Wisconsin
Wisconsin women’s hockey dominates vs. No. 3 Minnesota, expects a tough game Sunday
WIsconsin women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson on deer that hit his car
Mark Johnson hit a deer on his way home from a game in Madison. Both were OK. But the incident got him thinking, and he was tickled telling the tale.
MADISON – On senior day, against one of the best women’s hockey teams in the country, Wisconsin had a chance to wrap up its 10th WCHA regular-season championship Saturday.
Might as well seal it all with a rout.
“I think regardless of the outcome today, there’s already so many emotions with senior day across the board, but I think we did a really good job of focusing in once the game started and kind of shutting those emotions out,” senior center Casey O’Brien said after the top-ranked Badgers erupted for an 8-2 victory over No. 3 Minnesota.
“And then I think right away, in the first period, we like felt just like we were playing so much lighter than maybe the past few weekends, and everything was clicking. And so there’s really no better way to end senior day than with a regular-season title. And so I think we’re all just happy that we kind of found our game again and played really well today.”
Wisconsin (28-1-2, 22-1-2 WCHA) suffered its only loss in November to No. 2 Ohio State. The past two weekends, though, the Badgers have played to a 2-2 tie with St. Cloud State and edged Minnesota Duluth, 2-1, in a pair of games, the second in overtime.
“Sometimes you kind of get the dog days of winter, and the season’s so long, so sometimes that just catches up too,” O’Brien said of the previous two weekends. “But I also think, like St. Cloud and Duluth play a really physical, really hard game, and so sometimes that slows the game down for us and can get us frustrated. And so I think things just opened up a little bit today for us.”
Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien, Laila Edwards lead nation in scoring
Twelve Badgers figured in the scoring. Junior right wing Laila Edwards got UW on the scoreboard first at 4:01 of the first period and, like O’Brien, finished with two goals. Edwards added two assists, and junior left wing Kirsten Simms also had a four-point game with four assists.
Edwards is the leading goal scorer in NCAA Division I with 28 plus 31 assists, and O’Brien leads overall scoring with 62 points on 20 goals and 42 assists.
“I thought the energy level was high being senior day, knowing there’s a lot of energy in the building,” coach Mark Johnson said. “So can we get off to a good start from the get-go?
“Other than maybe the first power play that we had early in the game, we played well. I was looking for 60 consecutive minutes of play and got most of that probably. I wasn’t expecting eight goals.”
Sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton made 18 saves on 20 Minnesota shots on goal, one in the first period that made it 2-1 and the other early in the third period that made it 7-2.
UW celebrates with pictures … and a surprise
Afterward the Badgers accepted the trophy from WCHA commissioner and posed for photos at center ice, although Edwards initially was caught off guard.
“I think I knew a couple days ago,” she said, “but during the game, I didn’t even think about it, so I was ready to get off the ice, and I see this big silver thing coming on.”
Wisconsin women’s hockey team has three games left in the regular season
Minnesota (22-7-1, 16-6-1) and Wisconsin wrap up their season series at noon Sunday. UW swept the series in Minneapolis in October, 5-0 and 4-3.
Saturday’s game was reminiscent of the first game of the Badgers’ January series against No. 2 Ohio State, when UW won, 6-0, at LaBahn. Then the teams played two nights later at Wrigley Field, where they tied and OSU won the shootout.
“We know they’re going to come all hard tomorrow,” Edwards said. “No one likes to get beat 8-2, especially the Gophers, when you’re rivals. So we just got to be ready for tomorrow. And I think if we play like that, we can beat any team.”
Then Wisconsin has a weekend off before finishing its WCHA regular season Feb. 21-22 against Bemidji State in Bemidji, Minnesota.
About 1,000 animal welfare activists who tried to gain entry on Saturday to a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin were turned back by police who fired rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd and arrested the group’s leader.
It was the second attempt in as many months by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (about 40 kilometres) southwest of Wisconsin’s capital, Madison.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 300 to 400 protesters were “violently trying to break into the property” and assault officers. He said protesters have ignored designated areas for peaceful protest and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering.
“This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.
The sheriff’s department said a “significant” number of people were arrested out of about 1,000 protesters at the site but did not give an exact total as they were still being processed as of the afternoon.
Protesters tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence. Some protesters did get through the fence but were unable to enter the facility, where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde reflects on early March Madness exit
Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde said the Badgers ‘thought we could do so many things’ in the NCAA Tournament before it ended abrupty with an upset loss.
Wisconsin men’s basketball has added a sharpshooting wing via the transfer portal.
Miami (Ohio) transfer Eian Elmer has signed with the Badgers, the team announced April 18. The 6-foot-7 wing will join UW with one year of eligibility remaining.
Elmer averaged a career-high 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 49.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range in 2025-26. His production helped the RedHawks go 32-2 and earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
“We are really excited to add another excellent addition to our spring signees,” UW coach Greg Gard said in a release. “Eian brings a wealth of experience and scoring punch as a 6-7 wing. … A terrific shooter, his skillset and production fit excellently into our plan as we build out next year’s team. Throughout our evaluation process, our staff loved his size, power and skill and truly believe he will thrive in our system.”
Elmer is Wisconsin’s third transfer portal addition since the end of the 2025-26 season, joining former George Washington guard Trey Autry and former Hofstra forward Victory Onuetu. UW also added Australian guard Owen Foxwell.
The additions of Autry, Onuetu and now Elmer leave Gard’s staff with three more roster spots to fill ahead of the 2026-27 season.
The Badgers are looking to replace much of their production from a 2025-26 team that went 24-11. Nolan Winter is expected to be the team’s only returning starter after John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas entered the transfer portal and Nick Boyd and Andrew Rohde exhausted their eligibility.
MILWAUKEE – Friday’s severe storms have passed. And with that, the threat of any severe weather has also passed for the immediate future as no storms or rain are expected for several days.
However, plenty of damage remains across southeastern Wisconsin as of Saturday morning, in addition to the ongoing flooding threat.
Several area rivers are at flood stage, and there are multiple river flood warnings in effect.
FOX6 Weekend WakeUp on Saturday begins at 6 a.m.
On the scene in the morning
What we know:
Farmstead damage in Franklin
FOX6’s Hayley Spitler is in Franklin on Saturday morning, April 18, getting a daylight look at the damage from last night’s storms.
Storm damage in Caledonia
Friday’s storms left quite the mark across southern and southeastern Wisconsin, including at L and L Farms and Greenhouse in Caledonia.
FOX6 Weather Extras
Local perspective:
Meanwhile, FOX6Now.com offers a variety of extremely useful weather tools to help you navigate the stormy season. They include the following:
FOX6 Storm Center app
FOX LOCAL Mobile app
FOX Weather app
Maps and radar
We have a host of maps and radars on the FOX6 Weather page that are updating regularly — to provide you the most accurate assessment of the weather. From a county-by-county view to the Midwest regional radar and a national view — it’s all there.
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School and business closings
When the weather gets a little dicey, schools and businesses may shut down. Monitor the latest list of closings, cancellations, and delays reported in southeast Wisconsin.
FOX6 Weather Experts in social media
The Source: Information in this post was compiled by the FOX6 Weather Experts.
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