Feb. 19, 2006

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MADISON, Wisc. - As the teams head into the final weekend of play during the regular season, only two playoff spots have been secured. No. 2 Wisconsin (27-4-1/22-3-1) earned the No. 1 seed after clinching the regular season title last weekend. The Badgers will face No. 8 North Dakota (7-23-2/3-21-2) in the first round of the playoffs. Minnesota Duluth (19-7-2/17-7-2) is currently in second place with 36 points while Minnesota (22-9-1/17-8-1) is just one point behind in third place with 35. St. Cloud State (15-16-1/12-13-1) heads into the last weekend of play in fourth place with 25 points, followed by Ohio State (13-14-5/10-13-3) in fifth place with 23 points. Bemidji State (10-20-2/9-17-0) and Minnesota State (11-18-3/8-16-2) are tied for sixth with 18 points each.

Wisconsin swept Minnesota State in its final home series of the regular season. Friday, the Badgers posted a 3-2 win while Saturday, the Badgers recorded their seventh shutout of the season with a 5-0 win. Minnesota also earned a sweep on the weekend, winning both games of a home-and-home series with St. Cloud State. Friday in St. Cloud, Minnesota held off the Huskies, 3-2. Saturday at home, Minnesota completed the sweep with a 4-2 victory. Ohio State was the third team to record a sweep on the weekend, taking two games at North Dakota. Saturday, the Buckeyes' won in overtime by a 4-3 score and then completed the sweep with a 2-0 victory on Sunday. Minnesota Duluth and Bemidji State were idle.

The final weekend of the regular season features St. Cloud State at Bemidji State, Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota State, North Dakota at Minnesota and Wisconsin at Ohio State. The tournament will open the weekend of March 3-5 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if necessary) with a first round, best-of-three series format at campus sites. The No. 1 seeded team will host the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed will host the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed will host the No. 6 seed, and the No. 4 seed will host the No. 5 seed. The four first-round winners will then advance to the 2006 WCHA Playoff Championship at Ridder Arena on Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12. On Saturday, there will be two semi-finals at 1:07 p.m. and 4:07 p.m., with the championship game set for Sunday at 1:07 p.m.

COMING UP IN THE WCHA

Games for Friday, February 24:
St. Cloud State at Bemidji State, 7:07 p.m.*
Wisconsin at Ohio State, 7:07 p.m.*

Games for Saturday, February 25:
St. Cloud State at Bemidji State, 2:07 p.m.*
Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota State, 2:07 p.m.*
North Dakota at Minnesota, 3:07 p.m.*
Wisconsin at Ohio State, 4:07 p.m.*

Games for Sunday, February 26:
Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota State, 2:07 p.m.*
North Dakota at Minnesota, 3:07 p.m.*

* WCHA contest

LAST WEEK IN THE WCHA

Results from Friday, February 17:
Minnesota 3 at St. Cloud State 2*
Minnesota State 2 at Wisconsin 3*

Results from Saturday, February 18:
Ohio State 4 at North Dakota 3 OT*
St. Cloud State 2 at Minnesota 4*
Minnesota State 0 at Wisconsin 5*

Results from Sunday, February 19:
Ohio State 2 at North Dakota 0*

* WCHA contest

USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll
February 13 (first-place votes in parentheses)

Rank	Team	Last Ranking	Record
1.	New Hampshire, 148 (13)	1	25- 2-1
2.	St. Lawrence, 129	3	24- 3-2
3.	Wisconsin, 128 (2)	2	25- 4-1
4.	Minnesota, 104	5	20- 9-1
5.	Princeton, 80	6	15- 6-4
6.	Minnesota Duluth, 79	4	19- 7-2
7.	Mercyhurst, 64	7	18- 7-5
8.	Clarkson, 27	9	20- 9-1
9.	St. Cloud State, 26		10	15-14-1
10.	Harvard, 23	8	12- 8-4

