Sarah Nurse
The 3rd-ranked Wisconsin Badger (28-6-4) women’s hockey team got 2 goals and one assist from sophomore Sarah Nurse in Sunday’s 4-0 win over No. 10 Bemidji State, 4-0, in the WCHA Final Face-Off championship game, capturing the program’s fifth WCHA playoff title.
Nurse captured the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award, scoring four goals and two assists in the two game weekend. Nurse, along with fellow sophomores Sydney McKibbon, Mellissa Channell and goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens, were also named to the WCHA Final Face-Off All-Tournament team.
After being outshot for just the third time all season in Saturday’s win over North Dakota, UW outshot Bemidji State 37-15.
With the win, the Badgers captured their first WCHA Final Face-Off title since 2011, as Wisconsin has won league tournament titles in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
The Badgers received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with the win. They’ll take on 7th-ranked Boston University (25-8-3), the Hockey East tournament champion, on Saturday in a 2 p.m. game at LaBahn Arena in Madison. The Badgers are 4-0 all-time against the Terriers, and have outscored them 19-2 in their previous four contests.
The matchup is a rematch of the 2011 NCAA Championship contest, a game the Badgers won, 4-1, to claim the program’s fourth NCAA title.