Four teams closed out the first half of the 2025-26 Western Collegiate Hockey Association season with victories in Saturday's action. The top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, No. 3 Minnesota, and No. 5 Minnesota Duluth earned series sweeps over their respective opponents, while No. 12 Minnesota State earned an overtime win against No. 13 St. Cloud State for the series split.
No. 3 Minnesota 4, RV St. Thomas 1 | BOX SCORE | Minnesota Recap | St. Thomas Recap
- The third-ranked Golden Gophers set the tone early en route to a series sweep of RV St. Thomas with the 4-1 victory; the win marked the Gophers' 10th win in conference play and 14th on the season.
- Minnesota recorded two goals in the first six minutes of play from Madison Kaiser and Abbey Murphy while tacking on two more in the second frame; St. Thomas' lone goal came from Ellah Hause at the 10:39 mark of the third period.
- Murphy recorded her 26th career game-winning goal, marking the most in Minnesota program history; teammate Josefin Bouveng tallied a goal in the win to extend her point streak to 17 consecutive games.
- The Gophers outshot the Tommies 38-14 as Layla Hemp stopped 12 of the 13 shots she faced to earn the win in net.
No. 12 Minnesota State 3, No. 13 St. Cloud State 2 OT | BOX SCORE | Minnesota State Recap
- In a top-15 matchup between No. 12 Minnesota State and No. 13 St. Cloud State, the Mavericks earned the overtime win to split the series with the Huskies; the Mavericks have now won six of their past 10 games.
- Zoe Lopez scored 49 seconds into the game for the 1-0 Minnesota State lead; Mercury Bischoff put the Mavericks' up two 30 seconds into the second period before Avery Farrell lit the lamp for the Huskies later in the period; Sofianna Sundelin then scored the game-tying goal early into the third period; Kamryn Van Batavia scored the game-winning goal at the 1:50 mark of overtime.
- Taylor Otremba led all skaters with two points in the win with her two assists, as she tallied a helper on the Mavericks' overtime goal; the Mavericks earned their first overtime win of the season.
- Six different Huskies registered a point in the loss, while Emilia Kyrkkö made 28 saves in the net.
No. 1 Wisconsin 6, No. 2 Ohio State 1 | BOX SCORE | Wisconsin Recap | Ohio State Recap
- The top-ranked Wisconsin Badgers completed the series sweep against No. 2 Ohio State with a 6-1 win; it marked the Badgers' first series sweep over the Buckeyes since the 2021-22 season.
- Up 1-0 after the first frame, the Badgers scored three unanswered goals in the second period, with Caroline Harvey, Maggie Scannell, and Kelly Gorbatenko each tallying one; Gorbatenko got her second in the third period before Mira Jungåker tallied the lone goal for Ohio State at the 15:58 mark; Wisconsin' Hannah Halverson then netted one with five second left for the 6-1 win.
- Harvey extended her point streak to 17 games with her team-high three points in the win and is tied with Minnesota's Josefin Bouveng for the longest in the country; Ava McNaughton recorded 35 saves in the victory.
- The Badgers now hold a five-point advantage in the league standings after coming into the series just one point shy of the Buckeyes.
No. 5 Minnesota Duluth 4, Bemidji State 0 | BOX SCORE | Bemidji State Recap
- A three-goal third period helped No. 5 Minnesota Duluth to a 4-0 shutout against Bemidji State as the Bulldogs earned the series sweep; UMD improved to 8-6-0 in WCHA games with the win.
- Rookie forward Rae Mayer scored the game's first goal 3:05 into the game; after a scoreless second period, the Bulldogs tallied three in the final frame from Thea Johansson, Madison Burr, Madison, and Danielle Burgen.
- Ève Gascon earned her fourth shutout of the season and 15th of her career, just one shy of UMD's fourth all-time spot held by All-American and goaltending great Kim Martin with 16.
- Sophomore goaltender Kaitlin Groess made 28 saves in net for Bemidji State, including stopping 22-of-23 before the third period.
*Rankings based on USCHO Division I Women's Poll
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