Wisconsin women's hockey captain joins elite scoring club
With a win over the St. Cloud State Huskies, the Wisconsin women's hockey 'B-Squad' is on the verge of a title
Madison, WI — Entering the weekend needing just one more pair of wins to capture a conference championship, Wisconsin women’s hockey is halfway done with the job. On Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers earned a dominating 9-2 victory over the St. Cloud State Huskies. UW head coach Mark Johnson called the effort by his team (that without its Olympians has lovingly embraced the “B-Squad” moniker) “one of their best from start to finish.”
“The group that we have right now, they’ve come together.” Johnson added.
Wisconsin forward Charlotte Pieckenhagen, who scored a career-high two goals, got the scoring started in the first period before St. Cloud managed to knot the game at one apiece. The Badgers took a lead moments before the first intermission and never looked back, outscoring the Huskies 7-1 over the final 40 minutes.
“First period, we played pretty well. We made a mistake on the goal that we gave up,” Johnson said before later adding, “From start to finish, it was a good game. I mean, it was a good complete game. Happy with the way we came up with our energy.”
As has often been the case this season, the Badgers were led in that effort by their newly minted, record-setting captain.
Eden continues career-defining campaign
Despite being among the last cuts from the US Olympic team, Eden has turned disappointment into a grand opportunity this season for Wisconsin. After missing out on the opportunity to compete in Milan, Eden dedicated herself to a leadership role in Madison, had the ‘A’ on her jersey upgraded to a ‘C,’ and went on an offensive tear.
With a career-high 65 points, including 46 in her last 19, the fifth-year senior leads the country in scoring. On Saturday, she recorded her 100th-career goal, becoming just the fourth Badger ever to reach the century mark.
“She’s earned everything that she’s gotten,” Johnson said of Eden’s success. “I was real excited for her to get what she was able to get today in front of her home crowd.”
Eden joins a list that includes Hockey Hall of Famer Brianna Decker, all-time USA Olympic leading-scorer Hilary Knight, and former Team USA captain Meghan Duggan as the fourth Wisconsin women’s hockey player to reach triple-digit goal-scoring.
“Those three are girls that I’ve looked up to since I was a little kid and I’ve had the honor to play with two of them [Knight and Decker],” said Eden of the trio. “And they’ve just been such big inspirations for me as a Badger and just throughout my hockey career.”
After scoring her first goal of the day, hitting 100, Eden kept going. The Annapolis, Maryland native tallied a game-high five points with a hat trick and two assists.
“Her getting the ‘C’ was so well deserved, and that just didn’t start when the girls left, like that was all the way back in September and in the summer too when she’s training with us,” Eden’s linemate, Kelly Gorbatenko, said of Eden’s recent ascent. “She’s just been a leader throughout the entire season, somebody that everybody looks up to for leadership as the game goes on.”
Kelly Gorbatenko joins short list of four-goal scorers
Eden had the most memorable afternoon of any Badger, but she had plenty of competition. On the opposite wing of the top line, Gorbatenko recorded her first-career hat trick and added another goal late to become one of just a handful of players in program history with a four-goal performance.
The Barrington, Illinois native earned just the tenth four-goal game in program history, becoming just the eighth Badger (Meghan Hunter, Cyndy Kenyon, Brooke Ammerman 3x, Sarah Nurse, Casey O’Brien, Cassie Hall, and Laila Edwards) to achieve the feat (Hilary Knight holds the single-game goal scoring record with five against Quinnipiac in 2008). Whether it was poking a puck inches away from the goal line into the back of the net or ripping a hard backhand shot from the circle, Gorbatenko found a way to score.
“She does have a knack for scoring,” Eden said of Gorbatenko. “She gets in those dirty area and is a big body, so she can put pucks in the net from anywhere and you saw that today. Some dangles, some dirty goals. It’s a good day when she’s getting pucks to the net and it’s a good day when they’re going in.”
While Eden has enjoyed continued success throughout the season, Gorbatenko’s performance on Saturday snapped a cold streak. After going six games without a goal, failing to find the back of the net since UW’s Olympians departed, the junior emphatically ended her drought.
The first goal, simply poking a loose puck into the back of the net on a power-play with less than one second remaining in the opening period, gave Gorbatenko “a little bit of confidence,” she said before adding that it was “nice to get the monkey off the back a little bit.
Up next for Wisconsin women’s hockey
The Badgers return to the ice tomorrow morning for their regular-season finale. With a win, Wisconsin would capture its 11th WCHA regular-season conference championship in program history.
“We want that trophy. We know what’s at stake,” Gorbatenko said. “The ‘B-Squad’ will be ready to go. We’ve done such a great job with our Olympians gone and been able to hold down the fort. We’re just one game away from a trophy, so we don’t want to let it slip through.”
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