Others Receiving Votes: Providence 16, Maine 1

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll
February 14 (first-place votes in parentheses)

Rank	Team	Last Ranking	Record
1.	New Hampshire, 189 (18)	1	25-2-1
2.	Wisconsin, 162 (1)	2	25-4-1
3.	St Lawrence, 161	3	24-3-2
4.	Minnesota, 133	5	20-9-1
5.	Minnesota Duluth, 107	4	19-7-2
6.	Princeton, 101	6	15-6-4
7.	Mercyhurst, 77	7	18-7-5
8.	Clarkson, 46	8	20-9-1
9.	Harvard, 28	9	12-8-4
	Providence, 28	10	16-10-4

Others receiving votes: St. Cloud State 11, Boston College 1, Maine 1.

BEMIDJI STATE BEAVERS
Bemidji State was idle this past weekend. The Beavers will be in action next weekend as they prepare to host the St. Cloud State Huskies at the John Glas Fieldhouse on Feb. 24-25. The first game of the weekend series will start at 7:07 pm on Friday evening, while Saturday's game is slated to start at 2:07 pm.

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS
No. 4 Minnesota earned a sweep over WCHA opponent St. Cloud State last weekend in a home-and-home series. The Gophers earned a 3-2 win Friday evening in St. Cloud, Minn. and a 4-2 win Saturday night at home in Ridder Arena. In Friday's contest, the two teams went scoreless for the first period of play. In the second period, St. Cloud State scored two goals to Minnesotas one as they entered the third period...Minnesota tied the game at 2:36 of the third period when Dagney Willey scored her first goal and point as a Golden Gopher. Erica McKenzie followed by scoring the game-winning goal at 10:43 in the third. With the goal, it was McKenzie's seventh gamewinner of the season, a nation best. McKenzie and Gigi Marvin each scored a goal and two assists in the win. In the second game, SCSU jumped out of the gates and scored a goal just :12 into the game. Minnesota, however, responded with a goal of its own when McKenzie scored at 5:34 of the first. Like the first period, SCSU took the lead when scoring at :39 into the second stanza on a power-play goal. Minnesota tied the game for the second time with a goal by McKenzie at 6:14. The two teams went scoreless for the remainder of the second period and a majority of the third. At 17:38 of the third, Allie Sanchez scored a power-play and the eventual gamewinner. It was her third goal of the season and the second on the power play. The game-winning tally was her fourth of her career. McKenzie added the late insurance goal at 19:07 and scored the hat trick. She finished the game with four points. It was McKenzie's third hat trick this season and second against St. Cloud State. On the weekend, McKenzie had seven points, while Marvin had four, Anya Miller had three assists, while Willey and Bobbi Ross each had a point. Kim Hanlon played in both games against the Huskies. She won both games and improved her record to 10-2-0 on the season. With Willey's goal, every Golden Gopher has tallied a point this season. The Gophers will compete in their final series of the regular season next weekend against North Dakota, Feb. 25-26. Both games will be played at 3:07 p.m. in Ridder Arena. The Gophers will honor their seniors on the 26th.

