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BREAKING: Wisconsin Women’s Hockey Makes NCAAs

Published

7 months ago

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Wisconsin women's hockey coverage by Badger Notes

Wisconsin women’s hockey learned its NCAA Tournament fate Sunday morning. The Badgers (25-10-2, 19-7-2 WCHA) had to wait and see if they would earn an at-large berth to the tournament after falling in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals to rival Minnesota. Fortunately for UW, it found it has secured its place in a tenth-straight NCAA Tournament.

Wisconsin finished third in the WCHA this season, a position typically disappointing for such a dominant program. Beyond the final placement, however, is a more complex story. Minnesota, the conference’s second-place team, did not defeat the Badgers in regulation or overtime in their four tries in the regular season. Although Wisconsin went only 1-2-1 against Ohio State (including one loss in overtime and another decided with 55 seconds remaining in regulation), the Buckeyes entered the season as the reigning national champion and finished the regular season as the WCHA Champion.

Not to mention, those two teams Wisconsin fell just short of in the regular season? They earned the top two overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Wisconsin will now play Long Island University on Thursday at 5 PM Central in Hamilton, NY. The LIU Sharks received an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAAs by winning the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance tournament. This is the first year a team from the NEWHA will be in the NCAA Tournament.

Longtime Wisconsin women’s hockey fans will be familiar with Sharks head coach Kelly Nash. Nash played at Wisconsin 2007-2011, bringing two national championships to Madison during her time with the Badgers. Nash recorded 22 goals and 47 assists at UW, including a career-high four points in the Culver’s Camp Randall Hockey Classic.

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Kedrick Stumbris covers Wisconsin football, basketball, hockey, and volleyball. He received his B.A. with economics and political science majors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018.

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