The No. 6 Wisconsin men's hockey team played strong defensive hockey last weekend in a series with the No. 3 Colorado College Tigers, a team that sat one spot ahead of them in the conference standings, but now stands alone in first place.
An offensive drought Saturday night, however, left them coming away with a series split rather than a sweep.
Friday night's win resulted from a combination of hard work, good luck and an all-American goaltender from Austria. But Saturday was a different story, as the Badgers could not muster anything offensively, especially on the power play.
Senior goaltender Bernd Br??ckler-playing in his final two games at the Kohl Center-made 39 saves and only gave up one goal Friday night in a lopsided 5-1 victory, despite his team being out-shot 40-25. The Tigers, who boast the nation's top two scorers, have not been shut out all season and were held to one goal for only the third time all season Friday night.
The Badgers started out slow and sloppy for the first period and a half, but Bruckler kept them in the game, making 17 saves in the first period alone.
\To me, the story of the game is the fact that Bernd Br??ckler gave us a chance to get our legs...we were dysfunctional in the first period and a half,"" head coach Mike Eaves said of Friday night's contest.
Four of the five Wisconsin goals came in the third period, as the Badgers found themselves coming up with the loose pucks and getting the bounces they needed.
A polar-opposite Badger squad showed up offensively Saturday night, notching only one goal and going scoreless on six power play attempts, including one crucial power play in the final minutes of the game.
Had it not been for great defense and another strong performance from Br??ckler, the loss may have been much more lopsided.
The first line for the Tigers, including the nation's top two scorers, junior center Marty Sertich and junior winger Brett Sterling, could not put any points on the board Saturday night, as Eaves matched them with his forward line of center Andrew Joudrey and wings Nick Licari and Ryan MacMurchy. The defensive success of the Joudrey line, however, was not enough to come away with a victory.
""You could say we played good defense, but we obviously didn't get a win tonight,"" junior defenseman Tom Gilbert said of his team's defensive effort.
Coming off an 0-for-11 weekend at Denver, the Badgers' power play continued to struggle, going 0-for-6 on Saturday and 1-for-9 on the weekend. Eaves said his team's struggles on the power play Saturday were an extension of problems with the puck all night.
With less than four minutes remaining in Saturday's game, the Badgers went on the power play with a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but after five failed power play chances already, confidence was low and Eaves knew it.
""I don't know if a penalty has ever been declined in hockey but I was sure wishing I could throw out a flag and say 'we'll just play five on five,' it was that tough tonight,"" Eaves said of his team's power play.
Eaves' squad now sits in third place in the WCHA, five points behind first place Colorado College, and three points behind second place Denver. They head to North Dakota this weekend to take on the Fighting Sioux.
