Badgers top Dogs 4-1

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

The No. 10 University of Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team was outshot and late in the game outscored, but the Bulldogs were far from outplayed. The No. 2 University of Wisconsin  defeated UMD 4-1 in front of 1,405 fans at AMSOIL Arena Friday night, but the contest was a one goal game until final 40 seconds.

“I thought we had a good performance tonight, and we were very strong for the last 40 minutes of the game,” said head coach Shannon Miller.  “It was a 2-1 game with a couple minutes left on the clock and we pulled our goalie trying to be aggressive at the end.  But the reality is, it’s a 2-1 loss to the No. 2 team in the country, and I am proud of our performance.”

Despite holding the Badgers scoreless in six power plays through two stanzas, Wisconsin finally snuck on the board 15:38 into the second period.  Emily Clark banged in a rebound underneath UMD netminder Kayla Black to break the stalemate, giving UW a 1-0 lead.

The Badgers doubled their lead 7:27 into the third period, a shorthanded tally by Clark.  Black made the initial save, but the puck trickled out to her left and Clark smacked it top-shelf to give Wisconsin the 2-0 advantage.

UMD pushed back late and came within a single goal with 3:45 remaining in the game.  Sophomore Lara Stalder drove on the outside of a 3-on-2, taking the initial shot on Ann-Renee Desbiens, but senior winger Zoe Hickel was there to shovel the rebound past the line and cut the score to 2-1.  The Bulldogs pressed and pulled Black with 1:24 remaining in the game, but unfortunately for UMD, Wisconsin would finish in the empty net 42 seconds later and again seven seconds after that off a face-off to ice the contest.

Black was at times spectacular for the Bulldogs between the pipes, turning away 31 of the 33 shots she faced.  UMD was a perfect 6-of-6 on the penalty kill and improves to a 93.8 success rate on the season, having now killed 15-of-16 of their opponents power plays.  UW’s Desbien’s made 14 saves on night, and held the Bulldogs, who came into Friday night’s skate having averaged 46.5 shots a game to just 15.

UMD (1-1-1, 0-1-0) and Wisconsin (3-0-0, 1-0-0) teams will tangle again tomorrow night at AMSOIL, with the puck set to drop at 6:07 p.m.