Part of the motivation for the Gophers women’s hockey team’s for reaching the Frozen Four at Ridder Arena was preventing another team from taking over its locker room. While the Gophers succeeded in that regard, they couldn’t prevent the Wisconsin Badgers — and their fans — from taking ove r their arena. Playing before a sellout crowd dominated by boisterous Wisconsin fans Friday night, the top-ranked Badgers beat the Gophers, 6-2, setting up a rematch of last year’s title game won by Ohio State, 1-0. For the Gophers (29-12-1) it was a disappointing end to a season that had them riding high after beating Ohio State in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Faceoff and taking the Badgers down to the wire in the championship game. “Obviously disappointed with the result,” said Gophers coach Brad Frost. “But love this team. They played for each other all season and left it all out there tonight.” The Gophers would have had to play close to a perfect game in order to beat the Badgers, and they made too many mistakes to give themselves a decent chance to pull off the upset. “They’re obviously a very talented team,” Frost said. “We gave away way too many odd-man rushes against them, and unfortunately a lot of them ended up in our net.” The Badgers, who improved to 37-1-2, looked very much like the best team in the country, with Laila Edwards leading the way with a hat trick. “I’m living the dream right now,” Edwards said. “Playing the game I love with players I love.” The Badgers beat the Gophers all six times the teams met this season. “Very proud of the team,” said Badgers coach Mark Johnson. “They did something that was hard to do, beating a team six times — a good team in their own building.” The Badgers were very appreciative of the support they received from their fans. “It felt like a home game,” Edwards said. The Gophers got off to a good start. Shortly after they killed off a five-minute elbow penalty to Abbey Murphy midway through the first period, Peyton Hemp gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead when she buried a centering pass from Ava Lindsay for her 16th goal of the season. The Gophers had a chance to add to their lead when they went on a power play at 16:36 of the period, but Edwards scored a shorthanded goal 39 seconds later when she ripped a wrist shot past Hannah Clark. Related Articles College Sports | NCAA wrestling: Gophers’ McEnelly, Steveson advance to semifinals College Sports | WBIT: Gophers hold off Toledo to advance to second round College Sports | NCAA Frozen Four: Gophers, Badgers ready for Chapter 6 College Sports | Gophers football: Quarterback Drake Lindsey will need to earn starting spot College Sports | Gophers gain commitment from Arizona prep receiver Rico Blassingame Caroline Harvey gave the Badgers a 2-1 lead at 2:52 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the right-wing circle. Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms made it a 3-1 game at 9:42, but the Gophers responded with a goal 45 seconds later, with Josefin Bouveng scoring on a wrist shot from the slot. With the teams playing four on four, Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien beat Clark on a wrist shot with two seconds remaining in the period to give the Badgers a 4-2 lead heading into the third period. Edwards scored her second goal of the game at 4:22 of the third period, finishing off a two-on-one break. She completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:41. “I got really excited when Casey scored with two seconds to play,” Johnson said. “They came back to score to make it 3-2, so it was good to go into the third with a two-goal lead.” ...read more read less