(UW ATHLETICS) MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team rallied from a three-goal deficit to defeat No. 3 Minnesota, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena.
Laila Edwards, Lacey Eden, Hannah Halverson and Casey O’Brien all scored for the Badgers (8-0-0, 4-0-0 WCHA) in the final 30 minutes to complete the sweep of the Golden Gophers (4-3-1, 0-3-1 WCHA).
The Badgers battled for the game-opening goal in the first period but both teams went into the first intermission scoreless.
Minnesota rallied three goals together to open the second period. Wisconsin slowly chipped away at the deficit. Harvey scored on a slap shot from the point on the power play to draw the Badgers to withing 3-1 at the second intermission.
Minnesota’s Abbey Murphy received a penalty with 0.4 seconds remaining in the second period and UW capitalized on the opportunity to start the third. Harvey took a shot from the point that Eden tipped in front of the net, bouncing into the back of the Minnesota net to reduce the Badgers’ deficit to one.
Halverson equalized the game with 4:42 remaining in the period. Harvey worked behind the net and dished the puck out in front of the net and Halverson smashed the puck into the top corner to even the game at 3-3.
O’Brien capped off the comeback with her seventh goal of the season and her 21st career game-winning effort to give UW a 4-3 triumph and help complete the sweep of the Golden Gophers.
Ava McNaughton made 26 stops to improve to 8-0-0 on the season.
Notes of the Game
- The Badger power play went 2-of-3 on the afternoon.
- This marked UW’s fifth-ever sweep of Minnesota at Ridder Arena and its first since Oct. 28-29, 2017.
- The Badgers have won six straight against the Golden Gophers, the program’s longest winning streak against its Border-Battle rivals.
- O’Brien moved into a tie for fifth-place in school history in career game-winning goals with 21, matching Brooke Ammerman’s career total.
- With her four assists tonight, Harvey moved into sixth place in school history in defender scoring with 91 points.
Straight from the Rink
UW Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the shifting momentum in the game:
“It was a good test. At the beginning of the second period in the first two minutes we got ourselves down 2-0 and we make a poor decision on a pinch and it’s 3-0. The biggest thing is can you get the next one and try to get the momentum? We were able to get a power play to make it 3-1 and then they called a penalty with less than a second to go in the second. So now we start the third and then can you capitalize and make it 3-2. We did that and then the game became interesting. So you never know what’s going to happen in our game, that’s why you keep playing.”
On Casey O’Brien:
“When you get down like that, you’re facing adversity, you lean on your leadership and can they do something and can they make a play to create some energy, and she’s been able to do that quite often.”
Co-captain Casey O’Brien
On the comeback:
“We knew if we came out in the third giving it our all we were going to be just fine. We just had some discussions, everyone took a look in the mirror and decided they could do a little bit more and that’s what we did.”
On back-to-back tough opponents:
“We know every weekend, no matter what team it is, how they’re ranked, they’re going to give us their best so going against some of the best teams in the country and coming out on top was definitely a confidence boost and coming from behind today showed us we can come back from anything.
Co-captain Caroline Harvey
On the strong start to the season:
“We have a lot of confidence right now, but we want to maintain being neutral. It’s a good building block for us and we’re excited for the next weekend ahead.
On looking ahead:
“We still have some things we want to clean up and continue to work at. I’m excited for our group and what we already have accomplished. It’s crazy to say we’re already a quarter of the way through. So it’s going quick, but I’m happy with our group’s performance right now.”
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