Mark Johnson – (Photo by David Stluka)
The top-ranked Wisconsin women’s hockey team is on quite a roll, improving to 6-0 on the season after sweeping 8th ranked Ohio State 7-3 in Columbus on Saturday night.
The win is the 500th for head coach Mark Johnson with the Badgers. Johnson became the first NCAA national Collegiate women’s ice hockey coach to reach 500 victories.
The Badgers (6-0-0, 2-0-0-0 WCHA) found themselves in an unfamiliar position early on as the Buckeyes (4-2-0, 2-2-0-0) scored an even-strength goal, the first even-strength goal UW has given up in more than nine games, to take a 1-0 lead.
However, Wisconsin would take a 2-1 lead into the first break thanks to a pair of power-play goals.
Britta Curl tipped in a Daryl Watts shot to tie things up at 1-1 with less than seven minutes remaining in the first before Maddie Rowe scored to give UW a one-goal advantage.
McKenzie Steffen added to the lead early on in the second, scoring her second of the weekend, before OSU tacked on two goals in the middle part of the period to tie things up at 3-3.
Wisconsin would dominate the final period, scoring four goals to pull away. Steffen, Sophie Shirley, Abby Roque and Daryl Watts all scored in the final period for the Badgers.
The Badgers converted all four of its power play chances on Saturday, giving them 13 for the season, which leads the nation.
The Badgers head back east again next weekend with a two-game series against the LIU Sharks starting Friday.