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UW WHKY:
Women's hockey announces 2011-12 schedule
MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey
program today announced its schedule
for the upcoming 2011-12 season. Highlighting the nonconference portion
of the schedule is a rematch
of last season’s national championship game as the Badgers will
host Boston University at the Kohl
Center on October 28-29.
As always, the 28-game Western Collegiate Hockey
Association slate features some of the toughest
competition in the nation, including arch-rivals Minnesota and
Minnesota Duluth, along with North
Dakota.
The Badgers will first take to the ice on Sept. 17
for their annual Red and White Scrimmage. The
following weekend, Sept. 23 and 25, UW will open the regular season
against NCAA Division I
newcomers Lindenwood University from St. Charles, Mo. The Lady Lions
were previously members of
the American Collegiate Hockey Association, a club hockey association,
have made the jump to Division I
for the 2011-12 season and will be one of two independent teams in the
nation. The games are
scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Starting off October, the Badgers open WCHA play
against the University of North Dakota, which
features U.S. Women’s National Team players Jocelyne Lamouruex
and twin sister Monique Lamoureux-
Kolls, on Oct. 8-9 at the Kohl Center. The last time the two teams met
was at the WCHA Final Face-Off in
Minneapolis and UW sent UND home from its first-ever appearance at the
conference tournament.
Game times are set to begin at 2 p.m.
Staying at home, Wisconsin will host the rival
Golden Gophers on Oct.14 and 16 at the Kohl Center.
Game times will be 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
The first road test for the Badgers will be a trip
up north to Minnesota Duluth (Oct. 21-22) to face off
against the five-time national champions at Amsoil Arena.
Closing out
October will feature a rematch of last year’s title game as
Boston University travels to
Madison on Oct. 28-29. The Badgers knocked off the Terriers 4-1 in the
2011 NCAA Women’s Frozen
Four to claim the school’s fourth national title. The series will
also be Kid’s Day at the Kohl Center and
game times are slated to begin at 2 p.m.
November will have the Badgers start the month with two road trips. A
trip to conference-foe Ohio
State (Nov. 4-5) will precede a nonconference matchup against
Rensselaer Polytechnic (RPI) over the
Nov. 18-19 weekend in Troy, N.Y.
Wisconsin will then take the third weekend of November off before
closing out the month with a home
series against St. Cloud State on Nov. 25 and 27. Both games will begin
at 2 p.m.
The series against St. Cloud State will be the last chance for fans to
see the women’s hockey team in
action at home until the new year. December features two matchups, both
in the state of Minnesota.
The Badgers will be in Mankato, Minn. on Dec. 2-3 for a series against
Minnesota State before heading
north to take on Bemidji State (Dec. 9-10) for the final series of the
2011 calendar year.
UW will continue its road trip into the new year as the Badgers travel
to Ridder Arena in Minneapolis
(Jan. 6-7) to face-off against the Golden Gophers. On Jan. 14-15
Wisconsin will head to Ralph Engelstad
Arena in Grand Forks, N.D. to finish the regular season series against
UND.
Returning home after almost two months, the Badgers will host Minnesota
Duluth over the Jan. 19-21
weekend and turn around to host Bemidji State over Jan. 28-30.
The final stretch of the regular season will feature UW returning to
the Kohl Center to entertain
Minnesota State on Feb. 3-5. Wisconsin will then travel to St. Cloud
State on Feb. 10-11 before closing
out the regular season with the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Kohl Center
on Feb. 17-19.
The postseason will begin with the first round of WCHA playoffs taking
place over Feb. 24-26. The first
round is a best-of-three series with the higher seed hosting the games.
The WCHA Final Face-Off will be held on March 2-3 in Duluth, Minn. at
Amsoil Arena. The winner of the
tournament will gain an automatic bid to the NCAA Quarterfinals which
take place over March 9-11 and
will be at the higher seed’s intuition.
The 2012 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four will be held at Amsoil Arena in
Duluth, Minn., and will be played
on Friday, March 16, with the title game being played on the following
Sunday, March 18.
Game times and dates are subject to change.
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