BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
DURHAM, N.H. — Wisconsin women's hockey coach Mark Johnson wore a smile on his face, no doubt to hide the heartache.
He had just watched the Badgers endure a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals Friday night at Whittemore Center Arena.
After the sixth meeting of the season between the exquisite archrivals from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association — each won three times with three matches needing overtime — Johnson reached back to his playing days for some context.
"In the NHL we'd be going to game seven," he said.
Alas, it doesn't work that way. While the jubilant Gophers prepare to face unbeaten and top-ranked Boston College in the title game on Sunday, seeking their sixth NCAA championship in the process, UW coaches, players and support staff have no choice but to embrace the end of a seven-month journey.
The Badgers (35-4-1 overall) won the WCHA regular-season and playoff crowns. They set a national record with nine consecutive shutouts and 23 overall.
They won all 21 games at home, another standard. They led the nation in scoring defense and penalty killing. They found a gem in junior goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens, whose NCAA-record 21 shutouts made her one of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award.
But in the heat of a one-and-done moment, UW was unable to make the last play and stumbled at the same juncture to the same all-too-familiar opponent.
This is third-consecutive season that Minnesota has prevailed over the Badgers in the Frozen Four semifinals.
It was a 3-1 loss in Minneapolis in 2015.
It was a 5-3 setback in Hamden, Connecticut, in 2014.
"It's tough," Johnson said. "It's a tough pill to swallow."
Thanks to goals from freshman right winger Sophia Shaver in the first period and sophomore center Emily Clark in the second, the Badgers carried a 2-1 lead into the final session of regulation. That's typically a good omen. They were 34-0 under those circumstances this season when the night began.
"We knew they were going to come out with a hard push," Clark said of the Gophers. "They always come out hard."
True enough, Minnesota scored in the opening minute of the third courtesy of Madison native and right winger Amanda Kessel and the duel of endurance was on.
UW had consecutive power plays in the overtime, but managed only one shot at goaltender Amanda Leveille (37 saves).
It ended at the 15-minute mark of OT. Left winger Sarah Potomak stalked junior defenseman Mellissa Channell through the offensive zone and outmaneuvered her for control of the puck in the left circle. In an instant, Potomak flicked a shot past Desbiens (38 saves).
"It was going to come down to somebody making a play and they made one before we were able to," Johnson said.
Shaver is the lone UW player from Minnesota (Wayzata). What she'll remember about her first foray into the rivalry is how the intensity grew with every shift.
"Every time we played Minnesota there was a new level of competition for both of us," she said.
Roughly 12 hours after Desbiens was the first in the postgame handshake line, she would join Boston College center Alex Carpenter and Northeastern winger Kendall Coyne on the podium waiting for the Patty Kazmaier presentation Saturday morning.
While the unmistakable sound of victory and joy could be heard down the hall in the other dressing room, everyone in the UW entourage quietly, glumly went about their given tasks.
There were equipment bags and trunks to be loaded and squired out to the waiting bus.
There were coolers and medical supplies and cases of water to be ferried to the big vehicle as well.
Though numb and sad, everyone helped.
If you're Johnson, how do you console your players in moments like this?
"That's the toughest part," he said. "You have to go in there and you have to look at your seniors and they understand it's their last game as a Badger."
As the bus idled, waiting to be filled with equipment and humanity for the 25-minute ride to the hotel in nearby Portsmouth, players shuffled silently aboard. Of course, many had been crying, especially the eight seniors.
"They've got a lot of things to be proud of," Johnson said. "Our seniors did a lot of wonderful things for our program for four years and I thank them for that."
The first half of the ride was deathly quiet.
"It's certainly disappointing," Johnson said. "Three years in a row in a similar situation and we haven't been able to get over the hump. It certainly stings."
But as the bus neared the hotel, where family and friends were waiting, the sounds of muffled laughter could be heard from the players.
"As I told the team, when the dust clears they won a league championship, they won a playoff championship," Johnson said.
"They can walk out of the rink here with their heads up. They had a great season. Our seniors led the group. We had our opportunity. We came up a little bit short.
"They did a lot of good things this year and I'm very, very proud of the way they played tonight."
