New Hampshire scored two goals in a one-minute span late in the first period, then shut out Wisconsin en route to a 3-0 victory at the Whittemore Center on Friday.
The Wildcats (7-1-0) took advantage of a Kerry Weiland penalty to score at 16:21 and take a 1-0 lead. Kira Misikowetz got the puck in the corner to the right of goaltender Jackie MacMillan. Misikowetz skated along the goal line and passed against the grain to Steph Jones in front. Jones found the net for her eighth goal of the season.
Less than a minutes later, at 17:18, Debbie Bernhard found Annie Fahlenbock behind the Badger defense. Fahlenbock skated in alone from the blue line, froze MacMillan’s with a fake, stick side, and went along the ice to the glove side for her second of the year. UNH goalie Jen Huggon earned an assist on the play.
“After the power-play goal, we were trying to go for broke and trying to score,” said Wisconsin head coach Trina Bourget. “We have to remember if we get down we have to keep playing our game, do the little things and play our system.”
The Badgers (6-3-2) were badly outshot in the first, skating to a 14-3 deficit in shots.
The Wildcats continued where they left off early in the second when they began the period on a power play and almost made it 3-0. Off the opening faceoff, UNH found itself with a two-on-none that MacMillan turned away to keep it a 2-0 game. Wisconsin picked up its play following the kill and generated chances, but New Hampshire goalie Jen Huggon had an answer for each.
UW continued to press in the third stanza, making up for the first period with a 15-4 shot advantage, but the UNH defense held.
Wisconsin pulled MacMillan for an extra skater while on the power play late in the third period. Bucky had numerous scrambles in front, but could not find the net. UNH escaped the power-play situation and Wisconsin kept the puck deep in the New Hampshire zone for a good portion of the final minute. However, with seven seconds left, the Wildcats’ Kristen Thomas cleared the puck up the left boards to Carolyn Gordon, who skated across the Wisconsin blue line and hit the vacated net to seal a 3-0 victory.
“I’m proud of our team, but we need to be penalty conscious,” UNH graduate Bourget said. “We’ve got to stay out of the box. You know when you are playing a great team that its the little mistakes teams capitalize on and that is what happened to us tonight. It was a great game. We had a couple of opportunities there in the end, we just couldn’t find the home.”
MacMillan made 24 saves and fell to 6-3-1 with the loss. Huggon stopped all 27 shots on the night helping New Hampshire to its fourth consecutive shutout. The Wildcats have now gone 245 minutes, 10 seconds without allowing a goal against.
The Badgers complete their series with the Wildcats Sautrday night at the Whittemore Center. The game begins at 7 p.m. EST.
