Gophers hand No. 1 Wisconsin another loss in women's hockey

Back on Dec. 3 in Madison, the Gophers gave two-time defending NCAA women's hockey champion Wisconsin its first loss of the season.

On Friday night, the Badgers, ranked No. 1 then and now, lost their second game. Again to Minnesota. Except at Ridder Arena this time.

Amy Potomak's goal with 2 minutes, 34 seconds to play gave the No. 5 Gophers a 2-1 victory over Wisconsin and capped her eventful game.

The redshirt senior forward assisted on Minnesota's first goal for her 100th career point and, in the third period, was given a major penalty on which the Badgers (18-2-3) scored their only goal.

Another home team hero was goalie Makayla Pahl. She stopped 40 shots. Wisconsin goalie Kennedy Blair had only 20 saves.

Madeline Wethington, a junior defenseman gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead at 13:22 of the middle period. She started with the puck from the right point, then skated to the top of the right circle before firing a shot that eluded Blair with traffic in front. Wethington's younger sister Audrey, a sophomore forward, got the other assist — the first of two for her.

BOXSCORE: Gophers 2, Wisconsin 1

The Badgers tied the score on Daryl Watts' power-play goal from in front at 8:28 of the third. It came 19 seconds after Potomak got a five-minute major penalty for boarding after a long officials' review of the play.

Fortunately for the Gophers (18-6-1), they didn't have to kill all five minutes because Watts got a minor penalty for interference at 10:11, so the teams played 4-on-4 for two minutes.

Potomak got her game-winner on a rush with Audrey Wethington, who passed the puck to the native of Aldergrove, British Columbia, racing down the left side. She beat Blair with a shot into the upper left corner from close range. That gave her 46 goals — six game-winners — and 55 assists for 101 points in 114 games.