Much to Head Coach Mark Johnson’s chagrin, his Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team entered the third period tied with the Minnesota State Mavericks on Friday night. Just like its previous two contests, Johnson’s squad was in a “tight” one late. Unlike the previous two, the Badgers wound up on top.
The winningest coach in the history of women’s college hockey lamented his team’s start and wished they had generated more scoring chances. Still, he recognized that his roster with several newcomers and three players returning just the day prior from Hockey Canada training camp has time to grow.
“You know those little things that that maybe early in the season you want to have in place, you know, just aren’t there,” said Johnson in a post-game interview. “So you just have to deal with it.”
Eventually, Wisconsin (5-2-0, 1-2-0 WCHA) did enough things right to generate a four-goal third period and pull away with a series-opening 5-1 victory.
Frantic first period ends with Badgers ahead
In the opening minutes, the Badgers and Mavericks traded opportunities on the rush, but neither succeeded at maintaining possession in the offensive zone. Minnesota State effectively bumped Wisconsin off pucks, won races to loose ones, and forced UW goaltender Ava McNaughton to make saves on odd-skater rushes.
“The first period, we were a little sloppy in some areas,” Johnson commented. “Especially the first five, seven minutes.”
A penalty against Wisconsin wound up providing an initial spark for the Badgers.
Midway through the opening frame, Nela Lopušanová committed a tripping penalty as MSU attempted a breakout. While the forward sat in the penalty box, her teammates created momentum, and a well-timed rush, leading to a goal after Lopušanová’s returned to the ice with what Cassie Hall called “perfect timing.”
Wisconsin prevented Minnesota State from obtaining the puck for most of the power play and held the Mavericks without a shot on goal during the two minutes. As the penalty expired, Lopušanová jumped back onto the ice, joined the rush with and Charlotte Pieckenhagen, and assisted on the first goal of the evening, putting UW up 1-0.
“It was just a rebound goal, dirty goal,” Hall recalled. “We had Charlotte go hard to the net, so we’re gonna need a lot of those against these teams like this to just pack it in. So to have those players in front of the net, especially Charlotte, she has the size strength, so she can body everyone in front of the net and just put away rebounds. So that’s nice.”
Bouncing puck ties game
That opening goal seemed to spark UW. The Badgers possessed the puck and challenged a young rookie Mavericks goaltender making her first collegiate start.
Johnson acknowledged MSU’s Jaya Schippel “played well” in net particularly in the opening minutes of the second period.
“We had some good looks and she made some nice saves,” he said.
Despite Wisconsin maintaining control of the puck, it could not find the back of the net in the second period. Although the Badgers held the Mavericks to just one shot on goal in 22 minutes and 36 seconds of game time across the first and second periods, Minnesota State tied the game by converting on a power play after another Lopušanová penalty.
With the Slovak winger in the box for roughing, a double ricochet sent a puck past Badgers goaltender Ava McNaughton. When Mavericks defender Mika Cichosz shot bounced off UW center Adéla Šapovalivová’s stick and MSU blue-liner Lauren Zawoyski, a slow-floating puck found its way into the back of the net.
Johnson compared the circumstance to “a seven-nine split-ball bowling ball” before saying, “we’ve seen enough hockey, that stuff happens.”
Wisconsin women’s hockey gets early momentum-changing goal
In an attempt to get a second goal on the board, Johnson made adjustments to his forward lines in the third period moving Rosalie Tremblay (who had just returned from Hockey Canada camp) up to center wingers Finley McCarthy and Maggie Scannell.
Johnson said he was intentionally “looking for somebody who can play with Tremblay and create some chemistry.”
That attempt to “just change things up” paid off right away. On the newly-constructed line’s first shift, Tremblay’s fellow Canada camp attendee and Badgers defender Ava Murphy scored the eventual game-winning goal after creating her own time and space above the circles less than two minutes into the final period.
It was the first of what eventually amounted to a four-goal period for Wisconsin as the tide quickly turned against Minnesota State.
“I feel like that definitely changed momentum,” Murphy said. “And after that, we got a lot of shots, a lot of goals, and yeah, I think it really picked up the pace for our team.”
A pair of Mavericks penalties, called just 17 seconds apart, and a pair of power-play goals further fueled that momentum swing in the Badgers’ favor.
“We caught a break with the extended 5-on-3 and we capitalized,” Johnson said. “That’s the most important thing. Some nights you might not capitalize.”
When UW defender Laney Potter scored on a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle with 67 seconds still remaining on the second penalty, it gave her team another chance to run both of its power play units during the ensuing 5-on-4.
Fifty-seven seconds later, Hall extended the lead to three with her national-best eighth goal this season.
“It seemed like after that we got a little bit of life,” Johnson remarked. “Maybe they got deflated a little bit, but our forecheck was a lot better. We spent more time in the offensive zone, and you know we managed the puck probably a little bit better.”
That improved play resulted in Wisconsin extending its lead one more time as Lopušanová, whose four points led all scorers, buried a rebound off an initial shot by Hall on a 2-on-1 rush to deliver the game’s final 5-1 result.
