The Badger men's hockey team squared off against the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves this weekend. The Badgers came into the series hoping to carry the momentum from last weekend's upset over St. Cloud State and gain some ground on third-place Minnesota. What the Badgers got was a street fight.
Friday, the Badgers scrapped through the first two periods, falling behind by one goal before pulling away in the third period. Wisconsin fell behind early in the first period after sophomore forward Vladimir Novak notched a soft goal off of freshman goalie Bernd Bruckler.
Freshman center Alex Leavitt recorded his ninth goal of the year on a power play in the first period to tie it up.
The Badgers were down 3-2 early in the third period, when senior center Matt Murray notched a short-handed goal off a Dan Boeser rebound. Boeser, a sophomore defenseman, recorded one goal and three assists; the four points were a career high.
Senior wing Matt Hussey scored the go-ahead power play goal off a pass from junior forward Brad Winchester midway through the third period. Senior forward Kent Davyduke recorded the eventual game-winner off another Boeser rebound a few minutes later.
Throughout the series the Badgers were outskated by the smaller, more nimble Anchorage players. Friday, however, the Badgers were able to pound the dimunitive but quick Seawolves into submission as UW muscled out the victory.
Saturday, the Badgers were consistently outplayed and could not find a way to score. Their hard-hitting tactics that worked so well Friday were largely ineffective Saturday.
The Badger power play'successful on Friday when the Badgers netted two power-play goals and one short-handed goal'sputtered to a halt Saturday night as UW could not score any power-play goals.
Unable to match the high scoring of Friday, UW's only two goals came from sophomore forward Jake Heisler, who netted the goals within 30 seconds of each other late in the second period.
Entering the third period, the Badgers were up 2-1, but two quick goals early in the third period sealed the Badgers' fate.
The game-winning goal was first waved off but upon further review, the Seawolves were awarded the goal.
Badger Head Coach Jeff Sauer made a statement concerning the questionable goal.
\Clearly the whistle blew before the red light went on. You could clearly see that the official signals stoppage of play and a face off in the defensive zone,"" Sauer said. ""The official made the ruling on the ice and he should not have asked the goal judge behind the net. The official had the final say in the matter. It was not a goal; what happened was wrong.""
The game Saturday night became notorious by a bench-clearing brawl that erupted at center ice after the final horn sounded.
All said, more than 110 minutes in penalties were handed out and six players were disqualified, three from each team. For UW, Heisler, junior defenseman Brian Fahey and sophomore defenseman Jon Krall were all suspended for one game following the fight while Alaska-Anchorage seniors Mike Scott and Gregg Zaporzan and sophomore Vladimir Novak were ejected.
UAA Head Coach John Hill claims UW's lack of respect for his team was one reason for the brawl.
""To be honest with you I think what happened was that they were very frustrated with their lack of respect for us and we beat them,"" Hill said.
The Badgers next head west to face Colorado College in a match-up that will have both teams thinking about the playoffs.
