All the attention this weekend may be on a certain tournament that Wisconsin is a part of, but another tournament enters it’s final stages as the Wisconsin Women’s Hockey Team heads to Duluth, MN for the Women’s Frozen Four in search of a repeat as National Champions. Standing in their way first is Boston College, the No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers and Eagles will clash on Friday at 5pm Central at Amsoil Arena. It’s a place that both teams are familiar with as BC clashed with Minnesota-Duluth earlier in the year and of course Wisconsin plays the Bulldogs in the WCHA, but it’s also the site of the latest Badgers loss in the WCHA Frozen Finals Semifinal.
Boston College comes into the Semifinals having taken down St. Lawrence by a 6-3 score in their Quarterfinal matchup in the NCAA tournament. It wasn’t an easy game as they came storming back from a 3-1 deficit and scored 5 unanswered The Eagles come in with an impressive 29-4-3 record and they finished 2nd in Hockey East with a 15-4-2 record (32 points). They finished just one point shy of regular season champion and rival, Northeastern.
The key to this game and seemingly any NCAA Women’s Hockey tournament run is defense. Only one team in the history of the championship as ever given up more than 3 goals in a tournament game and gone on to become the champions and that was the 2008 Minnesota-Duluth squad.
On that note Wisconsin is more than capable of holding opponents down, even if it’s been less than it’s usual stingy self as of late. Goaltender Alex Rigsby is a rock for the Badgers, having played nearly every minute this season and she leads the country with a .952 save percentage. Rigsby also ranks 2nd nationally with a 1.34 goals against average.
As a team the Badgers are only giving up 1.42 goals a game, which is also 2nd nationally. Add in a BC offense that only averages 2.97 goals a game for the year and you have to think that is a major advantage for Wisconsin.
The main scoring threats for BC are Alex Carpenter (21 goals, 18 assists, 39 points) and Emily Field (12 goals, 20 assists, 32 points). Junior forward Ashley Motherwell is 2nd on the team with 13 goals.
On the opposite side of things is a Badgers offense that ranks 2nd to Cornell, scoring at a 4.55 goals a game clip. The likes of Hilary Knight, Carolyne Prevost, and Brianna Decker, will go against a Boston College defense that allows 2.03 goals a game (9th nationally). Winning the national semifinal may come down to the Badgers offense vs. BC’s defense and which one controls the tempo of the game.
Wisconsin also has a major experience advantage vs. the Eagles defense that only has one Senior on it’s roster.
Boston College is backstopped by goaltender Corinne Boyles, who ranks 15th nationally in save percentage (.925) and just 12th in goals against at 2.04. Just like Rigsby she’s started every game this season for the Eagles and has the same 29-4-3 record.
If Prevost and Knight can push the tempo and keep pressure on the defensive lines of the Eagles Wisconsin could very well be in the drivers seat to exercise the demons of losing just two weeks earlier in the WCHA tournament in this building.
If you want to watch this game on Friday you can find it by going to NCAA.com and looking for the live video from there.
The winner of this game takes on the winner of the Cornell vs. Minnesota semifinal.
Prediction: Wisconsin 5 – Boston College 2 as the Badgers look for back to back titles and their 5th national title overall on Sunday. *Bonus prediction – Minnesota takes down Cornell in a mild upset for another all WCHA final and a bitter one between the border rivals!
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