Warroad’s Karley Sylvester scores as Badgers capture first WCHA title since 2011

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Wisconsin women’s hockey team played spoiler to Bemidji State’s upset bid on Sunday afternoon as it defeated the Beavers, 4-0, to win the 2015 WCHA Final Face-Off championship.

Led by another big offensive performance from Sarah Nurse, the Badgers scored a goal in every period of play this weekend en route to winning the WCHA championship.

“Overall, it was six good periods of hockey against two strong opponents who had great seasons and we’re happy to take the trophy back to Madison,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said.

Under first-year head coach Jim Scanlan, the Beavers were playing in their first-ever postseason championship game, but came up just short of capping off their run with a title.

“To play in a championship game is something that I’m sure in Vegas, the odds were pretty astronomical [for us],” Scanlan said. “We’re extremely proud of what we’ve done this year.”

After the Badgers scored in the first period yesterday against UND, Nurse opened up an early lead once again for her team, about seven minutes into the game. Bemidji State earned a power-play chance immediately after, but the Wisconsin defense held them off to stay ahead.

Nurse then doubled the lead for the Badgers with 7:20 remaining in the first. She capitalized on some extended pressure for her team, scoring her fourth goal in the last two periods of play.

“Our whole team’s playing well,” Nurse said when asked about her offensive spark this weekend. “We have a ton of energy. We’re really excited to be on the ice every single shift and I think just feeding off the energy from the team, it’s really helping all of our games.”

Getting on the board so quickly once again seemed to give the Badgers a boost.

“We built off what we did yesterday,” Johnson said. “We beat a strong North Dakota team in their building and you want to come out with the same energy and start the game the way we finished it off last night, and we were able to do that again.”

Despite being down by a couple of goals early on in the game, Scanlan said that his team’s mindset never changed.

“We talked about the next one being a big one,” he said. “We tried to continue to do the things that were going to allow us to be successful, to get pucks to the net. I know (junior forward) Steph Anderson had a great opportunity in the slot and one of their players got in front of it to block it.”

After outshooting the Beavers 12-4 in the first period, Wisconsin continued to bring the pressure in the second, and BSU goaltender Brittni Mowat came up with several key saves. But having that early lead to work with ended up making a big difference for the Badgers.

“We came out strong; they came out stronger,” BSU captain Kristine Grenier said. “It’s just the way it came today. If we played them again I’m sure we’d give them a different game. They came out strong and that’s just the way it went.”

Karley Sylvester, a native of Warroad, Minn., broke through for Wisconsin again with 2.4 seconds left in the frame, making it a 3-0 game heading into the third period. Sylvester jabbed at the puck in a scrum in front of the net and finally knocked it in past Mowat.

“All my linemates and the defense were working hard to get the puck to the net and luckily I got my stick on it and it went through the goalie’s legs,” Sylvester said. “As the team that gets the goal, it’s huge. You get to come in the locker room with a lot of energy and you kind of have to settle everyone down after that and say, ‘Hey, there’s still another period to go,’ but that was a big goal.”

Wisconsin scored again just four minutes into the final period to silence the Beavers’ hopes of building a comeback. Nurse worked a 2-on-1 with Katarina Zgraja, and the puck deflected off of Mowat’s skate and in.

In all, Nurse scored four goals and six points this weekend and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for her efforts.

“It’s nice that she gets rewarded,” Johnson said of Nurse’s play this weekend. “It was probably a month ago, she was getting the same type of opportunities and for whatever reason the puck wasn’t going in. She kept pushing herself and creating opportunities, and this weekend played very well and was a big factor in why we won the tournament.”

Coming into the season, Scanlan said that he didn’t really set many expectations for his new club in his first year at the helm.

“It was all new to me,” he said. “I just hoped that we could put a team on the ice that people in the Bemidji State community would want to come and watch. From that standpoint I certainly thought we far exceeded expectations.”

The Beavers will end the 2014-15 season just one game short of the national tournament with a program-best record of 21-17-1.

“You can’t measure your success on the last game,” Scanlan said. “I view this as a very, very successful year in a lot of different ways. Certainly the growth of our team and the fact that we were able to play in this game. From that standpoint it was a very, very successful year, no question.”

The Badgers, who have not played for a championship since 2012, captured their first WCHA title since 2011 in the victory. The win meant a lot to the team’s seniors, as they got the chance to play in the Final Face-Off championship game for the first time in their careers.

