No. 5 Wisconsin will have to wait until tomorrow for another chance at revenge against Minnesota-Duluth.
The No. 4 Bulldogs (6-0-1, 6-0-1 WCHA), who effectively ended Wisconsin’s NCAA hopes last year with an upset in the WCHA semifinals, stymied the Badgers (7-2, 5-2 WCHA) again, this time by a 4-3 margin.
The Badgers came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game, only to watch penalties lead to their undoing. Wisconsin took 12 penalties, two in the last four minutes, leading to a 5-on-3 goal by UMD captain Caroline Ouellette off a rebound with 1:43 left. UMD finished 2-for-9 on the power play, while Wisconsin was 2-for-8.
Ouellette had opened the scoring at 7:08 on a pass from Julianne Vasichek, who tallied three assists on the evening. Wisconsin’s leadership combined to answer as Jackie Friesen scored from Molly Engstrom and Carla MacLeod on the power play at 12:05. Moments later at 13:53, Noemie Marin snuck another goal in for UMD. Facing a five-on-three faceoff on their end of the ice, Wisconsin conceded a third goal to UMD, Marin’s second, for a 3-1 deficit heading into the first intermission.
In the second period, Sara Bauer lit the lamp at 11:06 with Wisconsin’s second goal fresh off a faceoff in Duluth territory to cut the deficit in half. The Badger defense was air tight and held the Bulldogs scoreless through all 20 minutes of the second period and killed the three penalties that were assessed.
On a third period power play, Nicole Uliasz fired a shot at 12:15 to burn the goalie and tie the game 3-3. Bauer inked her second point of the night with the helper.
Tensions were running high in the final minutes of the game and the whistle blew on Kristen Witting and Cyndy Kenyon at 16:19 and another five-on-three situation manifested. The Badgers cleared the puck and kept the Bulldogs out of the net for 1:58 but Ouellette poked the puck past Meghan Horras after the initial shot was deflected.
In the net for the Badgers, Horras came up with some big saves and tallied 25 for the game. For the Bulldogs, Riitta Schaublin stopped 30 shots for the Bulldogs and came away with the win.
