DULUTH — Wisconsin senior Sarah Wozniewicz buried a no-look pass drop pass from fifth-year captain Casey O’Brien with 24.5 seconds left in regulation to put the Badgers ahead of Minnesota 4-3 and win the WCHA Tournament Championship.
Wozniewicz said she and O’Brien are roommates when the team is on the road and the two joked after the goal that it was their roommate connection. She wasn’t necessarily expecting the puck, she said, but knew that with time expiring O’Brien would look to get the puck to the net.
The play came off a faceoff in the Wisconsin offensive zone after Minnesota iced the puck. O’Brien was chasing down a missed shot from Lacey Eden before dropping it to the net front for Wozniewicz.
“We had a set play off the draw, so I knew Lacey was going to shoot. The boards are lively, so when I saw it was going wide I just tried to get it in front of the net,” said O’Brien.
Badger coach Mark Johnson praised O’Brien’s situational and game awareness in making the play, joking that if she’d made that play when there was more time on the clock, he’s be upset at her for making a play with a high probably of becoming a turnover.
“She’s been the best player in college hockey this year, by far. As she goes, we go. And if she’s playing well, we’re a challenge. She’s played well for us in a lot of games and done it for a long period of time,” said Johnson.
Wozniewicz would not traditionally on the ice with O’Brien and Eden, but Johnson, who’d been mixing up his lines all game, tapped her before the faceoff and sent her on the ice.
“I put Woz[niewicz] out there just because, she skates so well, she’s got energy. She’s in really good shape, so she recovers quickly. Maybe something can happen,” said Johnson, who also said he believed the game was headed for overtime.
It was the second Wisconsin goal that came as the result of Johnson switching up lines. Freshman Maggie Scannell scored shortly after being put at center of the Badgers’ second line. Normally a player on his fourth line, Johnson shortened up his bench but said he wanted to get Scannell more ice time. The change paid off as she used her size and strength to hold on to the puck through traffic in front of the Gopher net before flipping it past goalie Hannah Clark with her backhand.
The game had been a back-and-forth affair, with Wisconsin taking the lead near the midpoint of the first after O’Brien forced a turnover at center ice and took off into the zone, feeding the puck to Kirsten Simms. Her saucer pass back to O’Brien at the back door was an easy tip-in to give the Badger a 1-0 lead.
That lead lasted just 20 seconds, as Minnesota’s Allie Franco let loose with a shot from the blue line on the next shift that bounced off a Badger skate on its way to the net and deflected in to tie the game 1-1.
The Gophers took the lead with about three to play in the frame as Abbey Murphy’s pass off the boards broke Josefin Bouveng into the zone, where she beat Ava McNaughton with a wrister to put Minnesota up 2-1.
Vivian Jungels, whose skate caused the deflection in Franco’s goal and was beat by Bouveng on the way to her goal, earned some redemption early in the second when her soft wrister from the point made it through traffic to the back of the net to tie the game back up just 42 seconds into the frame.
Minnesota tied it back up in the final minute of the third when Natálie Mlýnková picked up a rebound off the back boards and tried to tuck it around the far post. The puck deflected off Laila Edwards and into the net.
There were some unfortunate bounces for the Badgers, but goalie Ava McNaughton, who made 31 saves, including a point blank stop on an Abbey Murphey breakaway in the third, said that’s just the nature of the battle in close games.
“Playoff hockey, bounces are going to go both ways. You kind of just have to accept it. Sometimes there’s not much you can do about it. It’s not the defense’s fault, either. They’re trying to make a play,” she said.
UW has been locked into the top seed heading into the NCAA Tournament by virtue of holding the top spot in the Pairwise Rankings, but with their 11th WCHA Tournament win, they earned the conference’s auto bid.
The Gophers are also headed to the NCAA Tournament. Their Pairwise ranking has them fourth overall and they will host a quarterfinal game at home next weekend before playing host to the Frozen Four at Ridder Arena in two weeks.
Despite now having lost five straight this season against the Badgers, Minnesota coach Brad Frost said his team’s strong win over Ohio State in the semifinals and having played Wisconsin so well in the championship has given his team the belief that they can play with any team in the country.
“If this doesn’t give you even more confidence going, it should. And it can’t just be confidence about beating Wisconsin. It has to be confidence about beating our next opponent. We’re one win away from the Frozen Four at home. That’s a really big deal for us, so we want to get there,” he said.
With a goal and two assists in the game, O’Brien became the all-time leading scorer in UW men’s and women’s hockey with her 268th career point, passing Mike Eaves who recorded 267 points during his time for the men’s program. O’Brien now has 269 points, which ranks eighth in NCAA history.
The NCAA women’s hockey selection show is Sunday, March 9 at 11:30 am eastern. It will be broadcast on ESPNU and can be streamed on ESPN+.
Opening round NCAA Tournament games are scheduled for Thursday, March 13 and quarterfinal games will be played on Saturday, March 15.
O’Brien was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player
WCHA All-Tournament Team
F – Abbey Murphy, Minnesota
F – Casey O’Brien, Wisconsin
F – Sarah Wozniewicz, Wisconsin
D – Chloe Primerano, Minnesota
D – Caroline Harvey, Wisconsin
G – Ava McNaughton, Wisconsin
