Jackie MacMillan made 22 saves while Meghan Hunter and Sis Paulsen each scored a goal as fifth-ranked Wisconsin defeated Ohio State, 2-0, at the OSU Ice Arena Friday.
After a scoreless first period with a combined seven shots between the two teams, the Badgers grabbed the lead, as they have done in all previous eight games.
Wisconsin took advantage when an OSU defender fell in the slot, opening room for Steph Millar, who found Hunter in front. Hunter shielded off a defenseman, waited as OSU goaltender April Stojak went down, and finished just under the crossbar for her NCAA-best 13th goal of the year. The score came at 2:22 of the second stanza.
Paulsen put the game away in the third period with a power-play goal at 16:07. Kerry Weiland made the play at the right blue line, keeping the puck in the offensive zone with a half-dive on a Buckeye clearing attempt. Weiland went cross-ice with the puck to Paulsen, whose shot was headed 10 feet wide. The puck instead deflected off an OSU defender’s stick in the high slot and past Stojak for the 2-0 lead.
MacMillan and the Badgers made the lead stand. The UW goaltender made two big saves, one on Kelli Halcisak, who beat a UW defenseman before skating in one-on-one with MacMillan during a first-period UW penalty kill. The second save came late in the third period on a low, screened rebound she stopped with her blocker.
“Jackie played well to get the shutout,” head coach Trina Bourget said. “She made the big saves when she had to.”
The win was MacMillan’s second shutout of the season. Stojak made 18 saves for Ohio State, which lost despite outshooting its opponent for the eighth consecutive game.
“We did the little things right tonight: we were working together, winning the one-on-one battles and sticking together as a unit,” commented Bourget. “We cleaned up our defensive-zone coverage and were disciplined in our own end. It all started with our forwards backchecking and playing solid in all three zones.”
OSU went 0-for-4 on the power play, while UW converted one of four opportunities.
“I thought we played very well,” Jackie Barto, OSU head coach, said. “The game was up and down, it was an exciting and well-played hockey game. We’re both aggressive teams. Hunter scored a beautiful goal, but we had our chances. The game could have gone either way. If you paid your admission tonight, you got your money’s worth.”
The two teams complete their series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CST at OSU Ice Arena.
