Wisconsin Women's Hockey team continues to dominate

After securing the WCHA regular season title way back on February 11th, the UW Women's Hockey team then went on to rush through the WCHA tournament, defeating North Dakota (4-0, 3-0) in the playoffs, then Ohio State (4-0) and Minnesota (3-1) to win the WCHA tournament title for the second straight year.

The women also swept the WCHA Individual Awards and had 8 ladies named to all-conference teams.

Senior Sara Bauer was named WCHA Player of the Year for the second straight season. She ended the regular season with 51 points in 28 conference games.

WCHA Defensive Player of the Year is senior Meaghan Mikkelson. This is the fourth straight year a Wisconsin player has taken home this prize.

Meghan Duggan was named 2006-07 WCHA Rookie of the Year. She was also named to the WCHA All-Rookie team.

Mark Johnson was named Coach of the Year for the second year running.

Also, senior goalie Christine Dufour was named the 2006-07 WCHA Goaltending Champion, a statistical award based on goals against average. Her stats were: 1.07 over 727:01 of action.

Bauer and Mikkelson, and sophomore Jessie Vetter were named All-WCHA First Team selections.

Duggan, junior forward Jinelle Zaugg and senior defenseman Bobbi-Jo Slusar were named All-WCHA Second Team

Sophomore forward Erika Lawler and senior goalie Christine Dufour were named to the All-WCHA Third Team.

Finally, Sara Bauer has been named one of the top three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award - the MVP of women's college hockey. Bauer won the award last year.

Now the ladies move on the the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin hosts Harvard, who tied for the top spot in their conference. Wisconsin received the #1 seed heading into the tournament, which is single elimination. The winners of each of the regionals head to the Frozen Four, held this year in Lake Placid.

It seems fitting for Mark Johnson to head back to Lake Placid, scene of his triumph as a member of the Miracle on Ice team.

The schedule is as follows:

2007 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship

Regionals (at campus sites)
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Harvard (March 10)
No. 4 New Hampshire vs. St. Lawrence (March 10)
No. 2 Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota Duluth (March 9)
No. 3 Darmouth vs. Boston College (March 10)

Women’s Frozen Four (Lake Placid, N.Y.)
Semifinals, March 16
Final, March 18