Women's hockey: Gophers turn tables with sweep of No. 1 Wisconsin

Jan. 23—Last year was difficult for Minnesota's women's hockey team, first because of the pandemic, which made a shambles of the Gophers' schedule, and then because they were left out of the NCAA tournament despite being ranked among the nation's top four teams all season.

On Selection Sunday, coach Brad Frost called it "one last kick in the teeth."

WCHA rivals Wisconsin, Ohio State and Minnesota Duluth advanced, and the Badgers won it all while Minnesota licked its wounds at home.

Well, the Gophers are back, and if this isn't exactly a revenge tour, they're not shy about how it feels to be back at, or at least near, the top.

"The tables have turned," said Minnesota senior Taylor Heise, whose second-period goal was the game-winner in a 4-3 victory over No. 1 Wisconsin on Saturday at Ridder Arena.

The win completed a weekend sweep, and sent the Badgers home with a 0-3-1 record against the No. 4/5 Gophers. Last year, Wisconsin was 4-0-1 against Minnesota, including a 5-2 win in the WCHA Final Faceoff that essentially eliminated the Gophers from the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007.

"All offseason it was in the back of our minds, training harder. Not necessarily to beat Wisconsin, but just to get back to Gopher hockey and having a season like this team and this program is used to having," said senior blue liner Emily Brown, who stopped a Badgers rush with a poke check and sent the puck the other way to set up Heise's goal.

Crystalyn Hengler, Ella Huber and Catie Skaja also scored for the Gophers, and Lauren Bench — a last-minute replacement for an ill Makayla Pahl — stopped 30 shots as the Gophers became the first team to sweep a weekend series from Wisconsin since 2018.

Minnesota (19-6-1) hadn't swept the Badgers at Ridder Arena since Feb. 19-20, 2016, and has a WCHA-leading 46 points.

"All those days that we come to the rink at 7 a.m., all those early lifts that we do in the summer, this is why it's worth it," Heise said. "Seeing (in) their faces that they have to drive home four hours (now), like, we've felt that. We've been there."

The Badgers (18-3-3) scored two early goals following juicy rebounds, the first by Brette Pettit for a 1-0 lead 4:01 into the game, the second on a rush by Caitlin Schneider that put Wisconsin up 2-1 at 17:04. Each time, however, the Gophers quickly answered.

Blue liner Hengler pinched in to take a pass from Heise in the right circle and sweep a goal past goaltender Kennedy Blair at 5:37, and Huber scored on a rebound just 14 seconds after the Badgers' second goal to tie the game 2-2 at 17:18.

Minnesota took its first lead when Abigail Boreen threw a shot on net from between the circles that hit teammate Skaja in the torso and ricocheted past Kennedy at 18:28 for a 3-2 Minnesota lead.

It was the second of Boreen's three assists.

Heise's goal made it 4-2 early in the second period, but the Badgers weren't done. Brette Pettit scored just 2:20 into the third period to ramp up the drama. The Gophers spent a lot of time in the Badgers' zone the rest of the way, but Wisconsin counter-attacked hard.

Minnesota supplied enough pressure to keep Blair on the ice until there were just 50 seconds left, and the Badgers couldn't make hay with the extra skater. Coach Mark Johnson called a timeout with 14.9 seconds left, but the Gophers pinned the puck in a corner and ran out the clock when play resumed.

"I've been here for four years, and I've been waiting to do this my whole life," said Heise, who is from Lake City and played at Red Wing. "It feels like it's been a long time. I'm kind of still in shock about it, I think, but it will hit me tomorrow when I wake up."

The Gophers still have work to do, as well. Next week, they're at Ohio State for two games in Columbus against the second-ranked Buckeyes. Beyond that are the WCHA playoffs and another shot at the school's seventh national title.

"We have so much more to give. I'm so excited," Heise said. "Being excited in January is exciting because you know there's two more months, and we're going to roll into it. Obviously, not making the tournament last year and (Wisconsin) making it, Duluth making it like that, that's only going to bring us farther.

"We see that and we're like, 'OK, they got their chance. This year is our time, and we want it.' "