The postseason inches closer after Wisconsin secured a regular season sweep over Minnesota.
Reports of Wisconsin’s offensive demise appear to be greatly exaggerated. After the nation’s top-scoring offense managed only two goals in each of their games against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth last week – both wins – the Badgers bounced back in the Border Battle against No. 3 Minnesota to put up 14 tallies on the weekend, securing a regular season sweep of the Gophers for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
With the wins, the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers (29-1-2 overall, 23-1-2 WCHA) wrapped up the WCHA regular season title ahead of the regular season finale next weekend against Bemidji State.
The Badgers jumped ahead early in game one with two goals just 13 seconds apart. Minnesota (22-8-1 overall, 16-7-1 WCHA) responded with one of their own, but it was all Wisconsin after that en route to an 8-2 victory. Considering the offensive output, I’ll save you the time and just list the Badger goal scorers below:
Laila Edwards, Jr. (2)
Casey O’Brien, Sr. (2)
Lacey Eden, RS Sr.
Maggie Scannell, Fr.
Marianne Picard, RS Jr.
Vivian Jungels, Jr.
Game two started a bit slower with neither team scoring in the first, but the Badgers broke through early and often in the second. Wisconsin scored three goals in a span of 3:42 before responding to Minnesota’s lone tally with a shorthanded tuck from supersenior Casey O’Brien. The Badgers would add two more in the third to walk away with a 6-1 win. Goal scorers for game two were:
Lacey Eden, RS Sr.
Kelly Gorbatenko, So.
Claire Enright, RS So.
Vivian Jungels, Jr.
Casey O’Brien, Sr.
Kirsten Simms, Jr.
O’Brien made her impact felt in both games, amassing three goals and four assists between the lopsided wins. The Bucky’s 5th Quarter favorite to win the Patty Kazmaier Award now sits at 66 points on the year, a clip of just over two per game. She is on pace to eclipse her 73-point output last season between the upcoming Bemidji State series, WCHA playoffs, and NCAA tournament. With her seven-point weekend, O’Brien eclipsed 250 points for her collegiate career and sits just ten shy of Badger legend Hilary Knight’s 262 career points.
O’Brien isn’t the only Badger worthy of praise, as the WCHA weekly awards all went to Wisconsin players. O’Brien was named Forward of the Week, Ava McNaughton earned Goaltender of the Week, and Vivian Jungels walked away with Defender of the Week honors.
With two goals in the series, Laila Edwards maintains her spot as college hockey’s leading goal scorer and sits second in points, six behind O’Brien. Kirsten Simms is third with 54 points – which feels mundane compared to her league-leading 75 points last year, but a fantastic effort this year after a quiet start to the season.
After another solid effort against top-ten competition, sophomore backstop Ava McNaughton again holds the top goals against average in the NCAA, and sits just .002 behind Northeastern’s Lisa Jönsson in save percentage.
Badger fans get to watch an all-star team every night out. They are 13-1-2 against teams currently ranked in the top 15 and will be the heavy favorites in the NCAA tournament. In the meantime, the Badgers will get the weekend off ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale at Bemidji State. With the WCHA regular season title wrapped up, postseason preparation begins now. Bemidji State should serve as a tune-up before the Badgers host their first-round opponent–likely a rematch with Bemidji State–in the WCHA tournament beginning February 28.