ST. PAUL — It was a bit of a rough start for #1 Wisconsin in Thursdays WCHA semifinal. They struggled to find possession and control the puck throughout the opening period while Minnesota State clogged the middle of the ice, closed up passing lanes and once again received spectacular goaltending from Hailey Hansen. They found their stride with a four-goal second period and ultimately skated to a 7-2 win to advance to the WCHA Tournament championship game.
What the Badgers thought was their first goal just minutes into the game was challenged by Minnesota State and overhead replay showed that Claire Enright did indeed palm the puck and push it into the net. But just before the first frame expired, a missed chance where Lacey Eden hit the crossbar pulled the defense’s attention to the far corner, leaving the front of the net open. Kelly Gorbatenko fed the puck to Eden behind the net and Eden found Caroline Harvey crashing the net with nothing but time and space. Harvey took a touch around the goalie and easily potted the puck into the back of the net to give the Badgers a 1-0 lead.
As she had been throughout Mankato’s quarterfinal series with UMD, Hansen continued to be outstanding. Wisconsin outshot the Mavericks 19-5 in the first, with Hansen making a number of key saves to keep her team in the game.
Though things still looked a little sloppy after the intermission, the Badgers seemed to find the sweet spot, scoring three times in less than five minutes to open up a 4-0 lead before the midpoint of the period. First Kirsten Simms used her toe drag to create a little space through traffic and pinged the puck in off the far post. Then Harvey led Gorbatenko into the zone where she met with a number of defenders near the right faceoff dot but was still able to chip a shot past Hansen to make it 3-0. Adéla Šapovalivová one-timed a drop off from Simms from the right circle to make it 4-0 with 11:16 to go in the second.
“Once we got to the second, we started pouring in a bit. They had the middle pretty clogged, but our forecheck was hard from the and we were pretty connected from the beginning. I think that helped us get our scoring chances and offensive zone time. We got in a few tight scoring chances in the first and I think was what opened it up for us in the second,” said Simms.
The Mavericks got on the board just after the midpoint as they got UW goalie Ava McNaughton moving across the crease and Sophie Stramel beat her at the back post before she could recover. But Simms responded with her second goal of the game to push the lead back to four goals.
Gorbatenko potted her second 38 seconds into the third and Maggie Scannell added a nifty backhander to push the lead to 7-1. Lauren Goldsworthy and Zoe Lopez combined for some pretty passing on a late rush that Goldsworthy put away to make it 7-2, but time ran out on the Mavericks’ season as the Badgers took the win to advance to the championship game on Saturday.
This is the first time Minnesota State had advanced to the Final Faceoff since 2009. Their goals on Thursday were scored by underclassmen and their late season run has come thanks to the outstanding play of Hansen in net, who is just a junior. But Stramel said that the team is motivated to learn from this experince and build on it next season.
“This shows the girls coming in that we’re capable and we’re willing to work our butts off the whole entire season to get to this place once again. And it’s becoming standard. We just set the standard, and now next season we can work even farther,” she said.
The Mavericks knew they had a tough task facing the top-ranked Badgers, but Dickerman said she was proud of the group and knows that they’ve set a solid foundation to continue to improve and play in the postseason in coming years.
“I knew we have talented group and that we’d find a way to score some goals. We have great goaltender who doesn’t always get the credit I think she deserves. She’s 5’4″, but she’s unbelievable. She gives us a chance every night, bails us out. WeI leaned on her really heavy last weekend to get here. People played a lot of minutes, and I think we just kind of ran out of gas as it went. But couldn’t be more proud of this group and excited for for where we’re headed in the future,” Dickerman said.
Wisconsin will look to win its 12th WCHA Tournament Championship. The Badgers are the reigning tournament champions. They’ll face the winner of the second semifinal between Ohio State and Minnesota. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. central.