MADISON, Wis. — Thanks to the efforts of a balanced Badger offense, the No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team opened the new year with a 6-0 victory over Minnesota State Saturday afternoon at LaBahn Arena.

The Badgers' first goal of the calendar year came on the power play as junior Sam Cogan slotted the puck between the legs of Minnesota State (3-19-1, 1-14-0-0 WCHA) goaltender Katie Bidulka to give Wisconsin (22-1-0, 13-0-0-0 WCHA) a 1-0 lead early in the first period.

After freshman Brette Pettet stretched the lead to 2-0 with a backhanded goal late in the first frame, senior captain Claudia Kepler notched her 50th career goal four minutes into the second period to extend the Badgers’ lead to 3-0. Kepler leads Wisconsin in goal-scoring this season with 12 goals on the year.

Senior Baylee Wellhausen, and sophomores Maddie Rowe and Alexis Mauermann each contributed goals to top off the Badgers’ scoring at 6-0.

Three Notes of the Game
Following the Badgers’ sixth-straight win, Wisconsin improved to 13-0-0 in conference play for the first time in program history.

Sophomore goaltender Kristen Campbell earned her seventh shutout of the season, stopping all 16 shots she faced. Along with Ohio State netminder Kassidy Suave, Campbell’s seven clean slates lead the WCHA and rank second in the NCAA.

UW outshot the Mavericks, 42-16, marking the 22nd time the Badgers have outshot an opponent this season.

Play of the Game
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the second period, Campbell stuffed a breakaway attempt from MSU forward Brittyn Fleming, denying the Mavericks their top scoring opportunity of the night.

Straight from the Rink
Head coach Mark Johnson

On coming back from a month-long break:
"I talked about trying to play like you've practiced the last 10 or 12 days. If we were able to do that for a whole game, I'd walk away (saying) 'that was good.'"

On scoring power-play goals:
"If you have a script to start off, 'how would you like to score?' it would be a power-play goal. We made some adjustments, we worked on it, and the fun part about it is they get rewarded for working at it. It's a good way to start."

On having a sold-out game:
"I think the players feed off the crowd. It's great having a full house. You can feel the energy. You can feel it on the bench. For the players, it's fun for them (to play) in front of a full house."

Junior forward Sam Cogan

On if it took a few minutes to get back in the swing of things:
“We’ve been working hard the past couple weeks off ice and I think that definitely helped. We’re all really excited to play a game finally because last week we didn’t have any games. I think we were all pretty fired up. Coming back here early definitely really helped.”

On the power play:
“I think we were all really excited to get a goal on the power play. We’ve been waiting awhile to get one. Coach switched up the lines a little bit on the power play and it payed off in the end. Everybody was super excited and happy to get the first goal.”

Senior forward Claudia Kepler

On scoring her 50th goal at home:
“It’s my mom’s birthday today too so that was really fun to be able to do that for her. It was a great start for our team and it was really fun to be out there.”

On moving forward from this win:
“I think we have to knock off the rust and keep building on each game we play. We know what we’ve done in the past but it’s a new year and we’re starting the second half of the season and we’re ready to go. We’re still learning.”

Up next
Wisconsin and Minnesota State wrap up their series Sunday at LaBahn Arena. Puck drop is set for 1 p.m. and the game is sold out.