UW women frozen out again

MINNEAPOLIS - The Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s season ended in heart-breaking fashion late Saturday night as they lost, 4-3, in two overtimes to Colgate at Ridder Arena.

Colgate senior Breanne Wilson-Bennett scored her third goal, on the power play, to send the Badgers (31-5-2) home from their fifth straight Frozen Four without a title.

UW outshot the Raiders, 33-17, through regulation and 48-24 overall, but struggled at times to get the puck past Colgate goalie Julia Vandyk, who had a career-high 45 saves. The Badgers doubled up on the 24 shots she usually faces per game. In fact, they surpassed that before the end of the second period.

It was an agonizing way to end a season but also the career of UW’s three seniors.

“We just pushed to the very last second. We had so many chances that we tried to will in, but they came up short,” said senior captain Baylee Wellhausen of Williams Bay. “This is our career here. It sucks not to win, but being a Badger has been amazing. I’ve dreamed of being a Badger since I was little…I think that we did everything we could.”

The Badgers, who had the sixth-best penalty kill in the nation heading into Friday, gave up three power-play goals in the game.

Friday’s semifinal lasted 96 minutes 3 seconds. It was the longest semifinal game and the second-longest game in women’s Frozen Four history.