Wisconsin women’s hockey shuts out Gophers to extend winning streak to 15

Kirsten Simms had two goals and an assist and Ava McNaughton made 17 saves as second-ranked Wisconsin defeated the No. 5 Gophers 4-0 on Saturday in Madison, Wis.

The victory was the 15th in a row for the defending national champion Badgers (27-4, 21-4), who defeated the Gophers 4-3 in overtime on Friday night at LaBahn Arena. The Gophers (24-6-1, 18-6-1) are the last team to defeat the Badgers, winning 5-3 at Ridder Arena on Dec. 8.

“A tough result today,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “Credit Wisconsin. They played a really strong game and we got away from our game in the second period. We turned too many pucks over and they ended up in our net.”

Simms scored twice in a four-minute span in the second period. She broke a scoreless tie 2 minutes, 27 seconds into the period, then made it 2-0 at 6:35. Simms assisted on Lacey Eden’s power-play goal with 3:39 remaining in regulation, and Maddi Wheeler completed the scoring by beating Lucy Morgan 21 seconds later.

Morgan finished with 27 saves for the Gophers, who play host to Minnesota Duluth next weekend in their final series of the regular season. “We’re excited to get back home and honor our seniors with two really big games against Minnesota Duluth,” Frost said.