Josefin Bouveng scored twice, Abbey Murphy had a goal and an assist and the third-ranked Gophers women’s hockey team used a four-goal third period to beat top-ranked and previously unbeaten Wisconsin 5-1 on Friday in Madison, Wis.
Hannah Clark made 40 saves for the Gophers (10-1, 6-1 WCHA), who had lost their past 10 meetings vs. the Badgers (10-1, 6-1), including six last season, and beat them for the first time since Dec. 8, 2023. Wisconsin, which went 38-1-2 last season in winning its third national championship in five seasons, had won its past 23 games and was unbeaten in its past 37 dating to last Nov. 16.
“It’s the first time that we’ve won here in a long time,” Gophers coach Brad Frost told reporters at LaBahn Arena, where his team last won on Dec. 3, 2021. “I’m just really proud of our group, our staff, how we prepared our players, but mostly in how they played, especially in the third period. Hannah Clark was amazing, which allowed us to get our feet going and blow it open there in the third.”
Wisconsin had given up only six goals all season. The Gophers nearly matched that in a little more than 10 minutes of play Friday.
With the Gophers down 1-0 late in the second period and the teams skating 4-on-4, Bouveng tied the score — on assists from Murphy and Nelli Laitinen — with 1:10 left in the period.
After being outshot 35-22 in the first two periods, the Gophers scored four times in the first nine minutes of the third period to take control.
Freshman Sienna D’Alessandro’s first goal broke the tie with 17:50 remaining. Sydney Morrow extended the Gophers’ lead to 3-1 with 15:30 left. Bouveng and Murphy scored 29 seconds apart to make it 5-1 with 11:08 remaining, as the Gophers outshot the Badgers 16-6 in the final period.
Clark came into the game with a 1.36 goals-against average and .950 save percentage.
