Lacey Eden gets 100th goal, Wisconsin hockey moves closer to WCHA title
MADISON – History and a hat trick? It was all in a day’s work for Lacey Eden.
On the way to record her second career hat trick, the senior forward for the Wisconsin women’s hockey team became the fourth player in program history to score 100 goals.
Eden also recorded two assists for her first five-point game.
“It was a really fun game to play,” she said. “I think we played a complete game. We played 60 minutes. They came out pretty hard in the first period and gave us some competition there and we were able to get over that (hump) and just work hard and it showed up on the scoreboard today for us.”
The accomplishment was part of an eventful afternoon for the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.
First and foremost, the Badgers (28-3-2, 22-3-2 WCHA, 69 points) defeated St. Cloud State, 9-2, at LaBahn Arena to move within one victory of the WCHA regular-season title.
And individually Eden wasn’t even the team’s top goal scorer. That distinction went to junior Kelly Gorbatenko, who finished with four goals, two better than her previous single-game high.
A lot of Badgers in the mix. Six players had multi-point performances. Senior Vivian Jungels and junior Laney Potter set single-game career highs with three and four assists, respectively. Freshman Charlotte Piekenhagen scored twice for her first multi-goal game.
Not bad considering when the teams last met Nov. 14 they skated to a 4-4 tie.
UW is 5-2 since its top players left for the Olympics.
“The group that we have right now, they've come together,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said. “Out of the seven games we've played, this was one of their best from start to finish.”
The road to the big 💯 pic.twitter.com/B5v8VjiTc3
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerWHockey) February 21, 2026
Eden joins Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker and Meghan Duggan as Badgers with 100 goals. Her pursuit of the milestone has been steady this season. She has scored a goal in 18 of 33 games and has put one on the board in nine of the last 11.
Goal No. 100 came off assists from sophomore Emma Venusio and Potter and gave the Badgers a 3-1 edge at the 3-minute 43-second mark of the second period.
Goal No. 2, which proved to be the game-winner, came 20 seconds into the third period and the third goal came at the 10:47 mark.
Eden has much respect for the players in the group she joined.
“Those three are girls that I've looked up to since I was a little kid and I've had the honor to play with two of them,” Eden said. “They've just been such big inspirations for me as a Badger and just throughout my hockey career so it's it's really cool to be on that shortlist with them.”
While Eden has been on a hot streak, Gorbatenko hadn’t scored in six games. Saturday she had the most consequential score of the day when she found the back of the net with less than 1 second to play at the end of the first period.
The power play goal was the difference between leading, 2-1, and 1-1 tie after one period. A flood of goals ensued.
Ohio State’s 6-3 win at Bemidji State on Feb. 21 assured the need for the Badgers to get a win in the season finale, which will begin at 11 a.m. Feb. 22 at LaBahn to win the league title. A loss gives the Buckeyes, who completed their regular season, the tie. An overtime loss would leave the teams tied for first.
The game is expected to be the last the Badgers play without its Olympians, who are expected to return to town Monday.
“It's going to feel like playoff hockey where you just have to do the little things right to kind of just get some momentum going,” Gorbatenko said. “We want that trophy. We know what's at stake.
“The B squad will be ready to go. We've done such like a great job, like with our Olympians gone and been able to hold on the fort. We're just one, one game away from a trophy and so we don't want to let it slip through.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lacey Eden gets 100th goal, Wisconsin moves closer to WCHA title
Erik Spoelstra is confident in the Miami Heat's depth playing a big part in a rocky season
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Deion Sanders' spring ball draft: Another innovation or trying to reinvent the wheel?
Deion Sanders' spring ball draft: Another innovation or trying to reinvent the wheel? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Colorado Buffaloes in 2026 have taken on a completely different approach. In almost every way imaginable when compared to previous 'Prime' years. After a ‘last supper’ post-game press conference in November, head coach Deion Sanders all but vowed sweeping changes.
Following the 2024 season that saw a total of ten wins, a bowl game appearance, a Heisman Trophy winner, a 4,000-yard passer and a conference leading pass rush, 2025 was objectively a failure. There were positive moments, but the magic from the Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders show had all but faded.
