Annie Pankowski (Photo by David Stluka).
The top-ranked Wisconsin women’s hockey team is headed back to the WCHA’s Final Faceoff after a two-game sweep of Minnesota State in the opening round of the league playoffs at LaBahn Arena.
Senior Sarah Nurse’s third career hat trick helped the Badgers knock off the Mavericks 6-0 in the series finale on Saturday.
Nurse, Emily Clark and Annie Pankowski combined for 13 points in the finale for the Badgers (29-2-4) on Saturday to complete the sweep of Minnesota State (7-26-4). As the top seed, the Badgers will face North Dakota on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.
Senior Ann-Renee Desbiens made 16 saves to improve to 25-1-4 in net for Wisconsin this year, earning her 15th shutout along the way. She leads the NCAA in wins (25), save percentage (.963), goals-against average (0.69) and shutouts (15).
AUDIO: Coach Mark Johnson on Nurse, Clark and Pankowski’s big game :16
AUDIO: Annie Pankowski on Wisconsin’s power play improvement (50% Saturday) :16