DURHAM, N.H. — The Wisconsin women’s hockey team saw its season ended by Minnesota for the third-straight year in a NCAA Frozen Four contest, as the Badgers fell 3-2 in overtime to their Border-Battle rivals on Friday at the Whittemore Center Arena.
A career high 38 saves for Ann-Renée Desbiens and goals from freshman Sophia Shaver and sophomore Emily Clark were enough to force overtime, but Wisconsin was unable to capitalize in the extra frame.
Wisconsin (35-4-1) outshot Minnesota (34-4-1) 6-4 during the overtime period, but Minnesota’s Sarah Potomak was able to steal the puck away and put a shot past Desbiens for the victory.
“If this was in the NHL, we’d be going into Game 7 with three games apiece,” UW head coach Mark Johnson said, as the two teams have met six times during the 2015-16 season.
Wisconsin’s 35 wins this year are the fourth-most in program history, while the team also broke the NCAA record for scoring defense, giving up 29 goals in 40 contests for an average of 0.72 goals per contest. The Badgers’ top-ranked penalty kill fought off two Gopher power plays, improving to a .948 clip.
“As you watched the game tonight both teams competed and played at a really high level,” Johnson said. “It was going to come down to someone making a play and they made one before we were able to.
“Certainly disappointing to be in the same situation three years in a row and we haven’t been able to get over the hump. As I told my team after the game, they can walk out of here with their heads up. They had a great season, our seniors led the group.”
Minnesota lit the lamp first, as Taylor Williamson put the puck past Desbiens just after the two-minute mark of the first period to give UM the 1-0 lead.
Midway through the stanza, Shaver tabbed her first goal since Nov. 27, 2015, to knot the game at one all. Shaver gained control of the puck just inside the face-off dots, taking a quick shot that ricocheted off the post and behind Minnesota’s Amanda Leveille.
The Gophers outshot Wisconsin 12-8 in the first frame.
The second period looked like it was going to be a scoreless 20 minutes, until Clark notched her 24th goal of the season with just 18 seconds remaining to give Wisconsin the 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission. Freshman Sam Cogan dished a beautiful feed to Clark, who slammed the pass home for the score.
“I think any goal on any play is a momentum shift,” Clark said of her goal. “I think the momentum was on our side leading up to that goal.”
Wisconsin blocked eight shots in the second frame, while Desbiens saves all 11 shots she faced.
The Badgers held the lead for only a short time before Minnesota’s Amanda Kessel fired a blast past Desbiens just 27 seconds into the third period to tie the game back up at 2-2, where it would remain through regulation.
Despite being on the penalty kill twice during the overtime frame, Minnesota was able to upend the Badgers, as Potomak put the puck behind Desbiens 15 minutes into extra time.
“Desbiens played a very special year and gave us an opportunity to win every game,” Johnson said of the goaltender. “As you saw tonight, it’s one of the reasons we’re here.”
A 2016 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-three finalist, Desbiens ended her season with a trio of NCAA records as she collected a save percentage of .960, a goal-against average of 0.76 and 21 shutouts.
“I told the team that when the dust clears and you look at the season, they won a league championship and a playoff championship, but we came up short today,” Johnson said. “They have a lot of things to be proud of. The seniors did a lot of wonderful things for our program and I thank them for that.”
