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Badger women’s hockey tops WCHA Preseason Coaches Poll

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Defending regular season champion Wisconsin is the pick among league head coaches to win the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Women’s League 2020-21 regular season title.

The Badgers totaled 34 points and four first place votes in preseason polling among the WCHA’s seven bench bosses.  Defending WCHA regular season champion Minnesota received three first place votes and tallied 31 points in the poll.

Ohio State finished third with 28 points to edge out fourth-place Minnesota Duluth (21 points).  Bemidji State (14), Minnesota State (13) and St. Cloud State (6) rounded out this year’s poll.

Daryl Watts, Wisconsin’s senior forward was named WCHA Preseason Player of the Year, edging out Ohio State senior forward Emma Maltais, Minnesota senior forward Grace Zumwinkle and Minnesota Duluth junior forward Gabbie Hughes.

The WCHA opens its 22nd season the weekend of Nov. 20-22 as Minnesota State hosts Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota hosts Ohio State.

Wisconsin opens its season the following weekend, Nov. 27-28 at Ohio State.

WCHA releases first half of women’s hockey schedule

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Photo: David Stluka – UW Athletics

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) will begin the 2020-21 women’s hockey season on Nov. 20 but the University of Wisconsin will have to wait another week for its opener.

The Badgers, ranked number-one in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine preseason poll, will open their season at No. 5 Ohio State on Nov. 27 and 28 to open the season.

The WCHA unveiled the first eight games of the schedule on Friday, running through the Christmas break.

Conference games will resume as early as Jan. 1 after Christmas, but that schedule will be released at a later date.

Badgers early schedule

Nov. 27 & 28  at Ohio State
Dec. 4 & 5      at Minnesota
Dec. 11 & 12  host Minnesota-Duluth
Dec. 18 & 19  host Ohio State

 

Badger women’s hockey ranked No. 1

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Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson

For the sixth time in program history, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team will begin a season ranked No. 1 in the country as the Badgers earned top billing in the preseason USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s Poll.

UW earned nine of the 19 first-place votes and 178 total points, while Cornell checked in at number-2 with 153 points and seven first-place votes.

The Badgers were one of four teams from the WCHA ranked in the preseason poll, joined by Minnesota at number-4, Ohio State at number-5 and Minnesota-Duluth at number-8.

Wisconsin won its eighth WCHA regular-season title and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the 14th time in program history before the 2019-20 season was called off due to COVID-19.

WCHA Women to delay start of 2020-21 season

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The Women’s League of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association will delay the start of its 2020-21 season.  The move comes following approval by the Women’s League Board of Directors.

The league is working to develop protocols to allow its teams to return and look forward to announcing a start date as soon as it is reasonable to do so.

WCHA staff is finalizing the 2020-21 league schedule options and details regarding the 2021 WCHA Final Faceoff.  Full details on the new schedule will be announced later this fall.

The Wisconsin Badgers are one of seven teams that make up the Women’s WCHA.  The league will grow to eight members with the addition of the University of St. Thomas beginning with the 2021-22 season.

Wisconsin’s Roque named Women’s Player of the Year

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Abby Roque

Wisconsin women’s hockey senior Abby Roque joined hockey royalty on Wednesday afternoon as the forward became the fifth Badger to be named the Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year, given to the top American-born women’s player by USA Hockey.

Roque joins fellow Badgers Brianna Decker (2015 & 2017), Hilary Knight (2014), Meghan Duggan (2011) and Jessie Vetter (2009) as past winners of the award.  The Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, native is the second collegian in the past three years to receive the award, joining UMD’s Maddie Rooney, who received the award in 2018.

The 2020 WCHA Player of the Year, Roque scored a career-high 26 goals to go along with a career-best 58 points.  Her 32 assists this year tied her season-best mark set last year and her goal, assist and point totals all ranked in the top 10 in the country and in the top five in the WCHA.

The senior center led Wisconsin to its eighth WCHA regular-season title and to the No. 2 seed in the [Read more…]

2020 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award to be unveiled Friday

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Abby Roque

Wisconsin women’s hockey senior Abby Roque will find out Friday (today) if she’s the sixth Badger to win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as USA Hockey announced it will present the highest individual honor in women’s college hockey in a ceremony live on its Facebook and YouTube pages.

Roque, who was named a first-team All-American earlier this week and was named the USCHO Player of the Year on Thursday, is one of three finalists for the award.

Roque helped lead UW to its eighth WCHA regular-season title and a No. 2 ranking in the country.

The senior center recorded a career-high in goals with 26, points with 58 and matched her best assist mark with 32.  She was stellar in the faceoff circle for UW as her 523 faceoff wins led the country while her .656 faceoff clip ranked second.

Roque rewrote the Badgers’ record books this year as she climbed into the top-10 in school history in points (170, 9th), assists (114, 7th), plus/minus (+136, 7th), power play goals (21, 7th) and game-winning goals (15, 8th).

 

Two Badger women land All-American hockey honors

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Wisconsin forward Abby Roque was named first team All-American by the 2019-20 CCM/AHCA on Tuesday.

Badger teammate Daryl Watts received second-team honors.

The AHCA honors are the second for Watts (first team, 2017-18) and the first for Roque.

Roque was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award and the WCHA Offensive and overall Player of the Year, registering 56 points on 26 goals and 32 assists for the Badgers this season.

Watts is in her first season with the Badgers and led the nation in scoring with 74 points on 25 goals and an NCAA-best 39 assists.  her assists per game (1.36) and points per game (2.06) also led the country.  She was the only NCAA player to average more than two points a game.

Second ranked Badger women’s hockey team falls to Ohio State in OT, faces Clarkson in NCAA’s

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Mark Johnson – (File Photo by David Stluka)

The second-ranked Wisconsin women’s hockey team fell short in the WCHA Final FaceOff championship game as No. 5 Ohio State scored in overtime to pull out a 1-0 victory in Minneapolis.

The Badgers (28-5-3 overall) came out dominated game play, winning the faceoff margin 36-24 and out-shooting the Buckeyes 41-26 (24-8-6 overall)  to keep the game scoreless through regulation.

The Buckeyes scored the only goal 4:25 into overtime as Tatum Skaggs put the puck into the Badger net for the game winner.

Abby Roque and McKenzie Steffen were named to the all-tournament team for the Badgers.

A familiar opponent awaits Wisconsin in the NCAA quarterfinals, as the Badgers will host Clarkson on [Read more…]

Roque named top-three finalist for Patty Kazmaier Award

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Abby Roque

Wisconsin senior forward Abby Roque has been named one of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the best player in women’s college hockey.

Roque is the ninth leading scorer in program history and this year ranks seventh in the country with 57 points, including 25 goals.  Her teammates, Sophie Shirley and Daryl Watts, were top-ten finalists.

Wisconsin has had five Patty Kazmaier Award winners, Sara Bauer in 2006, Jessie Vetter in 2009, Meghan Duggan in 2011, Brianna Decker in 2012 and Ann-Renee Desbiens in 2017.

The Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, native has been clutch for UW as she has five game-winning tallies this year.  As a stellar center in the faceoff circle, Roque’s 494 faceoff wins pace the NCAA while her .663 faceoff clip ranks second in the country.

The 2020 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner will be announced on Saturday, March 21 in Boston.

The Badges head to Minneapolis for the WCHA Final Faceoff.  They’ll play Minnesota-Duluth in the conference semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m.  If they win, they’ll play Minnesota or Ohio State for the WCHA playoff title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Badger women’s hockey wins 8th WCHA regular season title

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UW Womens Hockey – 2019-20 WCHA Regular Season Champions – Photo Courtesy of UW Athletics

The second ranked Wisconsin women’s hockey team scored twice in the final minute on Sunday to force a 5-5 tie with No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth and earn the 2019-20 WCHA regular-season title outright.

Senior alternate captain Abby Roque led the charge and finished the battle for Wisconsin (27-4-3, 17-4-3-2 WCHA) posting two goals, while junior Daryl Watts brought up the rear by taking the draw point from Minnesota-Duluth (16-10-6, 11-8-5-3 WCHA).

For the third-straight game, UW found itself in a 1-0 hole after the first period when UMD scored a power-play goal with less than two minutes left in the period.

The Bulldogs looked as if they would pull the upset in the regular season finale, up 5-3 late.  But Wisconsin’s Sophie Shirley tapped in the fourth Badger goal with 58 seconds left on a pass from Watts. [Read more…]