UW women's hockey: Power play unplugged
DULUTH, Minn. — By the time the University of Wisconsin got to its seventh power play of the game ... then the eighth ... then the ninth ... then the 10th ... and still didn't have a goal on the scoreboard Saturday, it was clear.
The Badgers' hopes for a national championship three-peat had been extinguished.
They went 0-for-10 on the power play Saturday, part of a 4-0 loss to Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA title game at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
And it wasn't so much that the Badgers went scoreless as how they were kept at zero goals by the Bulldogs and goaltender Kim Martin.
UMD pressured UW's power play personnel in the Badgers' zone, forcing them into turnovers, one of which was costly.
Sara O'Toole put the Bulldogs ahead 3-0 late in the second period, scoring a shorthanded goal after intercepting a Mallory Deluce pass at the Wisconsin blue line.
"We talk about moving the puck quickly, especially down below the goal line," Badgers coach Mark Johnson said. "At times, we didn't do that. Certainly, the third goal was something where you don't want to have a turnover at your own blue line and give them an opportunity.
"But that's part of the environment, that's part of playing in this game. It's coming down to kids being comfortable. Then it's down to execution. Our penalty kill was pretty good, but unfortunately our power play wasn't very good."
The Badgers were 0-for-12 on the power play in the Frozen Four, and didn't convert on their last 16 power plays of the season.
"All year, our power play has struggled a little bit because we've shifted a lot of things around and it's a lot different than previous years," Badgers senior winger Jinelle Zaugg said. "We've always had a hard time getting it set up in the zone. I don't know what it is, if it's the pressure, other teams shove us on the boards and whatnot.
"They did do an excellent job. They were on top of you right away, so they kind of jumped on the opportunities they had, and if it looked like we were going to fumble the puck, they were going to be there. I think that really worked for them."
The Badgers had 10 shots on goal on their 10 power plays, but they also had a number of chances blocked by the Bulldogs' defense.
UMD blocked 28 UW shots in all situations.
"When you're trying to get to the puck to the net in a situation where you're playing against a goaltender that's not letting many pucks in, now all of a sudden people are starting to block shots and they're taking that space away from you, it's challenging," Johnson said. "But we just didn't do a very good job in execution today."
The Bulldogs were 1-for-6 on the power play Saturday, with Emmanuelle Blais' second-period goal putting them up 2-0.
For the season, UMD was 7-for-33 (21.2 percent) on the power play against Wisconsin and killed 32 of the Badgers' 36 power plays (88.9 percent). Duluth won five of the six games the teams played.
"They created some turnovers in the neutral zone as we were trying to enter the zone," Johnson said of the Bulldogs penalty killers. "Give them credit. They put pressure on us, and for whatever reason, we didn't move the puck well enough to enter the zone."
Larry Radloff
Badger captains Jessie Vetter, Janelle Zaugg and Emily Morris pose with the NCAA second place trophy.
