History
On October 8, 1999, the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs played the Wisconsin Badgers in the first ever Women's WCHA conference game at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the highest attended game of the season (3,892) and resulted in an 8–1 defeat of the Badgers. [2]
In 2006, the Wisconsin Badgers became the first team outside the state of Minnesota to win the Women's Frozen Four championship. The Badgers defeated the defending champions, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, by 3–0 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [3]
On January 28, 2012, the Wisconsin Badgers broke the NCAA women's hockey attendance record for the third consecutive year [4] with 12,402 fans in attendance. [5] The game was part of a two-game sweep of the Bemidji State Beavers. 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 on January 29, 2011. [6]
On November 6, 2016, Ann-Renee Desbiens achieved career shutout number 44, breaking Noora Raty’s record for most NCAA career shutouts. [7]
An 8–2 win on December 4, 2016, against their rivals, the Minnesota Golden Gophers resulted in a career milestone. Playing in front of a sellout crowd at Labahn Arena, Sarah Nurse scored a hat trick, becoming the first player in program history to score a hat trick against Minnesota. [8] It marked the first time that Wisconsin scored eight goals in a game since October 11, 2015, against Ohio State, as five different Badgers scored at least one goal.
On January 14, 2017, Wisconsin once again broke its own NCAA women's hockey single-game attendance record of 13,573 which was set in 2014. The Badgers defeated St. Cloud State 2–0 at their Fill the Bowl event in front of a crowd of 15,359. [9]
Appearing in the 2021 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament versus the Northeastern Huskies, Daryl Watts scored the game-winning goal in a 2–1 overtime win. [10] With the win, the program captured its sixth national championship, all with Mark Johnson as head coach.
On March 19, 2023, the Badgers became the lowest seed to win an NCAA women's hockey tournament as Wisconsin knocked off top-seeded Ohio State, 1–0, to claim the program's record-breaking seventh NCAA title at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Kirsten Simms scored the lone goal of the game assisted by Claire Enright and Cami Kronish stopped all 31 shots she faced en route to being named the Most Outstanding Performer of the Tournament. UW also defeated the No. 2 seed, Minnesota, and the No. 3 seed, Colgate, on the way to its third NCAA title in five years.
On March 23, 2025, the Badgers defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes in the NCAA championship game at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trailing 1-0 in the first period and 3-1 in the second, the badgers tied the game with 18.9 seconds in the third period thanks to a Kirstin Simms penalty shot. The penalty shot was awarded due to an Ohio State player closing her hand around the puck in the goal crease, and infraction uncovered after a video review that Laila Edwards advocated for to the Badger coaching staff. In overtime, a rebound from a shot by Lacey Eden found Simms, who scored to give the Badgers the win and an NCAA record eighth title.
Current season 
