MADISON, Wis. --- The University of North Dakota women's hockey team will head into the Christmas break with a sour taste in its mouth after suffering a 3-1 loss No. 9 Wisconsin Sunday at the LaBahn Arena.
UND was swept in the final series of 2012 sending it into the break with an 11-7-0 record (8-6-0-0) and will have until the New Year to answer some questions it will face.
In an extremely competitive series, North Dakota seemed to let one get away from them yesterday but the Badgers were a step ahead in most of today's game.
UND netminder Shelby Amsley-Benzie (Warroad, Minn.) helped UND weather the storm early with a good first period, stopping all 12 shots faced.
Wisconsin took advantage of its home atmosphere this weekend and feed off the crowd. Courtney Burke opened the game's scoring on the power play at the 5:21 mark.
For the second consecutive night, once the Badgers scored, they scored in bunches. Madison Packer doubled the lead with at 7:41 of the second period and Brianna Decker added a shorthanded goal at 9:53 to open a 3-0 lead.
UND needed to spend a majority of the end of the second period having to exert its energy defensively as it was whistled for four penalties, including a five-minute major and game misconduct to senior Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.).
The penalty-kill came through for UND, but the team still entered the second intermission trailing by the three-goal margin.
The Badgers would give North Dakota plenty of opportunities to come back and steal the game in the third period sending UND on the power-play four times.
A game misconduct and major checking-from-behind penalty on Courtney Burke gave UND a 5-on-3 advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.
UND's Meghan Dufault (Winnipeg, Manitoba) connected on a pass by Michelle Karvinen (Rodovre, Denmark) to get on the scoreboard and give UND life with 6:44 left in regulation and three minutes, 45 seconds of power-play time remaining.
The Badgers penalty-kill would stiffen and return to full strength getting a large ovation by the home crowd and giving them back all of the momentum.
Wisconsin concluded the game 1-for-8 one the power play while UND went 1-for-7.
UND returns to action on Jan. 3-4 when it heads to Lindenwood to open the New Year in non-conference action.
