Boston University Terriers Thursday night in the NCAA Regional Semifinal at LaBahn Arena, with Clarkson advancing to Saturday’s NCAA Regional Final against Wisconsin.
Clarkson (25-12-2 overall) produced two goals within about 30 seconds early in the first period which would be enough to knock off the Hockey East champions. Boston University got on the board with their goalie pulled late in the third before Clarkson added an empty-net goal for good measure.
Top-seeded Wisconsin (35-1-2 overall) last met Clarkson in the 2022 NCAA Regional Semifinal, disposing of the Golden Knights 3-1. As the top overall seed, the Badgers get the advantage of playing this game in Madison on home ice after receiving a bye through the first round.
The Badgers and Golden Knights share two mutual opponents this season: St. Thomas and Boston College. While there is no transitive property between prior games, Clarkson needed overtime to dispatch the Tommies, while Wisconsin outscored them 28-5 in their four games this season. Clarkson also lost both games against Boston College a couple of weeks after the Badgers earned two blowout wins.
Clarkson is led by senior defender Haley Winn, the ECAC Player of the Year. Winn leads the Golden Knights with 45 points on the year, and also leads the team with 31 assists. Their top forward is junior Anne Cherkowski, who played her freshman season with Minnesota before heading to Clarkson. Cherkowski has tallied 44 points on the season and produced 17 goals, two behind Clarkson’s leading scorer, junior Sena Catterall.
The offense is pretty evenly distributed among the Golden Knights, who do not necessarily lean on one player or line to get them going. They’ve also received solid goaltending from senior Holly Gruber, a native of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Gruber is conceding 1.37 goals per game and stopping just over 93 percent of shots faced.
Unfortunately for Clarkson, Saturday’s game will not be like any they’ve seen this year. LaBahn will be rocking when they square off against the top-ranked offense of Wisconsin, who is riding a 16-game winning streak and, aside from a tie that resulted in a shootout loss to Ohio State, has not lost since November 16th. It’s safe to say Clarkson hasn’t seen a team that can match the Badgers’ depth. Let’s face it, no other team boasts the three Patty Kazmaier Award finalists (Casey O’Brien, Laila Edwards, Caroline Harvey). And while Gruber is a fantastic goaltender in her own right, Wisconsin sophomore Ava McNaughton leads the country with a 1.179 goals-against average and is stopping nearly 95 percent of shots faced. She’s also done it against the gauntlet of the WCHA.
The only thing that might give the Badgers a bit of discomfort is the lack of familiarity with Clarkson. It’s not easy facing Ohio State, Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, and the rest of the league, but Wisconsin knows what they’re getting into every time they strap up for a WCHA game. That being said, don’t expect much of a feeling-out period. The Badgers are a great team and they are well aware of it, they’re going to want to ignite the crowd early and keep the pressure coming.
The adrenaline is sure to be high for both teams, sitting just 60 minutes away from a trip to Minneapolis for the Frozen Four. The battle-tested Badgers will look to give the home crowd one last thing to cheer about this season when the puck drops at 2 p.m. You can catch the NCAA Regional Final streaming on ESPN+.
Game Info
NCAA Regional Final
Date: Saturday, March 15
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Madison, WI | LaBahn Arena
TV: ESPN+ | Radio: 1070 AM