“To come out yesterday and beat a hard-working North Dakota team, that was big for us,” Sylvester said. “That carried over into today’s game and all the energy we had like Sarah was saying, it’s easy to feed off that on the bench and onto the ice, and everyone came to play today. It’s amazing that we can take this trophy back home with us.”

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Nurse’s two goals lead Wisconsin past North Dakota in WCHA semifinals

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A balanced attack through three periods of play led the No. 3 Wisconsin women’s hockey team to a 4-1 win over No. 8 North Dakota in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Face-Off.

Sophomore forward Sarah Nurse led the Badgers with two goals on the night as they scored three unanswered to open up a 3-0 lead and move on to the championship game.

“I thought for 60 minutes we battled hard and we did a lot of good things,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson. “The players got rewarded for their efforts, so we’re pleased to move on to tomorrow afternoon’s game and look forward to the competition against Bemidji.”

With the win, Wisconsin improves to 27-6-4 on the season. The loss all but ends North Dakota’s season, as it does not have a high enough PairWise ranking to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.

“I thought we came out with a lot of heart,” UND senior captain Andrea Dalen said. “We didn’t get the bounces we wanted but I thought we fought and kept going the whole game and I’m proud of the team for that.”

Defenseman Melissa Channell opened up the scoring for the Badgers over halfway through the first period, with a big one-timer that beat UND goaltender Shelby Amsley-Benzie up high.

“Those are the things you’re looking for in these types of games,” Johnson said. “When you get an opportunity, somebody steps up and makes a big play. Certainly her shot was earmarked for the top corner and for us, coming in here and getting the first goal was a big confidence builder.”

Sydney McKibbon doubled Wisconsin’s lead about four minutes into the second period, and the Badgers headed into the intermission with a sizeable advantage.

Midway through the third period, Nurse put Wisconsin up 3-0 with a power-play goal, marking the first time in seven games that Amsley-Benzie has given up more than two.

North Dakota got one back when Tori Williams scored an extra-attacker goal with 4:23 left on the clock. The Badgers quickly halted any momentum that may have been building for UND, however, as Nurse scored her second of the night into an empty net just over a minute later.

“They’re obviously playing for their season and so I think once they got that goal, we needed to come out and have a comeback for them and we responded well,” Nurse said.

Even with the late pressure from UND, Wisconsin goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stood tall in net, and the Badgers took care of the little things to stay in control of the game.

“I think my team did a great job just icing the puck, just making sure they got it out of the zone,” Desbiens said. “I think overall it was a great team effort at the end to make sure they didn’t score any other goals.”

North Dakota was clearly frustrated by Wisconsin for most of the night even though it held a 27-26 edge in shots. Playing from behind after the first 12 minutes proved to be costly.

“If you look back on all of the games with Wisconsin, when they play with a lead, for big chunks of it, it’s tough sledding when you’re coming from behind,” UND coach Brian Idalski said. “They’re a really good team defensively; they have good goaltending. So we wanted to play with a lead and we weren’t able to do that.”

Desbiens finished the night with 26 saves for the Badgers, while Amsley-Benzie, a Warroad, Minn., native, made 22 stops for North Dakota.

Despite the result on Saturday, UND saw some big improvements over the course of the year, and ends the season at 22-12-3 after being 4-6-2 at one point in late November.

“It is by far the most growth of a group start to finish that I’ve ever been a part of, as a coach and maybe as a player,” Idalski said.” I have a lot of respect for our leaders, our captains, and our seniors.”

North Dakota also experienced more than its fair share of adversity this season, and Idalski is proud of the way his team came together in spite of it.

“Success isn’t dictated by what your record is,” he said. “These kids, dealing with adversity and with a teammate being injured, with a teammate losing her father, those are traumatic things for anybody. For them to turn around and play a hockey game on top of that, they’re solid kids and those experiences are going to serve them very well as adults well beyond their time here, and really bonded them this year. So when you start to talk about success, that’s a success.”

With the victory on Saturday night, Wisconsin advances to the WCHA championship game for the first time since 2011, and will have its first opportunity since then to take home some postseason hardware.

“The team’s excited to play in a championship game,” Johnson said. “I know for our seniors, it’s been a few years, and so it’s an opportunity for them to play for a trophy tomorrow afternoon. They need to be excited about that. It doesn’t happen very often in our sport and when you get a chance, you want to make the most of those opportunities.”

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Bemidji State upsets Minnesota to advance to WCHA Championship

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Behind a late goal from alternate captain Stephanie Anderson, Bemidji State upset No. 2 Minnesota, 1-0, to advance to the WCHA Final Face-Off championship game.

