The University of Wisconsin Badgers (19-1, 13-1 WCHA) women’s hockey team played its final matches before its nearly month-long break on Dec. 7 against Minnesota State, winning both games in the series by a combined 7-1 score.
The Badgers have enjoyed another week as the unanimous No. 1 team in the country. This season, Wisconsin has dominated nearly every matchup they have played in, only losing a 3-2 thriller away against one of their biggest rivals, Ohio State.
In the case the results don’t speak for themselves, the stats certainly do. The Badgers dominate the standings in goals scored as the only team to score more than 100 goals this season with 114, which is 28 more goals than Clarkson, the next-highest team.
Wisconsin also dominates in scoring margins, only conceding 19 goals in 20 games, meaning they score 4.75 goals per goal they concede. Defensively, the team is also one of the best in the country, leading with nine shutouts and only allowing a 10th-best 399 shots.
Individually, the Badgers also dominate the table. Four Badgers sit inside the top-5 for assists per game, with fifth year Casey O’Brien leading the way with 32 assists in 20 games, seven assists more than junior Caroline Harvey, who holds second place.
All signs point to the Badgers making another run to the National Championship, which isn’t until the end of March. At this point last season, Wisconsin had already lost four games, two against Ohio State and one each against Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota.
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Despite the setback, the Badgers came back from break and won 14 games straight last year, only dropping one more game in the penultimate game of the season, again against Ohio State. The Badgers ended up winning the final game of the season, beating Ohio State for the first time that year, but the Buckeyes would end up with the last laugh, beating the Badgers 1-0 in the National Championship.
Ohio State, however, has not enjoyed the same success it had last year. Last season the Buckeyes lost four out of 39 games. This season they have lost six games, two of them in overtime, and they see themselves sitting in fourth place in the WCHA behind Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota.
The season is far from over for the Badgers, as they have a month to prepare for the final series against Ohio State during the regular season on Jan. 2-4 and the whole second half of the season to prepare for the postseason where they might meet the Buckeyes again.
Legendary head coach Mark Johnson has proven time and time again that Badger women’s hockey fans have nothing to worry about, leading the team to seven National Championships in his 22 years at the helm while also becoming the winningest coach in NCAA women’s hockey history with over 600 wins under his belt.
If the first half of the season was any indication, Badgers fans can prepare for more dominant performances on both sides of the puck. The season-defining series against Ohio State could give the Badgers all the confidence they need to make a strong run to another National Championship.