Women’s hockey comes back from bye week to take on No. 1 Badgers

After a much-needed week off, the Maverick women’s hockey team now finds itself a few days away from hosting the top team in the nation. 

The Wisconsin Badgers might as well be the undisputed number one across all of women’s college hockey, as not only are they the reigning national champions but also bring a 10-0 record into the contest. 

The Badgers hold every single first place vote in the USCHO Division I women’s poll thanks to sweeps against No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Minnesota Duluth earlier this season. Wisconsin has been dominant for several seasons now and should bring the same intensty to the ice again this weekend in hopes of collecting another sweep against the Mavs.

It would be an unfortunate string of four games if Minnesota State were to lose the series in the form of a sweep against Wisconsin, where they previously lost to Minnesota twice a couple of weekends before. Two losses would bring the Mavericks down to 5-5 overall on the season, spoiling their once best start since 2003 after starting the season 5-1. 

History has not been kind to the Mavs against the Badgers, who have only won three games against Wisconsin since 1999. Their most recent win, however, came only one year ago where they defeated the Badgers 3-1 on home ice.

Despite the recent win it is not pretty anywhere else, where the Mavs have lost 91 of the 97 total meetings between the teams. In the six games Minnesota State has not lost, three have been wins and the other three ties. 

The odds may be highly against the Mavericks, but they definitely have proven they can win against some of the top programs in recent years. 

In other recent news, the Minnesota State women’s hockey program recently sent senior defensemen Anna Wilgren to Hartford, CT where she made her U.S. Women’s National Team debut Monday. The team faced Canada at the XL Center in preparation for the Olympic Winter Games. Wilgren currently leads active defenseman in women’s college hockey in career scoring in 88 games over three seasons with the Mavs. 

Wilgren currently sits third on Minnesota State’s all-time defensive scoring list after passing Anna Keys last season, who ended her collegiate career at 39. Wilgren now sits nine points behind the Mavs defensive points leader, Emilia Andersson, for the most points by a defensemen in program history.

Wilgren becomes the second women’s hockey player to join the national team as a member of Team USA only after Nina Tikkinen.