Sanders had an offseason no one should envy. Negative NFL Draft narratives and a historic draft slide seem manageable when compared to the cancer fight Sanders revealed late in the summer of 2025.
Fair or unfair, Sanders was not available for much of the recruiting and practice calendar. His absence during stretches in the offseason calendar were noticeable. Looking back on the season and many of Sanders’ comments, dramatic change should have been expected.
Sanders called for big changes four months ago
Sanders was revealing and brutally honest in his final 2025 post-game press conference. There was a strong sense that Sanders knew what the problem was.
“We won’t be in this situation again, I promise you that,” Sanders said last November. “I’m not happy with nothing. This fanbase, this school, Rick, everybody deserves much better than this. There’s no rut… you’re just not good.”
In that press conference Sanders identified “mentality” as the largest root cause the Buffaloes issues. Short of calling people out by name, something Sanders often refuses to do, he believed the biggest issue was mentality.
“Mentality. Personnel. Coaching. Everything. I see everything being different. Even me,” Sanders told reporters. “You don’t develop mentality, you select mentality. Personnel is mentality. I tell you the truth, but sometimes the truth hurts when I tell it to you. We’ve got to do a better job of coaching.”
New coaches breathe new life
Sanders’ first move was to bring in former Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion in to be the Buffaloes offensive coordinator. Marion has experience with some of the bigger coaching names in college football (Sarkisian, Malzhan, Narduzzi), but most of his career was spent with smaller programs.
Marion is the architect of the “go-go” offense. The system is fast paced, relying on downhill toughness and putting skill players in advantageous positions on the field to maximize big play capability. Marion has described himself as ‘partner in accountability’. An aspect that Sanders did not mention in November but seemed to be an underlying theme.
Colorado OC Brennan Marion keeping it real: “This gotta work for some of y’all.”
— Scott Procter (@ScottProcter_) January 23, 2026
🎥 @KingDarius_NSpic.twitter.com/a55hsONicc
Sanders surprised many with the hiring of Gainesville Florida high school coach Josh Niblett. High School 5A to Power 4 college football is a jump that caused some speculation. Once Niblett spoke in the Colorado meeting room, his comments went viral.
“A better you, makes a better CU.”
— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) January 23, 2026
TE Coach Josh Niblett 🦬
Let’s get to work. 💪 pic.twitter.com/u0xlyUUqrc
The program overall is carrying a different tone into 2026. In large part due to the messaging of Marion, Niblett and other new additions to the coaching staff. Sanders promised changes and delivered changes. However, many of those changes fly in the face of what has traditionally worked at this level.
Innovative changes or trying to reinvent the wheel
Something had to give after the 2025 season. Regardless of how they got there, change needed to happen. The question becomes, are these the right changes? College football has created a working model that has lasted decades. Recruiting the best players is the lifeblood of success.
With the addition of NIL and the transfer portal, there is even a higher premium on maximizing top end talent. Yet Colorado finds themselves in what feels like the college equivalent of gentleman’s tank. Facing a more than $20M deficit, Colorado has shed almost all its high-priced talent.
Jordan Seaton, DJ McKinney, Dre’lon Miller, Omarion Miller, Brandon Davis-Swain and many other potential NIL earners and expected foundational pieces have left via the transfer portal. Those players were replaced by incoming transfers, most of whom come from lower-level programs or less than good situations at Power 4 programs.
The plan could work. Or it could be an exercise in college football disproving outside the box approaches. Most fans can count on one hand the number of motivated by the opportunity but lower-level players beating teams loaded with five- and four-star talent.
The 2026 Colorado Buffaloes inaugural Spring Ball Draft
Sanders has tried to create ways to make the Black and Gold Spring Game more than your typical spring game. For the second year in a row, Sanders and Syracuse coach Fran Brown have attempted to schedule a joint practice and corresponding spring game. In both cases the NCAA has denied their request for reasons no spectator accepts as valid.
This season, Sanders has put the Spring Game in the hands of his players. Sanders created two teams not two sides. This year’s spring game will have two full teams playing against each other. Sanders applauded his spring game team captains for their research and preparedness for the draft that took place.