MINNESOTA DULUTH BULLDOGS
The No. 5 Bulldogs were off this weekend, but still had two skaters participating in hockey games as freshman Mari Pehkonen and Michaela Lanzl were in Torino, Italy at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Pehkonen, who plays for Team Finland, has a chance to win a Bronze medal when Team Finland takes on Team USA (Jenny Potter) on Monday. UMD had 11 former, current, or future players representing seven of the eight nations in the games. Former Bulldogs Caroline Ouellette, Maria Rooth, and Erika Holst will be battling for the Gold medal as Team Canada (Ouellette) and Team Sweden face off at 1:30 p.m. EST. Rooth scored two goals during regulation and then added the clinching goal during the shootout to give Sweden an historic victory over Team USA. This will be the first time that any country besides Canada and the United States will be in a Gold medal match up during international competition. UMD is guaranteed to have four medals won of the eight players still in the medal round, but may have as many as seven depending on who wins the Bronze medal. Team Germany (Lanzl) took seventh place in the tournament, Team Switzerland (Patricia Sautter-Elsmore) finished sixth and Team Russia (Kristina Petrovskaia) finished fifth...Up next for UMD is the final regular season series of the 2005-06 season against Minnesota State. The all-time series currently stands at 24-2-1 in favor of the Bulldogs. In their last meeting at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, UMD sent the Mavericks home with 1-4 and 1-5 losses. Junior F Allison Lehrke had one of her best weekends of the 2005-06 campaign as she netted four points, including her first career short-handed goal in the 5-1 win on Dec. 3. Junior D Ashley Waggoner recorded her first goal in a Bulldogs uniform the same day. It was a record breaking weekend for UMD goaltender Riitta Schaublin as she set the Bulldog record for career wins (45) on Dec. 3. Freshman F Melissa Roy earned her first career point on Dec. 2 with an assist.

MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS
The Mavericks remain deadlocked with Bemidji State in sixth place after failing to secure any WCHA points in their weekend series with conference-champion Wisconsin. The Badgers edged Minnesota State 3-2 on Friday before completing the sweep with a 5-0 win the next evening. With the WCHA setbacks, the Mavericks are now 11-18-3 overall and 8-16-2 in circuit action...The Badgers tallied goals in each of the first two periods Friday but the Mavericks made a game of it early in the second. Defenseman Jen Jonsson returned to the ice from the penalty box just in time to take a pass and streak to the net unobstructed for her second goal of the season and just fourth of her career. Freshman Felicia Nelson knotted the score about eight minutes later with her 10th of the season. The game looked destined for overtime until UW buried the game-winner with just 30 seconds remaining. Junior Laura Brennan kept the Mavericks alive despite a 35-11 disparity on the shot chart...The Badgers flexed their offensive muscle the following evening, scoring two goals in both the second and third periods to stay unbeaten against MSU. Sophomore goaltender Brit Kehler got the nod, stopping 28 of 33 shots faced. Since the 1999-00 season, the Mavericks are 0-27-1 against Wisconsin...By playing in her 134th career game, senior defenseman Amber Sharratt moved into third place on the MSU all-time charts in that category. She is just two shy of matching the record established by Kristina Koga just last season...Freshmen Maggie Fisher and Felicia Nelson each put up a point on the weekend to retain top-10 spots in scoring among the league rookies. Fisher ranks fifth with 15-7--22 totals while Nelson is in a tie for ninth with 10-4--14 numbers...Now with 676 saves, sophomore Brit Kehler ranks fifth in season saves on the MSU charts. After just two seasons of play, she is only 61 saves away from sliding into third place in the career category. That spot is currently occupied by Jenny Padgett, who turned aside an even 1,100 shots from 1998 to 2000...Minnesota State will try to break the tie with BSU next weekend. The Mavericks wrap up the regular season with a home series against Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday. Game times are slated for 7:07 p.m. and 3:07 p.m., respectively, at All Seasons Arena. The games will also mark the final home action for seniors Jen Jonsson, Amber Sharratt and Lindsay McCulloch.

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING SIOUX
The Fighting Sioux played well enough to earn a series split against visiting Ohio State but the Sioux fell to the Buckeyes Saturday 4-3 in overtime and Sunday 2-0...The Sioux fell to 7-23-2 overall and went to 3-21-2 in WCHA play...Saturdays game saw the and Buckeyes trading of goals three time before the Buckeyes tallied the overtime winner with 42 seconds remaining...Goal scorers for the Sioux were Cara Wooster, Devon Fingland, Alexia Gagnon Laplante... Anne Girtz added three assists in the game...Amber Hasbargen made 23 saves on 27 shots in the loss...Sunday's game featured a pre- and postgame recognition of the Fighting Sioux seniors, who were playing in their last game at Ralph Engelstad Arena...The players recognized were: Liz Funk, Anne Girtz , Devon Fingland, Meghan Hopps, Jessica Kovacevich , Amber Hasbargen Aynesley Allen, and Meghan Mutrie...The Buckeyes spoiled the seniors last ever game at the Ralph Engelstad Arena as Erika Vanderveer posted a shut out stopping all 34 UND shots...Erin Keys and Crystal Sayther were the goal scorers for OSU...Amber Hasbargen made 31 saves in the loss for the Fighting Sioux...UND will travel to Minneapolis next weekend to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in their last regular season games of the year...Game times are set for Saturday Feb. 25 and Sunday Feb. 26 at 3:07 p.m.

