The No. 3 Wisconsin men's hockey team played host to a tough Minnesota group this past weekend. The No. 8 Gophers were looking for the same success they had when they swept the visiting Badgers in Minneapolis, Nov. 5 to 6.
After an intense match on Friday that the Badgers won handily 3-1, Wisconsin (15-5-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, 20-7-1 overall) could not muster the same intensity for Saturday's rematch, losing 5-3. Both games saw a stadium-capacity 15,237 fans on hand to witness the weekend split. It was the first sold-out series since the Kohl Center opened in 1998.
Friday's victory gave Wisconsin its 30th 20-win season and extended their win streak to seven games before a sudden halt on Saturday. It seems as though Minnesota (13-9-0 WCHA, 20-11-0) has Wisconsin's number. After the two road losses to Minnesota, the Badgers went 11-1-0 in WCHA contests. Their only real conference problems came during their border battle weekends with UM.
Still, the Badgers looked great Friday, holding off UM's early firepower before taking over the last two periods. Wisconsin turned the puck over several times right in front of their own net, but survived with great blocks by senior goalie Bernd Br??ckler, including three during an early power play. Br??ckler ended up with 23 saves, eight coming during a fervent third period.
After a scoreless first period, Wisconsin struck first on a power play 2:12 into the second period on sophomore right-winger Ross Carlson's 10th goal of the season, assisted by sophomore left wing Robbie Earl. The Wisconsin defense that Badger fans have grown accustomed to seeing gave up nothing, and as the Gophers pushed harder, the Badgers took advantage of Minnesota's defense.
Persistence paid off as UW's quickness helped draw a two-minute penalty for hooking and gave Wisconsin a key power play. The Badgers once again took advantage of the extra man and 8:10 into the second period, freshman center Joe Pavelski made a nice move from behind the net to put the puck in for a 2-0 lead.
After a beautiful move on a breakaway by junior left-winger Nick Licari, the Badgers led 3-0. UW's quest for a team record seven shutouts in a season was broken with 8:56 left in the game by Minnesota sophomore center Ryan Potulny. It was all Minnesota could salvage.
\We got the rust off in the first period and played very well,"" Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said.
Even though junior right-winger Ryan MacMurchy saw his seven-game scoring streak snapped, he provided valuable toughness and two crucial plays towards victory, drawing both of the power play opportunities that led to Badger goals.
""The electricity in the building was unbelievable. I've never seen the Kohl Center like that,"" Licari said after Friday's game.
Unfortunately for the Badgers, the crowd did not keep them in the game long enough to get the win on Saturday. This time there were two goals within the first six minutes and three altogether in the first 20 minutes, with the Badgers leading 2-1 after one period.
The Badgers then took the lead on two different occasions before finally giving it up when Minnesota senior forward Barry Tallackson trickled the game-winning goal past Br??ckler with only 42 seconds left in regulation. This was accompanied by an empty-net goal for Gopher junior forward Andy Sertich 25 seconds later.
""We broke the weekend down to six periods, and one period we were clearly disappointed in was the third period of [Saturday's] game,"" Eaves said. Minnesota is the only team to come back against the Badgers in the final period when UW has the lead, and they have done it twice.
Eaves said the Badgers had to take the lessons they learned from this week and apply it to next weekend's series against second-place Denver.
