After easily dispatching of Minnesota State in the Quarterfinals of the WCHA playoffs the women’s hockey program moves on to their next challenge, the WCHA Final Face-Off in Duluth this weekend. Things won’t be nearly as easy for the Badgers in the Semifinals on Friday though as they must face the home Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth. The game can be seen live on WCHA.com starting at 4:30pm Central.
These two teams have a long history between them and have combined to win 9 of 12 National
Championships since the inception of the National Title in the 2001 season. UMD owns 5 National Titles to Wisconsin’s 4. Obviously things are close between these two teams and the overall series record of 26-26-10 shows you just how tight of a series this has been.
A win in this game means a bit more for the Bulldogs as they will need to win the WCHA tournament to gain a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but Wisconsin is in the 8 team field no matter what by virtue of being the #1 team in the country for most of the year.
But don’t mistake their lock on the #1 spot with complacency as this is a massive rival and neither side takes these games lightly. During the regular season the Badgers took all four contests, needing overtime to win in one of the matchups.
Clearly the Bulldogs aren’t having their normally up year, but they are still dangerous at home, sporting an 11-6-1 record and only being swept at home by Wisconsin. They are currently on a four game winning streak at Amsoil Arena and lat lost at home on Feb. 4th to Ohio State.
Leading the way for UMD is Haley Irwin who has 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) to top the scoring list. Find the back of the net most for the Bulldogs is junior Audrey Cournoyer with 21 goals. Wisconsin also needs to look out for one of the nation’s best freshman in Jenna McParland who has 20 goals and 10 assists. That allows her to rank 10th amongst all freshman with an average of 0.88 points per game.
The high powered offense of the Badgers will be up against the 4th best goaltender in the conference, Jennifer Harss. She has a 19-13-1 record on the season and gives up 2.24 goals a game with a save percentage of .922. However she didn’t fare all that well against Wisconsin, giving up an average of 4 goals a game.
It shouldn’t surprise you that UMD has struggled against the Badgers offense as it’s the top scoring offense in the country, averaging 5.2 goals a game. Leading the offense is the nation’s top goal scorer, Brianna Decker, who has 35 goals, and is second nationally in points with 77. Right behind here is linemate Brooke Ammerman with 74 points (32 goals, 42 assists). Heck we haven’t even mentioned one of the most efficient offensive players in the nation, Hilary Knight, who leads the country in goals per game at 1.15.
Of course there’s the awesome play of Alex Rigsby in goal as well. She’s 1st in the conference and nationally in goals against average (1.34), save percentage (.952) and shutouts (9). The sophomore netminder is easily one of the best goaltenders in the country and could very well be a favorite for player of the year awards.
It’s always hard to stay undefeated against anyone, but if there’s a team and a year it could happen it’s this team and this year. Look for the Badgers to continue rolling along and head to a final against the winner of North Dakota vs. Minnesota on Saturday at 7pm Central.
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