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
Ohio State swept a road series at North Dakota Feb. 18-19, winning 4-3 in overtime Saturday and 2-0 Sunday. The sweep gave the Buckeyes a 3-0-1 record against the Sioux this season and snapped a four-game winless streak. It was the first sweep for OSU since Jan. 6-7 at Minnesota State...Junior goaltender Erika Vanderveer stopped all 34 shots faced Sunday for her third shutout this season and sixth of her career. All three of her shutouts this year have been on the road (at Northeastern, Oct. 14; at Minnesota State, Jan. 6). Five of her six career shutouts have been away from OSU Ice Rink. Vanderveer had 35 saves Saturday and 34 saves Sunday to total seven times this season she has made 30 or more saves in a game. She stopped 69 of 72 shots faced in the series...Saturday's overtime win was the sixth game out of the last 11 for the Buckeyes that has gone into overtime. OSU has played nine OT games overall this season with a 3-1-5 record in those contests...Several Buckeyes tallied multiple points in the series, led by senior co-captain Jana Harrigan's three-point game Saturday. She had a goal and two assists. Junior co-captain Amber Bowman and freshman Hayley Klassen each had a goal and as assist Saturday and an assist Sunday. Sophomore Erin Keys had a helper in game one and scored the first goal Sunday...Bowman scored the game-winning 4-on-4 goal Saturday with just 42 seconds remaining in overtime. It was her 11th goal this season. She has scored a career-high 26 points this season to rank second on the team...Keys became the third Buckeye to score double-digit goals this year with her 10th goal of the season Sunday. She is on a four-game point streak and has jumped into a tie for third in points with 16 this season...Vanderveer picked up her first point of the season when she was awarded the second assist on the first goal Sunday...Vanderveer has had a solid second half of the season. In 10 starts, she has made 274 saves with 19 goals-allowed for a 1.84 GAA and .935 save percentage. Two of her three shutouts have come in 2006...Harrigan now has 44 points this season to tie for third-most in a single season at OSU. Last season she set the record with 54 points. Her 21 goals rank fourth all-time in a single season and her 23 assists also rank fourth...The Buckeyes conclude their 2005-06 regular season schedule when they welcome the Wisconsin Badgers to OSU Ice Rink Feb. 24-25. Games begin at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 4:07 p.m. Saturday.

ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES
After winning seven of its last eight games heading into the Minnesota home-and home series, No. 9 St. Cloud State suffered a two-game series sweep to No. 4 Minnesota Gophers on Feb. 17-18. UM now leads the overall series 29-1-0, as SCSU notched its lone win in school history on Feb. 10, 2001...SCSU scored four goals against UM, which is more than the last eight games combined against the Gophers. Senior forward Kristy Oonincx led the Huskies on the weekend with three assists. Senior forward Ashley Stewart added a goal, as her career point total stands at 93. Junior assistant Denelle Maguet tallied two goals in the series as junior forward Hailey Clarkson capped off the weekend with one goal and one assist...Lauri St. Jacques, who is SCSU's junior goaltender and assistant captain, completed the weekend with 65 saves in 119:21 minutes of play. St. Jacques' season record falls to 9-11-1, after winning seven of her last eight games...St. Cloud State honored its five seniors on Friday, Feb. 17, in the National Hockey Center, before the drop of the puck. Those seniors include: team captain Randie Jelinski, Kristy Oonincx, Rachel Solgon and Kelly and Ashley Stewart. In her tenure here at SCSU, Jelinski has been named a three-time WCHA All-Academic pick, has played in 133 career games and has accumulated 30 career points (6g, 24a). Oonincx, who transferred to SCSU in 2003, has played in 65 games as a Husky, and has notched 64 points (29g, 35a). In her career, Oonincx has amassed 126 total points. Solgon has been a four-year role player for the Huskies, and tallied her first career goal/point against Minnesota-Duluth on Oct. 14, 2005. She has played in 92 career games and has three total points (1g, 2a). The Stewart sisters have etched themselves into the record books after four years on the ice. Kelly has played in 133 career games and has tallied three game-winning goals and 42 total points (17g, 25a). Named to the WCHA-All Rookie team after her freshman year in 2002-03, Kelly followed that up with being chosen as a WCHA All-Star this past fall. Ashley is just seven points away from hitting the prestigious 100-Point Club at SCSU. Former Husky Roxy Stang (2000-04) is the lone Husky to accomplish this feat. After playing in 123 career games, Ashley has score 43 goals, along with 50 assists and has nine game-winning goals...On Friday night, SCSU suffered a 3-2 heart-break loss to Minnesota. St. Cloud State took a 2-1 lead late in the second period, however gave up two unanswered goals to the Gophers to have a three-game winning streak snapped. Husky junior forward Hailey Clarkson tied the game at 1-1 at the 14:51 mark of the second period. Senior Kristy Oonincx and sophomore Stacy Dey tallied assists on the goal. SCSU's Denelle Maguet scored the go-ahead goal for the Huskies at the 19:33 mark of the second period, as she was assisted by Oonincx and senior team captain Randie Jelinski. Minnesota fought back in the third period with goals from Dagney Willey and Erica McKenzie, and went on to win 3-2 in the National Hockey Center. SCSU's goaltender Lauri St. Jacques tallied 25 saves on the night as the Huskies were out-shot 28-9 on the night. UM's goaltender Kim Hanlon collected seven saves in the contest...The following day, SCSU came out with a little more spunk in their skates. Wearing new road jerseys, SCSU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal from Denelle Maguet just 12 secons into the game. This marked Maguet's 14th goal of the season as Oonincx tallied her 26th assist of the year. UM tied the game at the 5:34 mark of the first period with a goal from sophomore Erica McKenzie. At the first intermission, with the score tied at 1-1, UM was leading the shots on goal category 13-7. In the second period, SCSU's Ashley Stewart lifted the Huskies to a quick 2-1 lead with a goal just 39 seconds into the period. Stewart was assisted by sophomore defender Brittni Kuyper and junior forward Hailey Clarkson. The Gophers tied the game at 2-2 before the end of the period, and they continued to out-shoot the Huskies by a margin of 33-13 after 40 minutes of play. The final period was a battle, as two penalties were assessed and 16 total shots between the two squads were tallied. Late in the period, UM caught a break with a power play goal from senior defender Allie Sanchez. With just under a minute to go, SCSU pulled goaltender St. Jacques for an extra skater advantage. Unfortunately for the Huskies, the Gophers found the advantage as McKenzie capped her four-point day off with an empty netter at the 19:07 mark of the final period. Although SCSU had a 14-3-1 record going into Saturday's game after scoring first, the Huskies still suffered the weekend series sweep. The Huskies needed a win to clinch a tie for fourth place in the WCHA...The Huskies had five separate players score on the weekend, as the team's season record stands at 15-16-1 overall and 12-13-1 in the WCHA. With the regular season winding down, the Huskies keep high hopes alive to finish fourth in the conference to collect a home-ice advantage in the first round of the WCHA tournament. The Gophers improve to 22-9-1 overall and 17-8-1 in the WCHA with the weekend sweep over the Huskies...SCSU will complete its regular season with a two-game series against Bemidji State on Feb. 24-25. Earlier this season, the Huskies swept BSU, 6-2 and 4-1 in the National Hockey Center. The puck is set to drop at 7:07 p.m. on Feb. 24 and 2:07 p.m. on Feb. 25 in the John Glas Fieldhouse...Of note, being that the Huskies were celebrating senior night, SCSU's current assistant captains Lauri St. Jacques and Denelle Maguet offered up their "A" stitches for the four seniors that are not team captains. On Friday, Feb. 17, Kelly and Ashley Stewart were wearing the stitched on "A" and on Saturday, Feb. 18, Rachel Solgon and Kristy Oonincx wore the "A's".

