MADISON — Defending National Champions Wisconsin have advanced to their 15th Frozen Four in program history with a 4-0 win over St. Lawrence Saturday afternoon in Madison.
Casey O’Brien won the opening faceoff and then scored 16 seconds later to give the Badgers an immediate 1-0 lead. It was a group effort from the Badgers’ top line as Laila Edwards poke-checked the puck, Kirsten Simms quickly flipped to O’Brien, who was alone in front of the net and did not miss.
But St. Lawrence captain Julia Gosling said that her team was not fazed by the quick goal and coach Chris Wells said he thought it helped snap his team into focus.
“I think we were just mentally prepared for anything. We knew they’re an offensive team.
There was a lot of time left in the game. We just knew mentally that if they scored, we still had a chance to keep going. We took that as some motivation and kept pressing them. I think that’s what helped us in the first period,” said Gosling.
The Saints put pressure on the Badgers and it took the home team time to adjust. SLU used their size to take time and space away from the home team.
“We wanted to play vicious all over them. We knew they’re super skilled, so if we could take away their time and space, use our body against them, I think that’s what helped them to not get the fancy plays we’ve seen from them all year,” said Gosling.
Wisconsin’s Laila Edwards said the pressure took her off guard, but that her team’s depth and versatility were on display as they found new ways to move the puck and get time in the offensive zone. Wells described the match as “the perfect game” meaning that it played out exactly as he hoped it would in order for his team to have an opportunity to win. It was a matter of inches that allowed Wisconsin to hold the 1-0 lead into the third, as the Saints hit the post, had shots blocked or saved by UW freshman goalie Ava McNaughton or failed to put away loose pucks in front of the net.
“In the first and the second period, we kind of struggled a little bit with getting in front of the goalie. I think we got pucks to the net, but we didn’t really have anyone there for the dirty goals,” said O’Brien.
The teams were evenly matched through the opening frame, but Wisconsin started to push back as the second period progressed, eventually outshooting the Saints 21-7 as they changed their approach, using speed and the boards to chip pucks around the pressing defense. Wells
They broke things open less than five minutes into the third as Maddie Wheeler chased down a puck that was rung round the back boards and tipped it to Laney Potter at the blue line. Potter walked the puck into the space in front of her before unloading a shot that Sarah Wozniewicz tipped and redirected into the net to give Wisconsin the 2-0 lead.
Wisconsin looked like they extended the lead three minutes later when Wozniewicz tipped in a laser of a shot from distance by Anna Wilgren, but St. Lawrence challenged they goal and it was disallowed for goalie interference as Kelly Gorbatenko made contact as she moved across the top of the crease.
But the Badgers weren’t going to be stopped. Laila Edwards put the third goal back on the board just 37 seconds later as Laney Potter picked up a puck in the neutral zone and fed it to Simms to carry into the zone. Edwards was coming through the middle and Simms hit her in stride so she was in alone on Nordström, where she beat with a backhander.
Just three minutes after that, Edwards scored her second of the game as Nordström made two great saves, but the second one bounced right to Edwards, who scored to make it 4-0 and put the game out of reach for the Saints.
McNaughton earned her fifth shutout of the season. Johnson said he thought she showed a lot of composure and that playing in games against Minnesota and Ohio State over the past month put her in a position to be comfortable in this higher pressure situation.
“I think it’s definitely always to keep your team in a game. It was honestly just trying to do that. We were able to keep it going until we were able to score more. There was obviously a lot of hard work in front of me to make it happen,” said McNaughton.
Wisconsin is a tough team to beat at home during the regular season, but they’re even tougher during the regular season. Since they opened LaBahn Arena in 2013, the Badgers have not lost an NCAA Tournament game they’ve hosted there (seven games). They have outscored opponents 32-2 in that stretch and the last goal they allowed in an NCAA Tournament at LaBahn Arena was to Boston University’s Victoria Bach in the waning minutes of a 5-1 win in 2015. That means the Badgers have played 302:53 (and counting) of shutout hockey in NCAA tournament games at LaBahn Arena.
That’s a heck of an advantage and Wells said he was happy his team got to play a game in front of such a full and vocal crowd, calling it a special experience.
“It was a perfect game for us. This is what we expected. We just missed the net, hit some posts. But if we were going to win, that’s how the game needed to go… You can only hold them off for so long,” Wells said.
The Badgers will face Colgate in the national semifinal on Friday. Of all the positives that came out of Saturday’s win, Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said the most important thing was that his team continues to play.
“The best thing is we get another opportunity to play another game,” he said.
“The season goes on.”
