The Wisconsin men's hockey team left so much to be desired this weekend at the Kohl Center that fans were resorting to a ""Where's your banner?"" chant.
That was really all the Badger faithful could point to at the end of the series. The action on the ice was nothing to behold, as UW was swept 3-0 and 4-1 by Boston College in a highly-anticipated rematch of last season's National Championship game.
""This isn't a good feeling, to get swept,"" senior Jake Dowell said following the first sweep of the Badgers since late February. ""We need to remember that feeling and learn from it.""
Friday night the smallest player on the ice played the game's biggest role. BC sophomore Nathan Gerbe, a 5'5 forward, scored twice and provided the vim and vigor the Badgers glaringly were without.
Gerbe's first goal came when the Badgers had a five-on-three advantage early in the first period. He took a pass in his zone from a defenseman and skated the length of the ice, stopping in the right circle and beating UW goalie Brian Elliott (17 saves) for a 1-0 lead.
""They were just ready to play,"" Badger senior captain Andrew Joudrey said after his team was out-hustled in the first game. ""It's just unacceptable to start like that.""
In the second period, UW threw 14 shots at Eagles goaltender Cory Schneider (28 saves), but the sophomore—and, on one occasion, a post—turned away each one. The Badgers' best opportunity to tie the score came when freshman right wing Michael Davies had an apparent open net from the left circle, but hit the post early in the period.
""The puck bounced right to my stick, and I just panicked and just got rid of it real quick,"" Davies said. ""I bury that, it's a 1-1 game there and momentum totally shifts. It's just unacceptable for me missing that.""
Gerbe, a sparkplug for BC all evening, iced the game for the Eagles late in the third period, scoring with 2:13 left to put the game out of reach for the Badgers. BC sophomore forward Brock Bradford added an empty-net goal with 16 seconds remaining.
On Saturday, it looked as if the Badgers were ready for some measure of redemption, playing an intense, active first period that ended scoreless.
But the second period saw a deluge of four goals for the Eagles. Sophomore Benn Ferriero had the bookends—a redirection on a shot from the point three minutes in and a rip past Elliott (16 saves) with only six seconds left in the period.
In between, sophomore Andrew Orpik registered a controversial goal in which the puck deflected off his skate, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Eight minutes later, Jake Dowell scored his team-leading sixth goal of the year to cut the deficit to 2-1, but BC senior winger Joe Rooney answered five minutes later to deflate the Kohl Center crowd for good.
As is his routine, Badger head coach Mike Eaves labeled this weekend as just one part of a long process for a hockey team that learns new lessons with each game it plays.
""We look at our plan, and every week we want to get better,"" Eaves said. ""If we can take what we learned this week and apply it next week in practice and use that in the games the following weekend, we're a better team. And that's what the process is all about.""