WISCONSIN BADGERS
The No. 2/3 Badgers (27-4-1, 22-3-1 WCHA) completed its 10th season sweep with 3-2 and 5-0 wins over the visiting Minnesota State Mavericks (11-18-3, 8-16-2 WCHA)...The Badgers remain unbeaten vs. the Mavs with a 28-0-1 record in the all-time series...The Badgers also celebrated their last home series of the regular season with a pregame ceremony honoring the team's five seniors (Nikki Burish, Sharon Cole, Meghan Horras, Grace Hutchins and Cyndy Kenyon) and a postgame presentation of the 2005-06 WCHA regular season trophy...In Friday's game, the Mavs made it interesting with a two-goal comeback in the third period...Just as it looked to be destined for overtime, UW rookie Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.) scored on a breakaway with 30 seconds left to play...Earlier in the game, Emily Morris (Postdam, N.Y.) struck first for the Badgers on a long pass across Minnesota State's defensive zone from senior Nikki Burish (Madison, Wis.)...Morris caught the pass near the right circle and pushed it past MSU's goalie Laura Brennan, for a 1-0 lead...Wisconsin took a two-point advantage at 16:21 in the second, when Burish connected with the puck near the left crease, netting it for fifth season goal...Assists were credited to Grace Hutchins (Winnetka, Ill.) and Meghan Mikkelson (St. Albert, Alberta)...Although the Badgers outshot the Mavericks 35-11 and dominated the face-offs, MSU responded with a third-period surge to tie the game up at two...The Minnesota State goal came from Jen Jonsson on a shootout-style breakaway shot...A second Maverick goal came with 7:26 remaining in the game after Maggie Fisher passed the puck around the back of the net and teammate Felicia Nelson collected it parallel to the goal line and scored...Badger goalie Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) collected her fifth victory as a Badger and made nine saves...Brennan stopped 32 Wisconsin shots, but fell to 1-7-1 in the season...Saturday, the Badgers solidly commanded the game with a 5-0 decision...The shutout for Meghan Horras (Appleton, Wis.) was her 16th career shutout which is a new record at UW...Nikki Burish (Madison, Wis.) led the Badgers Saturday with a goal and two assists...Five seemed to be the magic number, with five different Badgers scoring in the victory...Junior Kristen Witting (Beloit, Wis.) scored her first goal of the season and the second of her career to put the Badgers up 1-0. Witting's goal came at 11:48 in the first period and was assisted by Burish and Morris...The Badgers scored two more times in the second period on goals by Burish and Lawler...Burish netted her seventh goal of the year at 12:55; Hutchins and Witting were credited with the assists...Lawler scored the game-winner Friday and followed it up with the 10th goal of her young career at 14:47...Another two-goal third period gave the Badgers a 5-0 win...Junior Bobbi-Jo Slusar (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) and Sara Bauer (St. Catherines, Ontario) rounded out the scoring with goals at 1:09 and 16:44, respectively...In goal for Wisconsin, senior Meghan Horras stopped all 15 shots thrown her way...Wisconsin wraps up regular-season action next weekend with a series at Ohio State...The puck is scheduled to drop at 6 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at the OSU Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio

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