Wisconsin women's hockey gets OT win vs St. Thomas: 3 stars
In the final Wisconsin women's hockey home game of 2025, the Wisconsin Badgers captured a win in dramatic fashion
Madison, WI — If there were any remaining doubts about St. Thomas head coach Bethany Brausen’s prediction that her Tommies were primed for a “jump year,” they were put to bed on Friday night. No. 15 St. Thomas, which made the transition from NCAA Division III to DI just five years ago, remains winless against the top-ranked and dynastic Wisconsin women’s hockey program, but, for the first time, the Wisconsin Badgers squeaked by the Tommies with just a one-goal margin in overtime.
Wisconsin (14-1-1, 10-1-1 WCHA) twice battled back from a deficit, including after St. Thomas (8-10-0, 3-9-0 WCHA) took the lead with under seven minutes to play in regulation. The Badgers, who entered the third period with a one-goal lead, were bottled up defensively to begin the final frame. UW only managed five shot attempts in the first 11 minutes of the period.
“Third period was sort of like a little chess game,” Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said in a post-game interview. “They were defending well and eliminating things getting into the offensive zone and we didn’t create a lot until we got that power play, but we didn’t give up too much either.”
As that power play expired, Tommies’ leading scorer Rylee Bartz exited the box, immediately scored a breakaway goal on Ava McNaughton to take that late lead.
“In the third period they were clogging up areas not only in the front of the net, but outside their blue line. We were chipping them by at times, but we weren’t getting the forecheck that was necessary to sustain anything,” Johnson explained. “And then, when we tried to get pucks to the net, they were blocking them, and the goalie’s making saves.”
Wisconsin produced its most-lopsided result in shots on goal of the season, getting the puck to St. Thomas goaltender Julia Minotti 51 times compared to the Tommies’ 17 SOGs.
“So, it was like, can you get enough opportunities to get one past toward the end to get it tied up?,” added Johnson, alluding to the challenge of getting the third-period equalizer.
It was not until the final minute of play that the Badgers managed to force overtime. Caroline Harvey, whom Johnson noted as she tied the WCHA record for career points by a defender, “has come up with some big goals at some big times for us her entire career,” put the initial shot toward the net. Then, it was forward Kirsten Simms, with a penchant for scoring consequential goals herself (her 18 game-winners are the 7th most in program history), who deflected the shot and tied it up before assisting on Cassie Hall’s game-winner in overtime.
While the Badgers certainly had opportunities to finish the game earlier, getting the OT winner “is always better than scoring in regulation!” Hall said excitedly.
Although Wisconsin surrendered a conference point to St. Thomas, the Badgers “found a way to get the victory; that’s the most important thing,” Johnson summarized.
First Star: Kirsten Simms
With a goal and two assists, Simms tallied a game-high three points. Along with her equalizer in the final moments, the back-to-back first-team All-American helped with a go-ahead goal by defender Laila Edwards in the second period. In overtime, Simms’ initial shot attempt was blocked by Tommies forward Ella Boerger before Hall buried a rebound off a shot by Badgers defender Laney Potter.
On the defensive end, Potter logged four of UW’s nine blocked shots.
Always with a flair for the dramatic, it appeared, for a few minutes, that the 8th player in Wisconsin women’s hockey history to eclipse 200 points had ended the game in the final moments of regulation. From below the goal line, Simms snuck a puck past a sprawling Minotti short side. Simultaneously, the final buzzer sounded, the clock struck zero, and pandemonium ensued.
Ultimately, the goal did not count. After a review, officials ruled that the puck crossed the goal line shortly after time expired.
Hall said the two-minute intermission between regulation and overtime helped settle the emotions after what appeared to be yet another magical moment inside LaBahn Arena.
Second Star: Caroline Harvey
If you had a nickel for every time a Harvey shot from the point tied a WCHA game in Madison with under 90 seconds remaining, later followed by a game-winner by Hall, this season, you would have two nickels.
Admittedly, it is not a lot of nickels, but it is quite the coincidence that it has happened twice.
“The bounces were definitely not going our way. Hitting maybe a helmet, going to the corner. So many people had so many chances right at the goal line that just didn’t go in the back of the net,” Harvey said of the Badgers’ difficulties scoring on Friday. “It was good that we buried one when we needed to at the end. Sometimes that’ll happen, and that’s adversity, but how you react to that and how you fix that in the moment matters.”
Wisconsin’s captain logged a pair of assists and tied UW forward Lacey Eden with a game-high eight shots on goal.
Third Star: Maddie Brown
For a Tommies team that has struggled to generate goals this season, forward Maddie Brown helped give her team an opportunity to knock off the defending national champs. Brown logged a point both times the Tommies scored to take a lead. Her first-period power-play goal marked just the second time this season an opponent has scored first against the Badgers.
Brown’s assist on Bartz’s breakaway third-period goal showcased tremendous situational awareness to deliver what Johnson called “an alley-oop pass.” She added two of St. Thomas’s 23 blocked shots and a team-high six shots on goal.
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