Lacey Eden scored a goal and had two assists, and freshman goaltender Rhyah Stewart bounced back to pick up an important win for the Badgers.
MADISON – The two best teams in women’s college hockey, now depleted by the Olympics, met for the fourth time this season.
Fatigue was a factor, sure.
But other than that, Feb. 8 at LaBahn Arena seemed a lot like any other time when Wisconsin and Ohio State have faced off in recent years, a scrappy, grind-it-out game decided by determination, heads-up play and the right bounces.
After a dispiriting loss a day earlier, the top-ranked Badgers got on the board first and went on to a 4-1 victory over the No. 2 Buckeyes. In the process, UW (25-3-2, 19-3-2 WCHA) won its regular seasons series, three games to one and took over the lead over Ohio State (26-4-0, 20-4-0) in the league standings with two weeks remaining before the playoffs.
Lacey Eden leads the way for the Badgers
Fifth-year right wing Lacey Eden, left off the Team USA roster for the Milan Cortina Games, needs to do more than ever for a Badgers team without five of its best players.
She delivered.
Eden scored the game’s first goal at 16:17 of the first period through a tangle in front of Ohio State goaltender Hailey MacLeod and then assisted on a breakaway by junior center Cassie Hall that made it 2-0 in the second period and on junior defender Laney Potter’s 5-on-3 goal in the third that took the lead to 3-1.
“From the opening faceoff, we were here to play today,” said Eden, who was frustrated a day earlier when the Badgers seemed to be skating in quicksand. “We had that effort that we were talking about yesterday.
“And just getting pucks the net, yeah, definitely the goal was to get up 1-0 and we were able to capitalize on that and I think that helped the momentum for the rest of the game.”
Head coach Mark Johnson couldn’t ask for more from a player who has been an important part of the leadership group through three UW-OSU national championship battles.
Now she has to step up even more in the absence of the team’s leader in points and assists, defender Caroline Harvey; top goal scorer Kirsten Simms; All-American Laila Edwards; reigning goalie of the year Ava McNaughton; and No. 1 center Adela Sapovalivova, who is with Czechia.
“Whether it’s killing a penalty and blocking a shot and what we saw in the first period, scoring a goal in the first period, making a play on the five-on-three, we keep talking, and she keeps playing well,” Johnson said. “Give her a lot of credit because if you watched her, yesterday and then watched again today, there’s a lot of determination and grit, getting knocked down and just getting back up and keep playing. Fun to watch.”
The Badgers’ fourth goal came from sophomore center Finley McCarthhy just 26 seconds after Potter’s while UW was still on the power play.
Rhyah Stewart is getting more comfortable as a college goaltender
On the other end of the ice, freshman Rhyah Stewart was making her fourth start since McNaughton left for Italy. She stopped 20 shots on goal and held Ohio State 0 for 7 on the power play.
“Definitely the D-zone, it’s a group effort,” Stewart said. “I just do my job to help them back there, but any help I get is always awesome.
“The more reps you get at this level, it’s kind of just you get more comfortable with the speed of the game and to just kind of know the plays that might happen in front of you. So I think that helps with a lot of confidence in the net.”
Stewart is 2-2 in McNaughton’s absence after splits against Ohio State and at third-ranked Minnesota and 3-2 overall.
“I was happy for Rhyahj,” Johnson said. “Back to back weekends against two of the top teams in the country, and she looked comfortable out there today. She looked confident and those are the things you want to see in your players, especially your young ones.”
Four games to go in the regular season
The Badgers would love to see more of the same as the regular season winds down as they pursue an 11th regular season conference title before their Olympians return.
Over the remaining two weekends they play a pair of games at Minnesota State and then host St. Cloud State at LaBahn. Both are in the bottom half of the WCHA standings.
Ohio State hosts Minnesota and then finishes at last-place Bemidji State.
Then come the WCHA tournament and the NCAA tournament, where Wisconsin is 2-1 against Ohio State in the past three championships.
“Every game you should try to hold yourself to that standard of playing it like a championship game, playing it like your last game, or however you want to think about that,” Eden said. “Against a rival like Ohio State, you need that laser focus, you need to be doing those little things. And I hope we can kind of take notes from this game and continue that into the rest of our regular season as a team.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin women's hockey beats Ohio State 4-1, retakes WCHA lead
Category: General Sports
