2011–12 Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey season

The Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 2011–12 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. The Badgers failed to repeat as NCAA women's Frozen Four champions.

2011–12 Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey season
WCHA Regular Season Champions NCAA Division I National Runner-Up NCAA Championship Game, L 4–2 vs. Minnesota
Conference	1st WCHA
Home ice	Kohl Center
Rankings
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine	#2
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports	#2
Record
Overall	33–5–2
Home	18–2–0
Road	13–1–2
Neutral	2–2–0
Coaches and captains
Head coach	Mark Johnson
Assistant coaches	Peter Johnson Jackie Friesen
Captain(s)	Hillary Knight
Alternate captain(s)	Brooke Ammerman Carolyne Prévost Brianna Decker
Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey seasons « 2010–11

Offseason

• September 1: The Badgers women's ice hockey team will take part in the opening game festivities for the 2011 Wisconsin Badgers football team. The women's team will be at Badgerville, the official pre-game event of Wisconsin Athletics. Players will be at the event with their NCAA Frozen Four national championship trophy for photos and autographs.
• September 1: 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner and former Badgers player Meghan Duggan is a finalist for the 2011 Sportswoman of the Year Award, presented by the Women's Sports Foundation

Recruiting

Player	Nationality	Position	Notes
Katy Josephs	Canada	Forward	From Calgary, Alberta
Katarina Zgraja	Canada	Defense	Played for Bluevale Collegiate Institute
Blayre Turnbull	Canada	Forward	Played at Shattuck-Saint Mary's
Karley Sylvester	United States	Forward	Played high school hockey at Warroad, Minnesota

Regular season

News and notes

• Sept. 20: Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson was named one of four recipients of the 2011 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States.
• September 24: Karley Sylvester was the first freshman of the campaign to net a goal.
• On September 25, 2011, Hilary Knight scored her fifth career hat trick in a 13–0 defeat of the Lindenwood Lions. In addition, Briana Decker scored her third career hat trick. The 13 goals scored by the Badgers were tied for third most in the NCAA women's ice hockey all-time list for most goals scored in a game by a team.
• Nov. 18–19: Carolyne Prevost became the 17th player in program history to record 100 career points. In a victory over RPI, she netted the first goal of the game for Wisconsin. She would also record an assist in the match. The following day, Prevost recorded six points in the finale against RPI. It was a team-high for any Wisconsin skater this season. She scored two goals, including the game winner, and helped on four other goals to establish a new career high for most points in one game.
• Nov. 19: Brianna Decker recorded her sixth career hat trick as the Badgers celebrated an 8–2 victory against RPI. In addition, she extended her point scoring streak to 24 games.
• November 25: In Wisconsin’s fifth shutout of the season, Brianna Decker and Hilary Knight netted two goals apiece in a 5–0 victory over St. Cloud State. Brianna Decker extended her point scoring streak to 26 games, a program record, while Alex Rigsby earned her 10th career shutout.
• December 10: In a WCHA contest versus Bemidji State, Hilary Knight produced four points, giving her a career total of 239. She has now surpassed Meghan Duggan’s 238 career points, to become the Wisconsin Badgers all-time leading point scorer. For her efforts, Knight was recognized as the WCHA Player of the Week.
• January 27–28: Wisconsin posted a two-game sweep of Bemidji State. In the first game, Madison Packer scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Badgers prevailed by a 3–2 score. The following day, Hilary Knight notched her first goal since Dec. 10 with 7:38 left in the third period. Said goal would stand as the game winner on Fill the Bowl nights. A record crowd of 12,402 attended the Kohl Center. Alex Rigby made 28 saves to obtain her sixth shutout of the campaign. Her rival between the pipes, Bemidji State netminder Zuzana Tomcikova made 32 saves. Wisconsin is the only team to sweep the season series from the Beavers during the 2011–12 season. The previous record for most fans to watch a women's college hockey game at the Kohl Center was 10,668. That record was set at the Kohl Center on Jan. 29, 2011.

Standings

2011–12 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
	Conference									Overall
	GP	W	L	T	SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#1 Wisconsin†	28	23	3	2	1	72	113	44		37	31	4	2	170	53
#2 Minnesota*	28	21	5	2	1	66	113	43		37	30	5	2	167	50
#6 North Dakota	28	16	9	3	2	53	116	75		36	22	11	3	154	89
#9 Minnesota Duluth	28	15	12	1	1	47	91	61		36	21	13	1	121	77
Ohio State	28	13	14	1	1	41	75	96		36	16	16	4	99	115
Bemidji State	28	11	15	2	0	35	70	73		37	17	17	3	101	85
St. Cloud State	28	4	24	0	0	12	32	150		36	5	29	2	37	130
Minnesota State	28	3	24	1	0	10	37	105		36	7	28	1	64	133
Championship: Minnesota † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion National rankings:[1] Conference rankings:[2] Updated March 23, 2012

Schedule and results

•    Green background indicates win (3 points).
•    Yellow background indicates shootout win (2 points).
•    Red background indicates loss (0 points).
•    White background indicates tie (1 point).

