Wisconsin women's hockey secures split in physical Border Battle
After having a program-record 23 game win streak snapped, Wisconsin women's hockey bounced back with an offensive barrage
Madison, WI — With a program-record winning streak in the rearview mirror, Wisconsin women’s hockey showcased a resilience in bouncing back from a loss for the first time in 37 games. A goal by sophomore Maggie Scannell 14 seconds into the series finale against the Minnesota Golden Gophers made it clear that UW would not be swept at home for the first time in over two years so easily.
“We got challenged after last night’s game, and we accepted the challenge,” Wisconsin Badgers head coach Mark Johnson said. “And, you know, we accepted the challenge and obviously got out to a good start in the first period.”
That goal, the forward’s sixth of the year, was the first of a pair of early goals that provided an aggressive response to the Gophers’ (10-2-0, 6-2-0 WCHA) dissection of the Badger defense in the series opener. The Badgers scored multiple goals in each period, winning 7-2.
“We just had the energy we do normally, and everbody was fired up to go. And we knew we weren’t letting anywhere close from what yesterday happened today,” said Wisconsin forward Kirsten Simms. “So, from the drop of the puck we kind of had our jump and we were playing Badger hockey from the get-go.”
Kirsten Simms settles back into scoring for Wisconsin women’s hockey
After rehabbing a lower-body injury, Simms returned to the lineup on Friday, but did not have the return she was hoping for. The series-opener against the Gophers was the first time this season, aside from the game she left due to injury, that Simms failed to record a point. With only a pair of shots on goal, tying her season low, Minnesota held the back-to-back first-team All-American at bay.
“Yesterday was obviously not — not our best game. Especially in response, and when they would score and our response back,” Simms said in a post-game interview Saturday. “So, we kind of knew we had to pick it up and turn it around.”
Simms said she had to “bring back Badger hockey” on Saturday.
On one of the three goals assisted by Cassie Hall, Kirsten Simms followed up Scannell’s goal less than two and a half minutes later. From behind the Minnesota goal line, Hall found Simms in the slot. With a Simms wrist shot past UMN goaltender Hannah Clark’s glove, the Michigan natives connected to give UW an early 2-0 lead.
“It’s nice to get one in LaBahn, too, especially against the Gophers,” Simms said through a bit of laughter. “And I mean, it was an unbelievable pass by Cassie as well. So it was just a good setup and nice to finally finish.”
Simms would add a pair of second-period assists on goals by Kelly Gorbatenko and Laila Edwards, putting an exclamation point on her return after missing a weekend with a lower-body injury.
“Yesterday was definitely — had to — took some time to get going a little bit,” the Preseason All-WCHA honoree said. “But then today, just felt right back in the groove of it.”
Caroline Harvey adds three points, physical response
Wisconsin women’s hockey captain Caroline Harvey assisted on Scannell’s opening goal. She later added another helper along with a goal. Her early third-period goal put the Badgers up a comfortable 5-1 margin with 17 minutes left to play.
“It kept the momentum going,” the UW defender said of her sixth goal of the season. “Yeah, we were just building off those every goal we had.”
Beyond scoring, Harvey put herself in the middle of a physical, contentious, final frame. In under five minutes, both teams committed minor penalties, resulting in one power play goal per team during that stretch. After a slight initial push by Minnesota captain Abbey Murphy, Harvey went to the penalty box after cross-checking Murphy, her U.S. National Team teammate in the upcoming Olympics.
“Sometimes it can get tough, you know. Like, when they’re trying to get in our head, or it’s the end of the game, and maybe they’re throwing some hits and retaliating, and then obviously we want to feed back into that,” Harvey said of the challenge of staying composed amid the physical play. “But, we got to do our best to stay level-headed.
“Obviously, we had a good, um, we were up by a couple, but it’s just kind of grounding the group. And, yeah, killing the huge kills we had, and then just being like, okay. Reset. Five-on-five. And no matter what the refs do, no matter what they do, we just have to ignore the noise.”
Wisconsin women’s hockey continues shuffling through injuries
Although Wisconsin did not “ignore the noise” for all 60 minutes, it did often enough to get out with a win, heading into a one-week break that Mark Johnson said his team needs “to get healthy.”
“Physically, yeah. With some numbers down, I think, you’re definitely feeling it in that way,” Harvey added.
Defender Laney Potter remains sidelined with a lower-body injury. Also along the blue line on the injury report is Ava Murphy, who missed Saturday’s game. Johnson admitted he does “not know a lot about” Murphy’s status, adding they will “get a better feel early in the week as to her status.”
Adéla Šapovalivová missed both games this weekend with a hand/wrist injury she sustained in the final moments of last weekend’s series against the Minnesota State Mavericks.
At different points during Saturday’s game, Scannell exited after being hit with a puck under her helmet, something Johnson, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey history and an 11-year NHL veteran, said he had never seen before. She returned after getting stitches to assist on Harvey’s goal.
Hall exited at the end of the second after blocking a shot. She returned for the third period, but, as Johnson said, “she’s gonna be sore now.”
“I keep putting the puzzle, get it together, it looks pretty good,” Johnson said of his shuffling lineup amid the injuries. “And then all of a sudden, take that piece, take that piece, and put it back together. Okay, it’s looking good again.”
Wisconsin women’s hockey resumes play in two weeks on the road against the St. Cloud State Huskies.
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Clearly KK and Murphy have history.