MADISON — The Wisconsin Badgers will make their 17th appearance in the Frozen Four next weekend thanks to a decisive 6-0 win over #8 Quinnipiac in Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal. The victory is UW coach Mark Johnson’s 700th – setting a new standard for women’s college hockey coaching wins.
In was a statement from a UW team who had stumbled in the WCHA tournament championship game against Ohio State, losing not just the title, but the #1 spot in the polls and the top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The defending national championships struck quickly as Kelly Gorbatenko sniped a perfect pass from Lacey Eden to the far post, making it 1-0 before three minutes had passed. They doubled their lead in the waning minutes of the first on a power play goal from Kirsten Simms on a nice feed through the slot by Laila Edwards.
The Badgers controlled the pace of play, keeping Quinnipiac from breaking out of the zone, causing turnovers and forcing them to ice the puck.
Quinnipiac coach Cass Turner said it was the game she expected her team to face, but she had hoped they might handle the pressure a bit better. She referenced two previous series the Bobcats played against the Badgers in which her team lost the opening game, but came back with a tie in one series and a win in the other.
“Our goal was to try to play that day-two hockey and adjust. It was just too much for us today. We knew that it was gonna be faster than we thought it was gonna be, and we prepped for that. We knew we needed to adjust quickly. I think that we kept fighting, we kept sticking with what our game plan was, we made some adjustments along the way, but that’s just a really strong Wisconsin team,” Turner said.
“We wanted to be able to make plays to get in behind their defense. We made some plays, but we just didn’t finish. We wanted to be really great in how we forechecked and then turn that into transition. We just didn’t create enough of them today. I think they put a really strong game on the ice and we just couldn’t bounce back today.”
Things looked a little better for the Bobcats early in the second as they had a few more clean breakouts and zone time, but UW added to their lead 1:18 into the frame. Adéla Šapovalivová scored with a wrister from the far faceoff dot to make it 3-0.
Wisconsin outshot the Bobcats 51-17 for the game. There was a more than eight minute stretch in the second where Quinnipiac didn’t even get to attempt a shot.
Gorbatenko scored her second of the game off late in the second when she picked up the loose puck after a tied up faceoff. She kicked the puck to her stick from behind her back and snapped a shot to make it 4-0.
Quinnipiac picked up some momentum midway through the third, killing a major penalty when Taylor Brueske was called for a hit to the head. The pulled goalie Felicia Frank to have a 6-on-4 advantage, but Lacey Eden scored on the empty net to give Wisconsin the 5-0 advantage. Gorbatenko completed her hat trick with a slapper in the closing minutes to secure the 6-0 victory and earn her 100th career point. The win sends Wisconsin to Penn State to make their fourth-straight Frozen Four appearance.
It was a loud, sellout crowd of 2,400 fans at LaBahn Arena that Kirsten Simms said has always fueled the Badgers at home. But Quinnipiac’s Taylor Brueske said the Bobcats also loved playing in such a raucous, engaged crowd.
“We knew coming into it that this was going to be the environment, and we prepared ourselves for that, but we were excited. I think it’s so cool to have that many people in attendance for a women’s college hockey game, and we definitely rose to the occasion. We were excited to be here,” she said.
Wisconsin was successful in the faceoff circle, particularly on special teams. That gave the Badgers momentum and allowed them to play with the puck on their stick as opposed to chasing, something coach Mark Johnson was looking to see from his team this week after a poor performance at it last week.
“We ended up possessing a puck and playing in the offensive zone quite a bit. We got enough quality opportunities, enough chances, that even though [Frank] played very well today, she made a lot of big time saves, and we were able to capitalize on enough of them to get to where we got at the end of the game. There are going to be 50 to 75 faceoffs in a game. If you’re winning a high percentage of that, then you end up having a chance. You’re not chasing the puck. It makes the game a lot different,” said Johnson.