The Badgers and the University of Minnesota-Duluth entered this weekend's two game series in a battle for second place. A sweep would have moved the Badgers into second, but Friday night's tie and a loss Saturday kept the Badgers in third place heading into the start of this weekend's WCHA playoffs.
In front of a revved up crowd at the Kohl Center, the Bulldogs struck 2:45 into the game on sophomore defenseman Steve Czech's goal. While Wisconsin had several close goals including one taken back by a set of penalties, the Badgers did not strike until the end of first period, as a power play ended when Jake Dowell put the puck in from the right side of the goal after the shot by freshman defenseman Jeff Likens deflected off UMD sophomore goalie Issac Reichmuth.
After junior goalie Bernd Brckler struggled unsuccessfully to cover the puck in front of the goal, the Bulldogs went up by a goal heading into the third period. But luck was on the Badgers' side when Wisconsin ended up on the good side of a five-on-three power play. Wisconsin made the goal at the end of the period on an assist from Likens to senior defenseman Dan Boeser, as the puck sailed in from the top of the circle.
The Badgers and UMD ended the overtime in a tie after an emotional game filled with plenty of penalties. A sign of things to come seemed to be Wisconsin's inability to capitalize on the power play. Wisconsin was not able to score on any power plays and only had five shots on power plays until a goal in the third. The tie ended the quest for second place for UW.
\Some of our guys, for whatever reason, didn't seem like they had their legs,"" Boeser said. ""And for us to get out of here with a tie the way that we played in the first two periods is pretty good.""
Despite the knowledge that Saturday's game had no outcome on the standings, the two squads played with all the intensity of a playoff game. The Bulldogs came out with a 4-1 victory led by UMD senior winger Junior Lessard's two goals and one assist. But the more glaring statistic was the 104 penalty minutes that both teams compiled, including three game misconducts and a multiple-player brawl in the last minute of the game, when Bulldog sophomore defenseman Ryan Swanson apparently hit Badger sophomore winger Nick Licari in the knee from behind.
The game was also highlighted by disorganized play and misguided passing by Wisconsin, capitalizing on the sloppy play by UMD and constant brawling on both sides throughout. Head Coach Mike Eaves and the captains described the entire series as an atypical week due to poor practicing, accented by the loss of freshman winger Andrew Joudrey to a leg injury before Saturday's game.
""It was a different type of night for us,"" Eaves said. ""We lost Andrew [Joudrey] in the warm-ups, and from there, it was a struggle all night. I don't think we could have walked a straight line if we wanted to.""
""I don't really know what went wrong,"" Boeser said. ""For whatever reason, we practiced exactly like you saw tonight.""
Up next for the Badgers is a showdown with Alaska-Anchorage this weekend at the Kohl Center. The winner will go on to play the winner of the UMD/Minnesota State-Mankato game. And despite losing three out of four points to UMD this weekend, the Badgers are confident a future match-up versus the Bulldogs would yield different results.
""Everyone in the locker room knows that we could beat them,"" said senior winger Rene Bourque. ""Hopefully we'll see them again, and we're going to beat them.\
