54 // VARSITY February 13, 2014
INSIDE
WOMEN'S HOCKEY
Border Battle part II: UW
gets Gophers in showdown
Badgers look to avenge earlier sweep to Gophers
BY AJ HARRISON @BADGERWHOCKEY
A
lot has happend to the
No. 2 Badgers since be-
ing swept at No. 1 Min-
nesota on Oct. 11-12, as Wis-
consin reeled off a 16 game
unbeaten steak and rose to a
No. 2 ranking over the follow-
ing months.
Now the Border Battle re-
match comes to Madison this
weekend with WCHA title im-
plications at stake. Wiscon-
sin sits seven points behind
Minnesota with four games
remaining. The Badgers are
12 points clear of No. 4 North
Dakota in the standings, and a
win this weekend against the
Gophers would guarantee UW
a top-two finish in the league.
The series also features the
top scoring offense in the na-
tion in Minnesota, which aver-
ages 4.80 goals per game, while
Wisconsin paces the nation in scoring de-
fense, allowing 1.00 goals per contest.
We haven't faced each other since Oc-
tober," UW head coach Mark Johnson
said. "We had two games up in Minne-
apolis that were very tight and very en-
tertaining."
In addition to being a top-two battle,
both games will have a special signifi-
cance for the Badgers. Friday's game
against Minnesota is Senior Night, as the
Badgers celebrate the careers of Nata-
lie Berg, Ilana Friedman, Kelly Jaminski,
Stefanie McKeough, Madison Packer and
Alex Rigsby prior to faceoff at LaBahn
Arena. Berg, Jaminski, McKeough, Packer
and Rigsby were all a part of Wisconsin's
last national championship team.
"You get a lot of mixed emotions,"
Johnson said. "Certainly it will be a spe-
cial night for their family members and
you realize how quickly time goes by."
On Saturday, the Badgers will play in
the fourth-ever Fill the Bowl game at
the Kohl Center as UW looks to break its
NCAA single-game attendance record of
12,402.
"For our parents, our players and our
fans, it's going to be a special night be-
cause we don't get an opportunity to do
this on a regular basis," Johnson said.
"So hopefully everybody brings in some
non-perishable food items, we send a lot
of food down to Second Harvest Food-
bank, and everybody's a winner in the
evening."
SCHEDULE (23-3-2, 19-3-2-1)
LAST WEEK
Feb. 7 at Ohio State W, 3-0
Feb. 8 at Ohio State W, 3-2
COMING UP
Friday #1 Minnesota 7 p.m.
Saturday #1 Minnesota 7 p.m.
(Fill the Bowl - Kohl Center)
