Wisconsin Hockey Weekly: Badgers preview Minnesota Gophers
The Wisconsin Badgers hockey teams are set to host the first leg of the second-ever double Border Battle series
Following a pair of home sweeps, the Wisconsin Badgers hockey teams look to combine for another four-win weekend. This time, the UW men’s and women’s hockey teams will do so against the same opponent: the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
This season features a scheduling quirk that has only happened once before. The men’s Big Ten hockey schedule and the women’s WCHA schedule feature annual home-and-home sets. In the 2008-09 season, the Gopher men's and women’s hockey teams visited Madison the same weekend in October. On the return trip, the Wisconsin men's and women’s hockey teams traveled to Minneapolis the same weekend in February to play their Minnesota counterparts.
This weekend, both Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey teams travel to Madison, before both sets of Badgers head to Minneapolis in January.
When UW hosts its Badgers vs. Gophers double-header this weekend, Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson is expecting an unmatched atmosphere.
“I’m just coaching, but you know, it feels different–if you’re playing, too,” Johnson said of the energy inside LaBahn Arena with a matchup between his top-ranked Badgers and the third-ranked Gophers on deck. “When we step on the ice Friday to start the game, there’s going to be a special electricity in there. Something special is going to happen, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to be part of.”
Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Mike Hastings and forward Jack Horbach preview their half of the border battle after sweeping the Alaska Nanooks.
Johnson, goaltender Ava McNaughton, and WCHA Forward of the Week Claire Enright, representing the Badger women’s hockey team.
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