Anderson, who transferred from the Gophers after her freshman season, found the back of the net after 51 minutes of scoreless hockey to help the Beavers (21-16-1) move on to the title game for the first time in program history.

“I’m just really, really excited and proud of this team,” Bemidji State coach Jim Scanlan said. “I told them going into the third period that we were 20 minutes away from doing something this program has never ever done, which is play for a championship. To be in this position is truly remarkable and I’m just really, really proud of these girls.”

The Beavers have already set program records in conference (13) and overall (21) wins this season. Now they will play for their first postseason championship under their first-year head coach.

“Right away, this team just came together as a group and has great leadership,” Scanlan said. “I just give them all the credit just because everyone’s come every day to work and they work hard and they have good attitudes and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Despite the loss, the Gophers threw 37 shots at Brittni Mowat, but she stopped each one to seal the win for her team. The Beavers’ defense also chipped in with 18 blocked shots in front of her.

“I didn’t think we played a poor game by any stretch of the imagination,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said. “We had some great chances. When you don’t score, obviously it makes it pretty difficult to win a hockey game. Credit them for blocking shots and some great saves and doing what’snecessary to win a hockey game and advance here in the playoffs.”

After a scoreless first period, Minnesota came out in the middle frame and put up 17 shots on goal, but Mowat turned them all away. The Gophers then went on the power play towards the end of the second period, but still couldn’t get one to go.

“It’s been the same Bemidji hockey for four years since I’ve been here,” Minnesota senior captain Rachel Ramsey said. “Dump and chase, very aggressive, block a lot of shots. They play desperate whether it’s right now or it’s in September. Like I said, you have to give credit to them for how well they played.”

Bemidji State goaltender Brittni Mowat was stellar with 37 saves in BSU’s 1-0 win over the Gophers but deflected credit to her defense for their strong play in front of her. (MHM Photo / Brent Cizek)

Minnesota headed into the third period outshooting Bemidji State by a margin of 27-11. The Beavers stuck to their ways in the final frame, however, clogging things up in the neutral zone and limiting Minnesota’s quality chances.

“I thought our defense played great in front,” Mowat said. “The forwards backchecked hard, and we didn’t give the Gophers too many opportunities, and what they did have, I kind of turned aside and I think a lot of the credit can go to my D.”

Anderson finally broke the stalemate with 8:14 to play in the third period. She carried the puck up into the zone, alone against three Gophers. Anderson made a move to the net and got hauled down, and the puck deflected off of her and into the back of the net.

“I had some space going up towards the end of a shift so I was a little tired,” Anderson said. “They caught up to me and kind of gave my stick a slash and I went down to my right and just the way I was spinning, it hit my shin pad and it went in five-hole. So it was just a lucky bounce and we’ll take it.”

The officials initially reviewed the goal, but the call on the ice stood.

“There was no kicking motion whatsoever by the Bemidij player on the ice,” WCHA head of officials Greg Shephard said after the game. “It was a good goal, that’s what they saw, and that’s how it stands.”

Minnesota had another power-play chance late in the period, but couldn’t pull the trigger on Mowat to tie it up.

The Gophers, now 31-3-4 on the season, will not play for the WCHA championship for the first time since 2008. It was their second loss of the season to Bemidji State, after falling to the Beavers 1-0, back on Nov. 1.

“Obviously that weekend at Minnesota, that was a real turning point for them because they saw, you know what, we can do this, we can compete against these teams,” Scanlan said.

It was just the third loss of the season for Minnesota, who will now await its draw for next weekend’s NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game.

“Just overall, it’s a good lesson for our kids,” Frost said of the loss. “I told them, ‘let it hurt’. This is supposed to hurt. And we’ve got a lifeline next week, knowing that we’re playing, but we’re running out of time to not win hockey games.”

Bemidji State will face Wisconsin in Sunday’s championship game at 1 p.m. CST.

“I’m just happy for the team,” Anderson said. “We’re playing so good this year and we deserve the championship game tomorrow. We played really well today and all year and I’m just happy with how our team played.”

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With the quarterfinal round now complete, the WCHA’s top teams will meet in Grand Forks, N.D. this weekend for the 2015 WCHA Final Face-Off. Saturday’s semifinal games will see top-seeded Minnesota play fifth-seed Bemidji State, and second-seed Wisconsin take on host and third-seed North Dakota. All four are here for a reason and will aim to build on their successes this season and capture the championship on Sunday.

Here’s a closer look at each of the four teams and why they might win it:

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