I'm all set here in the Kohl Center for today's women's game between #2 Wisconsin and Minnesota State. There's probably about 50-100 people here in the arena about 45 minutes before game time. Wisconsin won yesterday's game by a score of 5-0.
1:27-Both teams are out on the ice for warm-ups. To be honest, I had seen the MSU women's road jerseys before. That's a whole lotta purple. For those who also haven't seen them, they're purple with a black stripe in the middle and the gold Minnesota State 'M' in the center and gold names/numbers.
Wisconsin has outscored their opponents 116-28 this season. In 6 non-conference games, they've only allowed one total goal.
1:42-More people are coming in. The crowd isn't looking so bad. I think there's easily going to be more people here than at the game in Omaha between UNO and MSU two weeks ago. Yesterday's crowd was only listed at 857, but was a weekday afternoon. The largest crowd MSU has played in front of this season was 1110 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. Today's game should easily top that.
Line Charts for today's game:
For Wisconsin:
Jinelle Zaugg-Sara Bauer-Meghan Duggan
Angie Keseley-Erika Lawler-Jasmine Giles
Heidi Kletzien-Kayla Hagen-Phoebe Monteleone
Tia Hanson-Emily Kranz-Kyla Sanders
Bobbi-Jo Slusar-Emily Morris
Mikka Nordby-Meaghan Mikkelson
Alycia Matthews-Rachel Bible
Christine Dufour
Jessie Vetter
Alannah McCready
For Minnesota State:
Kristina Bunker-Amanda Stohr-Jodi Helminen
Maggie Fisher-Ashley Young-Christina Lee
Kala Buganski-Shera Vis-Lindsay Macy
Jenna Hewitt-Brittany Mackley-Noelle Needham
Sammy Miller-Kathleen Rosso
Andreanne Thibault-Ida Clark
Richelle St. Croix-Megan Jedinak
Britni Kehler
Katerina Geertsen
Jen Gorny
For those not familiar, Wisconsin's Sara Bauer is the big gun for the Badgers. She won the Patty Kazmaier Award last year as college hockey's top player, and is second in the country in scoring this season. Jinelle Zaugg and Bobbi-Jo Slusar are two other big names for the Badgers. For Minnesota State, junior Lindsay Macy and sophomore Maggie Fisher are the top scorers. The Mavericks also have a strong goalie in Brit Kehler.
1:57-There's an extremely vocal group of about 10 young girls behind the MSU net who are showing a great deal of enthusiasm.
Both teams take the ice. I'd guess there's probably about a 1000 or so people in the stands. It's certainly not the same as the men's game, but for a women's hockey game, the crowd support is pretty good.
Minnesota State will start their third line and second defensive pairing. The Badgers will start their top defensive pairing and second line.
1st period
20:00- The puck drops and we're under way.
MSU controls the face off, but UW recovers and comes back the other way with a 3-on-1 that Brit Kehler stops.
UW wins a face-off and comes in on Kehler on a breakaway, but Kehler makes another great save.
18:05-Meaghan Duggan had Kehler down and out in front of hte net but put a backhand off the crossbar. That's three defensive breakdowns already for MSU.
Wisconsin scores. After cycling the puck around the MSU zone, a quick pass from Sara Bauer allows a streaking Meaghan Mikkelson to deflect the puck past Kehler. Goal scored by Meaghan Mikkelson with an assist from Sara Bauer. Time of hte goal, 3:48. 1-0 Badgers
MSU takes the games first penalty as Sammy Miller takes a Wisconsin player into the MSU net. She's called for interference.
14:57-Meaghan Mikkelson takes a shot from the point that is stopped, and UW can't get a handle on the rebound before it's covered.
A big shot from Bobbi Jo Slusar is deflected out of play.
Goal Wisconsin. Sara Bauer passed it from the point ot Meghan Duggan at the goalline and she stuffed it past Kehler for the PP goal. Meghan Duggan with the goal from Sara Bauer and Alicia Matthews. Time of the goal is 6:15. 2-0 Wisconsin
11:08-A nice move by Jodi Helminen in the neutral zone allows her to skate in and get the Mavericks first shot of the game. Dufour is able to hang onto the puck to get the whistle.
After a rough start, the Mavericks are getting some pressure in the Wisconsin zone with Maggie Fisher's line, but only get one shot out of it.
8:01-Sara Bauer circles the zone and fires a low shot that Kehler stops.
6:09-A rush by Kristina Bunker of MSU leads to a nice slap shot that Dufour holds on to.
Goal Wisconsin. An excellent shift from Wisconsin's third line leads to a shot and a rebound that deflects over Kehler and into the net. Goal scored by Heidi Kletzian with an assist to Kayla Hagen at 16:17 of the first. 3-0 Wisconsin.
Sammy Miller takes another interference penalty and the Badgers are on the powerplay.
Sara Bauer almost picks up her third assist of the period twice. Once feeding a defenseman at the point for a one-timer and then finding Jinelle Zaugg for a one-timer in the slot.
Minnesota State manages to survive the penalty.
33.2- Wisconsin fires another shot in on Kehler that she covers.
0:00-That will do it for the first period. Wisconsin is leading 3-0 after the first period. Brit Kehler made 14 saves on 17 shots while Christine Dufour stopped all five shots that she faced.
1st period stats:
First off, they've added an assist for Meghan Duggan on Meaghan Mikkelson's goal.
Wisconsin attempted 23 shots inthe first period, had two blocked, 3 that missed the net, and one that hit the pipe. They had 6 shots on the powerplay.
