Double sweeps for UW hockey teams

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It was a weekend of double sweeps for the University of Wisconsin hockey teams. The women's team advanced in the WCHA tournament by beating St. Cloud State and the men's team crushed Nebraska-Omaha.

Mark Zengerle had a goal and three assists in the Wisconsin men’s hockey team’s 6-1 rout of Nebraska-Omaha Saturday on the road. That victory gave the Badgers a sweep of the weekend series. After a bad start to the season, Wisconsin’s overall record now is a respectable 16-11-7, including 12-7-7 in the WCHA conference play. Zengerle had a goal in each of the weekend games. The Badgers are in fourth place in the conference standings, four points behind leader St. Cloud State with two games left in the regular season. Michael Mersch had two goals and two assists in Saturday’s win, while Tyler Barnes added a goal and a pair of assists. Joel Rumpel made 27 saves in goal to claim the victory which allowed Wisconsin to leap over UNO in the standings. If the Badgers sweep SCSU next weekend and Minnesota and North Dakota split their respective series, they will claim a share of the WCHA title for the first time since 2000 in UW's final season in the league. The two games between UW and St. Cloud State will be played at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

The Wisconsin women’s hockey team scored three times in the final period to break a 1-1 tie and sweep the best-of-three playoff series against St. Cloud State at the LaBahn Arena in Madison. The 4-1 victory means the Badgers take on North Dakota next Friday in the Final Faceoff in Minneapolis. Katy Josephs scored Wisconsin first two goals, then Madison Packer and Brianna Decker wrapped up the scoring. Goalie Alex Rigsby made 22 saves, including six when her team was a player short on penalty kills. All four of the first-round playoff series in the WCHA ended in sweeps. The Badgers game with North Dakota will start at 4 p.m. March 8th, then number-one seeded Minnesota takes on Ohio State at 7 p.m. Wisconsin is seeded second on the basis of a 23-9-2 season record.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, hockey, badgers