The UND women’s hockey team had its three-game winning streak snapped last Friday as the team fell to Wisconsin 2-1 in overtime.

“I thought the first period was kind of a wash,” UND coach Brian Idalski said after Friday night’s loss. “We knew coming in the speed was going to be significantly different than the last couple of weekends for us we were on our heels a little bit.”

North Dakota found itself trailing for most of the game — down one goal to Wisconsin until late in the final period when Shannon Kaiser was able to finally get UND on the board. She tied the game 1-1 with three minutes remaining in regulation.

UND found a way to hold off Wisconsin for the remainder of the final period and forced an extra five minutes of play. But Wisconsin was able to find the back of the net just halfway into overtime.

“I thought the second was much better,” Idalski said. “We started to compete. Couple penalty kills at the end of the second skewed the shots for that a little bit. Overall, I thought we played well. Hit three posts and had some opportunities, we just have to capitalize because Wisconsin doesn’t give you a whole lot. Overall, I was proud of our effort tonight.”

Wisconsin hasn’t lost since Oct. 18, when the team was swept in a weekend series against Minnesota at home.

“We got to keep what was good,” Idalski said. “The energy, the will to compete and battle. We have to have a little chip on our shoulder for Sunday, get the extra day tomorrow to prepare and get healthy.”

Junior Becca Kohler earned conference honors as she was awarded offensive player of the week in the WCHA. In last week’s sweep over St. Cloud State, Kohler played a role in five of North Dakota’s nine goals scored against the Huskies. Kohler put two away herself on the weekend, one of those coming in game winning fashion.

The award marks the second time this season Kohler has received weekly honors in the WCHA. The junior currently has recorded 19 points through her 16 games played this season.  Koehler’s 1.18 PPG has her currently tied for No. 12 in the nation.

Kohler and Meghan Dufault also have both been named this past week to the Canadian National Development Team roster that will compete for the 2015 Nations Cup. Dufault has helped lead North Dakota’s offense, posting 16 points on the season. The tournament will take place Jan. 3-6, just before UND returns for the second half of the season.

The Nations Cup brings women’s national teams from Germany, Finland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. Kohler and Dufault have international experience in the past, but this will be the first time for both skaters being selected on women’s development team.

North Dakota has one final away series against RIT on the road before the upcoming month-long break. UND’s record currently is 8-8-2 and the team will kick off the second half of the season in a home series against Syracuse University Jan. 10.

Ben Novak is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].