Minnesota State attempted 9 shots, had two blocked and two that missed the net.
Minnesota State actually holds a 10-9 advantage in face-offs.
2nd Period
20:00- We're underway in the second period.
19:22-The second period starts like the first. Wisconsin controls the puck, and MSU is forced to ice it.
19:03- Wisconsin's favorite offensive play seems to be having Bauer circle around from behind the net and hit a streaking defenseman for a shot. That was how they scored the first goal, and they tried it again, but Kehler made the stop.
15:40- MSU's Kristina Bunker takes a cross-checking penalty in the neutral zone.
14:42-After a strong forecheck by the Mavericks after icing it, Meaghan Mikkelson takes a high-sticking penalty to negate the UW powerplay.
14:21: The Mavericks turn the puck over at their own blueline, which allows Jinelle Zaugg to come in on a semi-breakaway, but Shera Vis dives to break up the play. Vis slid into the net hard, and had to be helped off the ice.
Wisconsin goal. Meaghan Duggan gets her second of the game as Erica Lawler makes a nice pass out of the corner. It looked like Duggan fanned on the shot a little, but that allowed to the puck to stay on the ice and sneak under Kehler. Duggan from Lawler at 6:01. 4-0 Wisconsin.
12:18-MSU gets a little pressure, but Maggie Fisher is called for a hand pass, bring the puck out of the zone.
12:12- Off the face-off, Jodi Helminen broke into the UW zone and had to be hooked by Kyla Sanders. MSU gets their first full powerplay of the game.
MSU almost deflected a pass from behind hte net off Meaghan Mikkelson's skate and into the net. Shera Vis had a shot from the point that just missed. Another shot by Amanda Stohr is stopped despite MSU getting a lot of traffic in front of the net.
Wisconsin kills off the powerplay.
Helminen had a shot from the high slot deflect just wide. And now Wisconsin will go back on the powerplay as Lindsay Macy takes an interference penalty on the way back up the ice.
9:09-Mikkelson makes a great rush up the ice and a great move past an MSU defender, but Kehler just hangs on to the shot.
MSU is able to kill off the penalty despite Wisconsin generating a few shots on goal.
3:44- Wisconsin gets a three-on-one rush, but can't score.
Goal Wisconsin. But Sara Bauer picks the puck back up and skates into the slot where she fires a high wrister over Kehler's glove. 5-0 Wisconsin.
Scoring on the goal was Sara Bauer unassisted at 16:27.
0:00-Second period is over and the score is 5-0 in favor of Wisconsin.
Between period entertainment is the UW women's synchronized skating team. I don't know, nobody fell down so I guess it was good.
Ooh, an upcoming basketball game is going to have the Frisbee-catching dogs as halftime entertainment. Frisbee-catching dogs is the pinnacle of intermission entertainment.
Second period stats:
Wisconsin attempted 23 shots that period, with one being blocked and four missing the net. They had 18 shots on net and scored on two of them.
MSU attempted 14 shots, but had six blocked, and three missed the net. They had 5 shots on goal for the period, and all were stopped.
Game totals are now 35 SOG for Wisco and 10 SOG for MSU.
The Mavericks continue to stay close in terms of face-offs, trailing only 22-23. Ashley Young is 7-2 on the afternoon.
While there is a disparity in shots on goal, there's an even bigger disparity on where those shots are coming from. MSU only attempted two shots from lower than the bottom of the circles, while Wisconsin attempted 10 from close-in.
3rd period
The third period starts with Erica Lawler coming in on a breakaway off the face-off. She deked to her backhand and beat Kehler, but the shot went off the crossbar.
Shera Vis is called for hooking, putting Wisconsin on the powerplay.
Goal Wisconsin. Bobbi-Jo Slusar intercepted a pass at the blueline, walked in, and fired a high shot that was tipped by Sara Bauer and beat Kehler. Bauer from Slusar at 1:55. 6-0 Wisconsin.
MSU generates some pressure in the UW zone, forcing Emily Kranz to tackle an MSU player. MSU is on the powerplay.
MSU controls the puck in Wisconsin's end for the whole powerplay, and generate a couple shots, but the Badgers kill the penalty.
Goal Wisconsin. Phoebe Monteleone made a nice move one-on-one with a defender and cut to the slot where she fired a high wrist shot past Kehler. Monteleone unassisted. Time of the goal: 6:15. 7-0 Wisconsin.
10:18- MSU takes another penalty behind the play and the Badgers will go back on the powerplay.
Wisconsin gives some powerplay time to the their fourth line, and they work the puck around, but can't score. MSU kills the penalty.
7:32- MSU gets one of their best chances of the game when Shera Vis pokes a puck past the UW defender at the blueline and gets a 2-on-1, but her shot sails over the net.
5:29- Sara Bauer almost scores her 80th goal of the game when she cuts into the slot on a rush, but he shot is tipped out of play by the MSU defenseman.
Granted, I don't think Wisconsin is pushing the pedal to the floor right now with a 7 goal lead, but the Mavericks certainly have not quit. They're generating some nice opportunities, but haven't been able to get anything past Dufour.
Goal Wisconsin. Jinelle Zaugg uses her size to shield an MSU defender in the slot and fires the puck past Kehler. Zaugg scores at 19:02 8-0 Wisconsin.
The goal is under review. I guess the refs don't have anywhere to be later today. And it stands. 8-0 Wisconsin. Give Sara Bauer another assist, and an assist for Meghan Duggan.
0:00-And the game is over. Wisconsin wins convincingly by a score of 8-0.
