In the wake of a disappointing series against WCHA rival Minnesota-Duluth, the No. 7 Wisconsin women’s hockey returns from the road and looks to repair the damage against St. Cloud State.

Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth met last weekend in a showdown for second place in the WCHA standings, as both teams were tied for the position with 21 points. For the first time since December 2007, the Badgers were swept, and as a result the team has fallen to a tie for third place with Bemidji State.

The series sweep marked a great reversal in momentum for the Badgers after their month-long winter break from the ice. Wisconsin (10-7-1, 13-8-3) entered the break on a six-game unbeaten streak, but upon resurfacing from their recess the team has dropped three of their first four games.

“The thing is I don’t think we need to change anything,” interim head coach Tracey DeKeyser said. “I don’t want to try and change things too much because things have been changing by themselves with injuries and people (junior Mallory Deluce and sophomore Carolyn Prevost) missing for Team Canada (Under-22 Team).”

“But, you know, I don’t have much bad things to say about our players because they’ve been working hard in practice and creating scoring ‘ops’ — but we’ve been getting some hot goalies unfortunately.”

Prevost returned to the active roster last weekend against UMD, and Deluce, who has been an integral part of the Badgers all season, will rejoin the team this weekend.

Although St. Cloud (6-9-3, 9-10-5) currently sits in sixth place of the WCHA, the team rests only four points behind Wisconsin after mounting an impressive unbeaten run. They lost only one of their last 11 contests, posting a 5-1-5 record.

Offensively, the Huskies lack depth in scoring threats and rely on four senior forwards: Caitlin Hogan, Felicia Nelson, Meaghan Pezon, and Holly Roberts. Nelson currently leads the nation with 19 goals. Together, the four have scored 51 of the team’s 57 goals this season. Only four other players have recorded goals for the Huskies — none of them more than twice.

Freshman goaltender Becca Ruegsegger knows that although keeping a watchful eye on the four forwards is a must, she cannot have them distract her from the rest of the roster.

“You need to prepare for every line the same way,” Ruegsegger said. “Like I said, you just have to be aware that they have those good players. You never know, a fourth line player could pull something out — like a good play or a nice shot — so you got to make sure that you are playing your game the way you know how to play.”

St. Cloud head coach Jeff Giesen has struggled to win at the Kohl Center, but earlier in the season his crew proved to be a challenging opponent after splitting the series in two very competitive games.

Senior forward Jasmine Giles is aware of the Huskies’ ability and the aggressive style of play that is on its way to Madison.

“Not much structure, just a lot of hard work,” Giles said. “They just go in and grind, go in the corner and sides. So that’s probably going to be the toughest part, is just how hard they work and we just got to work harder than them.”

With 10 games left in the regular season, the final stretch has just about arrived. Within that time, the Badgers will need to solidify a top-four finish in the conference in order to host a best-of-three series in the first round of the WCHA playoffs in Madison. While first place Minnesota has built a sizeable lead over the conference, five teams — separated by seven points — are locking horns for the other three spots.

DeKeyser and her teammates know they will have to pay close attention to details as the regular season winds down.

“These next games are very, very crucial, and it’s all about details,” DeKeyser said. “It’s about taking care of our defensive zone… and just try to make sure we don’t puck-watch. Rather, you know, we take care of our marks and our checks in our defensive zone and then put the puck in the net on the other end.”