2011–12 Schedule and Results
September: 2–0–0 (Home: 2–0–0; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 1† September 23 Lindenwood 0–11 Wisconsin Rigsby 1,417 0–0–0–0 1–0–0 [3] 2† September 25 Lindenwood 0–13 Wisconsin Rigsby 544 0–0–0–0 2–0–0 [4]
October: 7–1–0 (Home: 5–1–0; Road: 2–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 3 October 8 North Dakota 2–5 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,136 1–0–0–0 3–0–0 [5] 4 October 9 North Dakota 2–3 Wisconsin OT Rigsby 1,971 2–0–0–0 4–0–0 [6] 5 October 14 Minnesota 2–3 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,379 3–0–0–0 5–0–0 [7] 6 October 16 Minnesota 3–2 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,603 3–1–0–0 5–1–0 [8] 7 October 21 Wisconsin 4–3 Minnesota Duluth Rigsby 1,338 4–1–0–0 6–1–0 [9] 8 October 22 Wisconsin 6–3 Minnesota Duluth Rigsby 1,409 5–1–0–0 7–1–0 [10] 9† October 28 Boston University 0–3 Wisconsin Rigsby 3,298 5–1–0–0 8–1–0 [11] 10† October 29 Boston University 1–6 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,243 5–1–0–0 9–1–0 [12]
November: 6–0–0 (Home: 2–0–0; Road: 4–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 11 November 4 Wisconsin 3–1 Ohio State Rigsby 478 6–1–0–0 10–1–0 [13] 12 November 5 Wisconsin 2–0 Ohio State Rigsby 311 7–1–0–0 11–1–0 [14] 13† November 18 Wisconsin 4–3 Rensselaer Rigsby 100 7–1–0–0 12–1–0 [15] 14† November 19 Wisconsin 8–2 Rensselaer Rigsby 100 7–1–0–0 13–1–0 [16] 15 November 25 St. Cloud State 0–5 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,758 8–1–0–0 14–1–0 [17] 16 November 27 St. Cloud State 1–6 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,615 9–1–0–0 15–1–0 [18]
December: 4–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Road: 4–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 17 December 2 Wisconsin 4–0 Minnesota State Rigsby 102 10–1–0–0 16–1–0 [19] 18 December 3 Wisconsin 5–1 Minnesota State Rigsby 99 11–1–0–0 17–1–0 [20] 19 December 9 Wisconsin 3–1 Bemidji State Rigsby 234 12–1–0–0 18–1–0 [21] 20 December 10 Wisconsin 3–1 Bemidji State Rigsby 329 13–1–0–0 19–1–0 [22]
January: 5–1–2 (Home: 4–0–0; Road: 1–1–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 21 January 6 Wisconsin 3–3 Minnesota OT Rigsby 2,554 13–1–1–1 19–1–1 [23] 22 January 7 Wisconsin 0–1 Minnesota Rigsby 2,666 13–2–1–1 19–2–1 [24] 23 January 14 Wisconsin 8–2 North Dakota Rigsby 1,621 14–2–1–1 20–2–1 [25] 24 January 15 Wisconsin 4–4 North Dakota OT Rigsby 899 14–2–2–1 20–2–2 [26] 25 January 20 Minnesota Duluth 0–2 Wisconsin Rigsby 1,924 15–2–2–1 21–2–2 [27] 26 January 21 Minnesota Duluth 3–4 Wisconsin OT Rigsby 3,694 16–2–2–1 22–2–2 [28] 27 January 27 Bemidji State 2–3 Wisconsin OT Rigsby 2,690 17–2–2–1 23–2–2 [29] 28 January 28 Bemidji State 0–1 Wisconsin Rigsby 12,402 18–2–2–1 24–2–2 [30]
February: 7–1–0 (Home: 5–1–0; Road: 2–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 29 February 3 Minnesota State 2–5 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,047 19–2–2–1 25–2–2 [31] 30 February 5 Minnesota State 0–6 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,695 20–2–2–1 26–2–2 [32] 31 February 10 Wisconsin 5–0 St. Cloud State Rigsby 253 21–2–2–1 27–2–2 [33] 32 February 11 Wisconsin 6–2 St. Cloud State Rigsby 399 22–2–2–1 28–2–2 [34] 33 February 17 Ohio State 1–7 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,157 23–2–2–1 29–2–2 [35] 34 February 18 Ohio State 4–2 Wisconsin Rigsby 3,576 23–3–2–1 29–3–2 [36] 35†‡ February 24 Minnesota State 0–7 Wisconsin Rigsby 804 23–3–2–1 30–3–2 [37] 36†‡ February 25 Minnesota State 0–4 Wisconsin Rigsby 824 23–3–2–1 31–3–2 [38]
March: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Road: 0–0–0; Neutral: 2–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance WCHA Overall Box score 37†° March 2 Minnesota Duluth 3–1 Wisconsin Rigsby 1,057 23–3–2–1 31–4–2 [39] 38†¤ March 10 Mercyhurst 1–3 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,946 23–3–2–1 32–4–2 [40] 39†¥ March 16 Boston College 2–6 Wisconsin Rigsby 1,388 23–3–2–1 33–4–2 [41] 40†§ March 18 Minnesota 4–2 Wisconsin Rigsby 2,439 23–3–2–1 33–5–2 [42]
† Non-conference game  ‡ 2012 WCHA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament first round game  ° 2012 WCHA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament semifinal game ¤ 2012 NCAA Quarterfinal game  ¥ 2012 NCAA Semifinal game  § 2012 NCAA Championship game

Awards and honors

• Brooke Ammerman, WCHA Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Week of February 22, 2012)
• Brianna Decker, 2012 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award
• Katy Josephs, WCHA Rookie of the Week (Week of November 28, 2011)
• Hilary Knight, WCHA Player of the Week (Week of December 14, 2011)
• Carolyne Prevost, WCHA Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Week of November 21, 2011)
• Carolyne Prevost, WCHA Player of the Week (Week of January 17, 2012)
• Alex Rigsby, WCHA Defensive Player of the Week (Week of October 18, 2011)
• Alex Rigsby, WCHA Defensive Player of the Week (Week of October 25, 2011)
• Alex Rigsby, WCHA Defensive Player of the Week (Week of February 1, 2012)
• Blayre Turnbull, WCHA Rookie of the Week (Week of October 5, 2011)

See also

• 2011-12 Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey season