Badger women's hockey headed to Frozen Four

The Badger women's hockey team defeated Mercyhurst at home in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament on Saturday night to advance to the Frozen Four in Duluth next weekend.

Sadly, just 2,946 fans watched the women win. I'd have killed to be there, but we had a family commitment that we've been signed up for for months.

Of course, 2,946 fans saw last night's Wisconsin women's hockey game in Madison. 2,992 saw tonight's DU/UW men's contest in Denver -the 3rd game of a best of 3 with a season on the line for both teams.  

The game was tied 1-1 heading into the third period until senior Hilary Knight's short-handed goal gave the Badgers the lead. An open-net goal at the end of the third sealed the victory and gave the women their second-consecutive trip to the Frozen Four and a chance at back-to-back National Championships.

Sophomore Alex Rigsby set a record as the only goalie in Badger history to record 1,000 saves in a season. Considering Jessie Vetter is considered one of the greatest goalies to ever play women's hockey, it's huge that Rigsby has already done something she never did.

Knight's shorty in the third period ended up being the game-winner, Knight's ninth on the season, which leads the nation. That was the only short-handed goal Mercyhurst gave up all season.

The Badger defense was huge in the game, as they didn't allow Mercyhurst to record a shot in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Once again, pathetically, there doesn't appear to be any TV coverage of the Frozen Four, those the NCAA.com site does say they'll have live video on the site- I guess that's something.

The Badger women are scheduled to play at 5 pm on Friday afternoon and, if they win, the National Championship game will be Sunday at 300 pm

The Patty Kaz will be awarded Saturday morning at 930 am cst.