Western Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year Mark Johnson and the No. 1 University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team (35-1-2, 2-12 25-1-2 WCHA) returned from a well-deserved bye round, as they faced off with the Clarkson Golden Knights (25-12-2, 13-8-1 ECAC). In Saturday afternoon’s NCAA Regional Final, the Badgers scored four unanswered goals to secure a 4-1 victory and NCAA Frozen Four bid.
Wisconsin’s opponent, Clarkson, is the only NCAA women’s hockey champion from any conference besides the WCHA, all-time. They have three trophies, compared to the Badgers’ seven. The Badgers are 5-1-1 all-time against the Golden Knights, most recently winning 3-1 in the 2022 NCAA regional semifinal.
Clarkson’s squad, traveling from Potsdam, N.Y., finished fourth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference regular season. They then lost in the ECAC conference tournament to the eventual champions, Cornell University, 2-1 in triple overtime. This past Thursday, they opened regional play at La Bahn Arena with a 3-1 victory over Boston University, the Hockey East Association champions.
.sno-67d9d38cc00d6 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-67d9d38cc00d6 h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Four minutes into the first period, Clarkson earned their first power play opportunity as a Wisconsin tripping penalty saw Clarkson’s forward Jenna Goodwin come crashing into Badger goaltender Ava McNaughton. Just over a minute later, at 15:01, Clarkson opened the scoring with a lifted shot from defender Nicole Gosling, assisted by forward Anne Cherkowski and defender Haley Winn. While the Badgers gained a two-minute power play advantage later in the period, they were unable to equalize.
Continuing the nail-biting action, the team exchanged breaks and stops for the first half of the second period. Then, at 8:24, sophomore Ava Murphy slotted home her third goal of the year to equalize the game, 1-1. Junior Kirsten Simms passed the puck behind the goal, where WCHA Player of the Year, fifth-year Casey O’Brien picked it up and served Murphy.
Later in the period, Wisconsin went on a second power play advantage, as Clarkson was booked with body checking at 4:23. As this advantage neared expiration, sophomore Laney Potter pushed the puck up ice, where sophomore Cassie Hall handed it off to fellow sophomore Kelly Gorbatenko, who took it up the right wing and shot inside the near post. The Badgers gained their first lead of the afternoon with 2:23 left in the second period.
Hanging onto their hopes, Clarkson kept the pressure on and gained a power play advantage with 10:24 left in the third period, however, the Badgers were able to survive unharmed. With 5:17 remaining, junior defender Vivian Jungels was taken down by a Clarkson attacker behind the net, resulting in two more minutes of power play advantage for the Badgers. Nearly instantly, junior Laila Edwards scored a one-timer with assists from redshirt senior Lacey Eden and junior Kirsten Simms, to claim a 3-1 lead. While Clarkson earned a power play advantage with 2:10 left, they gave up a fourth goal with 32 seconds remaining.
.sno-67d9d38cc1224 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-67d9d38cc1224 h5 {
color: #000000;
}
As Clarkson removed their goaltender from the ice in a last-ditch effort, O’Brien passed the puck to Eden, who was tackled into the glass by two Clarkson defenders. Although the puck did not go into the net, this was counted as a goal and tripping penalty.
While the Golden Nights outshot the Badgers 12-9 in the third period, the Badgers ultimately dominated in shots through the contest, 38-20.
The WCHA regular and postseason champions will now play in the NCAA Frozen Four in Minneapolis, Minnesota March 21. They are set to rematch against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who they defeated in the WCHA Championship game earlier this month. The semifinal game will begin at 7:30 p.m., available to stream on ESPN+. In their 16th Frozen Four, Wisconsin looks to bring home their eighth NCAA National Championship.
The Patty Kazmaier Award will be announced Saturday, March 22, between the semifinals and the championship. Awarded to the top women’s college ice hockey player in the U.S., defender Caroline Harvey and forwards O’Brien and Edwards round up the trio of award finalists.
Wisconsin has five trophy winners to date and will, once this year’s edition is awarded, tie Harvard’s record of six winners, all-time.