Badger women's hockey faces semifinal deer: Minnesota State
After experience a close call in the opening round of the WCHA Tournament, Wisconsin women's hockey looks to use its wisdom gained and win a championship
St. Paul, MN — After this weekend, the path to back-to-back national championships will be much clearer to the Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team. Before the NCAA Tournament bracket selection show on Sunday, however, UW looks to repeat as WCHA Final Faceoff champions and faces a difficult path to do so.
With the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes or No. 4 Minnesota Golden Gophers waiting on the other side of the conference tournament bracket, UW first faces the Minnesota State Mavericks in a semifinal matchup this afternoon. Top-ranked Wisconsin (31-3-2, 23-3-2 WCHA) hopes to rebound with a pair of victories this weekend after the last-place Bemidji State Beavers pushed the Badgers past 60 minutes and into overtime last weekend.
UW head coach Mark Johnson, who won WCHA Coach of the Year on Wednesday for a record 11th time, compared that near-miss to avoiding a deer in the road. Although Wisconsin did not match its dominating 7-0 victory from the previous night, it avoided the deer and gained wisdom through experience.
“If we had won the game Saturday the same way we had won it Friday, what would we have gained? Probably not a ton,” the wildlife enthusiast/hockey coach remarked. “But by having gone through that, them scoring late in regulation, and now we’re going into overtime, now we’re something that nobody was anticipating, but it happened. And so you gain some things by going through that process and become wiser.
“So as we get into Thursday, if we’re lucky enough and play Saturday, when we get into next week, those things can happen.”
Who to watch: WCHA record-breaker Caroline Harvey
On Wednesday night, Badgers captain Caroline Harvey added yet another bullet point to her ever-growing list of accomplishments. The Olympic MVP added her first WCHA Player of the Year award to her trophy case, but also added a third conference Defender of the Year award. With the nod, Harvey became the first player in WCHA history ever to win its top honor given to a blue-liner three times.
Five others have won the WCHA Defender of the Year award twice. Minnesota Golden Gophers standout Ronda Curtin was the first to do so. Harvey broke Curtin’s record for most points scored by a defender in conference history earlier this season.
Already a two-time first-team all-American, the Salem, New Hampshire native is running short of individual accomplishments left to earn in college hockey. As a junior, she set UW’s record for single-season scoring by a defender with 63 points. Now in her final year of eligibility, she sits in striking distance of toppling her own record, having tallied 58 points despite missing eight games to win an Olympic gold medal.
Whether it is more tournament MVPs, potentially winning the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, or going number-one overall in the upcoming PWHL Draft, Harvey has plenty more ahead of her. Her top priority, however, is winning the WCHA and NCAA Tournaments.
“This is a time, especially when we all naturally come together, and you know, we’re united for a common goal, and we know that’s winning a couple championships,” she said in a press conference last Wednesday.
What to watch: Minnesota State goaltending
Longtime Badgers women’s hockey fans are all too familiar with watching their team offensively dominate an opponent, but fall short on the scoreboard due to a dynamite performance in net. Last weekend, en route to upsetting the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Minnesota State scored only four goals in its best-of-three series. Despite their limited offense, the Mavericks were beneficiaries of three stellar days by netminder Hailey Hansen.
“Hockey, you know, maybe unlike other sports, is unique, because if I have a goaltender that is really good on a particular day, I might have a chance,” Johnson said in a Tuesday press conference. “And then that separates maybe our sport from maybe some of the other sports.”
The junior allowed only three goals to UMD on 141 shots, posting a .979 save percentage in Duluth. Her team was nearly doubled up in shots on goal, as the Mavericks managed 77 SOGs over the weekend.
If Hansen turns in another excellent outing in MSU’s first Final Faceoff appearance since 2009, maybe the Badgers will look back on their overtime affair with Bemidji differently. The Badgers outshot the Beavers 47-12 in that contest.
“Having gone through one of those scenarios, you’ve played really well, you’ve outshot the team, and here sits the score,” Johnson said. “The experience is going to help us. I was certainly in a better place when I got home, knowing that my car wasn’t going to be damaged.”
Why to watch: NCAA Tournament seeding on the line
Wisconsin has maintained control of its own destiny in the race for the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, but only by the slimmest of margins. As Selection Sunday looms after the conference tournament championship Saturday, the Badgers are in a precarious position.
UW still sits atop the NCAA Percentage Index (NPI) that the selection committee strictly follows to select and seed the national tournament field. To keep that top spot, however, Wisconsin must win out this weekend. A Badgers loss to Minnesota State on Thursday, or to either potential opponent in the WCHA tournament title game, would deliver the top seed to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Between conference championships, NCAA regional championships, and a national championship, there is hardware on the line each of the next three weekends. March is here.
Do not let Wisconsin captain Lacey Eden catch you looking too far ahead, though. Minnesota State is fighting to extend its season this weekend, and those playoff scenarios are “a different bear” determined by “which team comes to play that day, which team is doing the little things and winning battles.”
“Once you get to this point, you’re thinking sometimes weeks in advance,” the WCHA Forward of the Month commented. “Like, ‘oh, I can’t wait to go to the national championship,’ but you have to be ready every single game to play and win, because just like that, the season can be over and then you don’t get another game.”
How, when, where to watch Wisconsin women’s hockey in WCHA Final Faceoff: TV, radio, streaming
When: Thursday, March 5th, 2026 — 4:00 p.m. Central
Where: Lee & Penny Anderson Arena — University of St. Thomas — St. Paul, Minnesota
Watch/TV/Streaming: Big Ten Plus — Channel 3.2 Television Wisconsin
Listen/Radio: 1070 AM The Game (Play-by-play: Paul Braun)
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