The Wisconsin Badgers’ men’s hockey team was left wondering whether, after a two-game split against Minnesota State, it had played its last game of the college hockey season at the Kohl Center.
After rebounding from a 3-0 loss to score a 4-2 win over the Mavericks, the Badgers and Minnesota State remain tied for fourth place in the WCHA. The Badgers are well- aware that the top five teams in the conference will be able to open the conference playoffs at home.
The Mavericks, one of the hottest teams in the country entering play Friday, continued that trend Friday night against a listless UW squad. Their shutout of the Badgers pushed their conference win streak to seven games.
Midway through the first period, Mavericks sophomore Kael Mouillierat put a rebound past UW junior goaltender Shane Connelly (25 saves) for his seventh goal of the year. The power-play goal, coming with a 5-on-3 advantage, was all Minnesota State would need.
The visitors added two more goals in the second period in a span of 3:30. Connelly described one as a “fluke,” because he couldn’t gather a puck in the air near his mask and it fell into the goal. Sophomore Zach Harrison was credited with his sixth goal of the year.
Minutes later, with a UW power play expiring, sophomore Geoff Irwin came out of the box and took an errant pass out of the UW zone in for a breakaway goal, his eighth.
UW head coach Mike Eaves said the Badgers simply did not show up.
“I just look at our guys and can’t figure out for the life of me where they went,” he said after his team was shut out for the second time this year.
Saturday, just as the team predicted, the Badgers came out with a vengeance, racing to a 4-0 lead and overpowering the Mavericks.
Patrick Johnson scored his seventh goal of the season by ripping a shot from the left circle past MSU junior goalie Mike Zacharias. Then, in the second period, the Badgers added three more goals over a little more than six minutes.
Sophomore John Mitchell tipped a puck in for his sixth goal, sophomore Michael Davies put in a rebound on the power play for his ninth score and senior Davis Drewiske scored his second goal of the year on a man advantage.
By that point, the Badgers had the game salted away on Senior Night. UW has four road games remaining before the league playoffs, when the Badgers hope to play at the Kohl Center.
“Our focus is going to be on getting points,” Eaves said. “The way we played in the second half, I think we deserve to be back home. It’s always fun to play that first-round home game in front of the fans.”
