MADISON, Wis. — In a well-fought border-battle, Presley Norby scored two goals to led the top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team to a 3-0 victory over second-ranked Minnesota on Saturday afternoon at LaBahn Arena.
Norby, a native of Minnetonka, Minnesota, moved her way closer to the century-point club with two points while leading the Badgers (23-2-21, 13-2-1-0 WCHA) to not only a sweep of the Golden Gophers (20-4-3, 12-4-2-1 WCHA), but back into the driver's seat of the WCHA race. UW sits in first place in the league with 40 points, while Minnesota is in second with 39.
After a scoreless first, Norby sent the Badgers into the lead, sliding the puck past Gophers' goaltender Sydney Scobee with 15:32 left in the middle frame.
Doubling the lead just 10 minutes later, the senior sniped the puck past Scobee off a feed by junior Delaney Drake to give UW a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Norby nails top shelf! pic.twitter.com/4kuivhUWvd
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerWHockey) January 25, 2020
Junior Daryl Watts put the game out of reach with 32 seconds remaining with an empty-net strike.
Senior netminder Kristen Campbell made all 22 saves to add a fourth shutout this season and a 28th career shutout to her record.
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Three notes of the game:
- This is UW's first shutout against Minnesota since the 2019 NCAA Championship game when UW blanked Minnesota, 2-0, to win the program's fifth NCAA title.
- This weekend's series marked the second time in three years the Badgers have swept Minnesota at home. UW improved to 9-7-0 all-time against Minnesota at LaBahn Arena.
- Delaney Drake ended the game with a pair of assists, marking the third time this year she's enjoyed a multi-point game.
Straight from the Rink
UW head coach Mark Johnson
On Saturday's response from Friday's narrow victory:
"It was good. We had a good film session this morning to show some things so they can go execute it. Right from the git-go it was a good, solid 60 minutes. Anytime you go and play a quality opponent like Minnesota, you know they're going to get opportunities, and you'll bend a few times but don't break. Kristen (Campbell) did a nice job and overall, especially in the third period, we did a much better job than we did yesterday. I'm very happy and pleased with that.
On Minnesota:
"They're a good opponent, and I'm sure we will see them again and they'll see us. It's been that way since I've been coaching on the women's side, but it's fun to play them, and they'll say the same thing. We're going to win some, they're going to win some, but you become better by playing each other, especially in the second half of the season.
On Kristen Campbell's first shutout since October:
"Anytime your goalie can play like that and gain some confidence from playing against a really good opponent that really helps.
On the series sweep:
"Great performance, good weekend, I'm very happy with both games."
Senior forward Presley Norby
On the game:
"I think every single game we want to get better and better and obviously having no goals against us is huge in winning a hockey game, so I think we've been working on our zone defensively just doing the little things to help us make our way into the playoffs."
Senior goaltender Kristen Campbell
On the game:
"Every year is a different story, every game is a different story, too. So, you never know what's going to come your way, and I think there's been a lot of adversity this year for defense, but I think we've learned a lot from it though. We're ready for anything that comes our way, and I think it's a real positive thing…With yesterday's game and the third period turnaround, I think we really learned from that. Today in the third period, we took that to heart, and we had our second chance at proving that we can close out games."
Up Next:
The Badgers take on St. Cloud State at LaBahn Arena Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m. while Sunday's series finale will be at 2 p.m. Both games are sold out.
