Nearly 25,000 people came out into the cold, wind and snow to pack the Kohl Center this weekend for UW men's hockey. The Badgers played their last conference and season games against the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (6-19-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, 13-22-3 overall) in a two-game series.
In addition to being the last series of the season for the Badgers (12-13-3 WCHA, 14-18-4 overall), it was the last regular-season series for Head Coach Jeff Sauer, who announced his retirement in early January, ending a 20-year coaching career at UW.
The Badgers showed why Sauer, with 487 wins, is the winningest coach in UW athletic history by sweeping the Bulldogs and marking their 900th win since 1963.
UW got off to a slow start Friday night, as the game nearly went scoreless for two periods.
\After playing a not- very-good first period, we settled down and had to play smart defensively and try to get some opportunities,"" senior center Matt Murray said.
The Badgers did just that and were rewarded in the second period. Senior center Kent Davyduke made a pass to junior wing Brad Winchester, who scored a power play goal with 50 seconds left. It was Winchester's 12th goal of the season.
""Winchester's goal was a big goal because it was a power-play goal,"" Sauer said. ""We are trying a couple of different things on power plays and tonight, the hard work paid off because we scored a goal the way we wanted to score off the power play.""
The third period gave Wisconsin two more goals and a near shutout for the Bulldogs. After 14 minutes of play in the third period, senior wing Matt Doman marked his eighth goal of the season when taking the rebound from Murray's shot.
With less than three minutes left, Murray took advantage of UMD's empty net, scoring his 12th goal of the season. The Bulldogs, however, defeated the Badgers' hope of a shutout with 21 seconds left in the game when UMD senior wing Judd Medak scored with a six-on-three player advantage.
Friday's win against the Bulldogs and the overtime loss of North Dakota 4-3 to Denver secured the Badgers' home ice for the WCHA playoffs and the No. 5 spot in the conference.
""We have been struggling a little bit trying to get wins lately,"" Murray said. ""We figured if we got one win, we'd get home ice. But we were looking to win two games and get some momentum coming into the playoff.""
Coming off Friday's win, the Badgers had a lot of momentum for Saturday's contest, the final regular-season game for the seniors.
""The players expected to come out and get off to a quick start [for Saturday's game],"" Sauer said.
UW did just that; within the first four minutes of play, the Badgers scored four goals. The first goal came shortly after face-off. Murray scored his 13th goal of the season with assists from senior wing Andy Wheeler and Doman. Twenty-five seconds later, Winchester brought the score to 2-0 with assists from senior defenseman Dan Boeser and Davyduke. Sophomore wing Rene Bourque quickly scored again for the Badgers, 51 seconds after Winchester's goal. The Badgers then took advantage of a power play opportunity when Winchester got his second goal of the game.
""We came out and it was like the game was over in the first five minutes,"" Sauer said. ""When you get up that early in a hockey game, you have a tendency to relax, and I think we did at times.""
But UMD was determined not to let the Badgers leave with a shutout. In the second period, Medak scored unassisted on UW freshman goaltender Bernd Bruckler.
Doman gave the Badgers its fifth and final goal of the game on a power play opportunity in the third period. With the help of Bourque and Murray, Doman was able to slip the puck past UMD's goaltender junior Rob Anderson.
The celebration did not end with UW's 5-1 win, however. In a ceremony following the two-game sweep, Sauer was recognized for his career at UW and in college hockey. UW Chancellor John Wiley, UW Athletics Director Pat Ritcher and former Badgers awarded Sauer for his hard work and dedication at UW, although Sauer has another test ahead of him in the near future.
Next weekend, the Badgers will face Minnesota State-Mankato in the WCHA playoffs.
""[This weekend] was a big sweep for us,"" Sauer said. ""A big confidence builder.\