The Spring Game Draft is another innovative idea that Sanders and his coaching staff has implemented. It conceptually seems like an interesting idea. However, it also scratches that part of the brain that wonders if it is what it is being presented as.
If this works, Sanders might have made spring games more impactful for both the players and the fans. If it’s just something different and the regular season results aren’t better, this could become something people point to later. Was it a good idea or just a misdirection while the program resets amidst money problems and poor on-field results.
More college football news:
- Oregon's Dan Lanning rips College Football Playoff, calls for major changes
- Deion Sanders buyout, contract details as Colorado Buffaloes coach
- Top 2026 NFL Draft prospect suffers broken rib in CFP quarterfinal loss
- Dabo Swinney fires Clemson coaches immediately after loss to Penn State
- Ohio State's Ryan Day faces backlash after Cotton Bowl
Lacey Eden gets 100th goal, Wisconsin hockey moves closer to WCHA title
MADISON – History and a hat trick? It was all in a day’s work for Lacey Eden.
On the way to record her second career hat trick, the senior forward for the Wisconsin women’s hockey team became the fourth player in program history to score 100 goals.
Eden also recorded two assists for her first five-point game.
“It was a really fun game to play,” she said. “I think we played a complete game. We played 60 minutes. They came out pretty hard in the first period and gave us some competition there and we were able to get over that (hump) and just work hard and it showed up on the scoreboard today for us.”
The accomplishment was part of an eventful afternoon for the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.
First and foremost, the Badgers (28-3-2, 22-3-2 WCHA, 69 points) defeated St. Cloud State, 9-2, at LaBahn Arena to move within one victory of the WCHA regular-season title.
And individually Eden wasn’t even the team’s top goal scorer. That distinction went to junior Kelly Gorbatenko, who finished with four goals, two better than her previous single-game high.
A lot of Badgers in the mix. Six players had multi-point performances. Senior Vivian Jungels and junior Laney Potter set single-game career highs with three and four assists, respectively. Freshman Charlotte Piekenhagen scored twice for her first multi-goal game.
Not bad considering when the teams last met Nov. 14 they skated to a 4-4 tie.
UW is 5-2 since its top players left for the Olympics.
“The group that we have right now, they've come together,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said. “Out of the seven games we've played, this was one of their best from start to finish.”
The road to the big 💯 pic.twitter.com/B5v8VjiTc3
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerWHockey) February 21, 2026
Eden joins Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker and Meghan Duggan as Badgers with 100 goals. Her pursuit of the milestone has been steady this season. She has scored a goal in 18 of 33 games and has put one on the board in nine of the last 11.
Goal No. 100 came off assists from sophomore Emma Venusio and Potter and gave the Badgers a 3-1 edge at the 3-minute 43-second mark of the second period.
Goal No. 2, which proved to be the game-winner, came 20 seconds into the third period and the third goal came at the 10:47 mark.
Eden has much respect for the players in the group she joined.
“Those three are girls that I've looked up to since I was a little kid and I've had the honor to play with two of them,” Eden said. “They've just been such big inspirations for me as a Badger and just throughout my hockey career so it's it's really cool to be on that shortlist with them.”
While Eden has been on a hot streak, Gorbatenko hadn’t scored in six games. Saturday she had the most consequential score of the day when she found the back of the net with less than 1 second to play at the end of the first period.
The power play goal was the difference between leading, 2-1, and 1-1 tie after one period. A flood of goals ensued.
Ohio State’s 6-3 win at Bemidji State on Feb. 21 assured the need for the Badgers to get a win in the season finale, which will begin at 11 a.m. Feb. 22 at LaBahn to win the league title. A loss gives the Buckeyes, who completed their regular season, the tie. An overtime loss would leave the teams tied for first.
The game is expected to be the last the Badgers play without its Olympians, who are expected to return to town Monday.
“It's going to feel like playoff hockey where you just have to do the little things right to kind of just get some momentum going,” Gorbatenko said. “We want that trophy. We know what's at stake.
“The B squad will be ready to go. We've done such like a great job, like with our Olympians gone and been able to hold on the fort. We're just one, one game away from a trophy and so we don't want to let it slip through.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lacey Eden gets 100th goal, Wisconsin moves closer to WCHA title
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