After a two-week lull, the Wisconsin men's hockey team returned to the ice at the Kohl Center to take part in the Badger Hockey Showdown New Year's weekend. In the first round, then-No. 4 Wisconsin faced Yale. The matchup went in the record book as an official 1-1 tie, although the Badgers won in a shootout.
Freshman forward Joe Pavelski put the Badgers on the scoreboard and tied the game in the third period off a slapshot from the right faceoff circle. With the game in the books as a tie, the two teams headed into a shootout where after the Bulldogs matched the Badgers goal to goal, UW took the lead on a shot by sophomore forward Andrew Joudrey. He gave the Badgers the win and a chance to move on to the final round of the tournament. Sophomore goalie Brian Elliot nabbed the save.
On New Year's Day, the Badgers fought back from a 3-0 deficit against Ferris State thanks to strong offensive play by freshman forward Matt Ford, who tallied two goals and assisted on a third. Nonetheless, it was not enough to combat being out-shot by Ferris State, 42-21.
With the game tied heading into the third period, the Badgers were unable to stop the offensive surge of the Bulldogs, who scored two more goals in the third period. The game ended in a 5-3 loss for the Badgers. Despite the loss, Ford was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Badgers rebounded last weekend when they captured two resounding victories over St. Cloud State, 6-0 Friday night and 4-2 Saturday, to close the series. On Friday, UW converted on three power plays and saw continued strong play from its special teams. Junior defenseman Tom Gilbert and senior forward John Funk each scored twice while sophomore forward Jake Dowell had three assists.
Senior goalie Bernd Br??ckler recorded 30 saves and notched his seventh career shutout.
In the second game, junior forward Ryan MacMurchy had a game for the highlight reels, scoring all four of the Badgers goals en route to the team's first sweep of St. Cloud St. since 1998 and being named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week.
\We said that coming back [from the break] was going to be an issue, ... being off three weeks,"" UW head coach Mike Eaves said. ""Playing the two games that we did the way we did was an attention-getter, and the way we practiced reminded our players this is what you need to do in order to be a good team.""
The subpar Badger Showdown forced the Badgers out of the top five in the polls, but their rebound against the Huskies brought them back to No. 5.
The Badgers host a series against Alaska Anchorage this weekend, and come in with a 12-4-0 WCHA record (15-6-1 overall). That record is good enough to keep the Badgers in first place in the league, two points ahead of Colorado College and three ahead of North Dakota.
