MADISON, Wis. — Mark Johnson coached Wisconsin to victory for the 350th time Sunday as the host Badgers upended Clarkson 4-0.
“It’s not about me; it’s about the kids in the locker room,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason we’re in the business, to try to help those kids.”
Freshman Annie Pankowski fired her second hat trick for the Badgers (19-4-3, 14-4-2-0 WCHA).
“I think our team was rolling on all cylinders, so I was just kind of the person that was there to finish them,” she said.
Senior Karley Sylvester added a goal for Wisconsin and goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens made sure that was more than enough as she turned in a 24-save shutout, her eighth of the year.
“I think our defense stepped up this weekend and made sure I always was able to see the puck,” Desbiens said.
Freshman Shea Tiley made 34 stops for the Golden Knights (15-7-3, 9-2-2 ECAC).
“They put us on our heels right off the bat, and it took us a little while to kind of recover from that,” Clarkson coach Matt Desrosiers said.
The Badgers were stalled in a stalemate and needed someone to step up and make something happen, and Pankowski did twice in the second period.
“She made a couple of nice shots, especially the first one,” Johnson said.
First, she weaved her way around the offensive zone and snapped a high shot inside the left post. Brittany Ammerman and Emily Clark assisted on the goal at 3:25.
“We were able to take a little bit of a breath after we got that first one,” Pankowski said.
Next, she picked up the puck in an exchange from Jenny Ryan and sniped a low dart at 14:10, with Katy Josephs also getting a helper.
Desbiens said that her team discussed during the second intermission what a relief it was to have a couple of pucks go into the net after being held to one goal in regulation time in five straight contests.
“The big thing is to not get frustrated,” Johnson said. “Eventually, the puck is going to go in.”
A minute and a half into the third period, Blayre Turnbull took the puck from Kim Drake and put a shot off of Tiley’s far pad and Sylvester deposited the rebound.
“Probably not going to score from that area, but if you put it in a certain area, you create a rebound off that,” Johnson said. “Those are good things to see.”
At 3:45, Courtney Burke stepped around a defender at the point and fed Pankowski, who completed her hat trick.
Wisconsin held a 14-5 shot advantage in the opening period, but Clarkson had a couple of better scoring chances.
“The second half of the first period was a little better for us,” Desrosiers said. “I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start. We were on our heels a little bit. I want to say fatigue played a little bit into that. We expended a lot of energy yesterday, with the flight and everything. It’s definitely no excuse for us to not be ready to come out and play against a top-quality team like this.”
The Golden Knights forwards were able to create some problems for the Wisconsin defense.
“Very big, especially their top line,” Johnson said. “When they got the puck below our goal line, we had trouble containing them.”
Clarkson returns to ECAC action by hosting Yale on Friday, while the Badgers visit Minnesota State.
