Considering all that transpired in their Western Collegiate Hockey Assocation opening series, the Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey team finished the weekend content with the results: a hard-fought split against No. 4 North Dakota.
Truth be told, the outcome could have been much bleaker for UW. Already without their top five scorers from last season, they saw injuries befall the next three Friday night.
Sophomore Jack Skille (elbow), senior Ross Carlson (knee) and junior Kyle Klubertanz (thigh) all sustained injuries and are out indefinitely.
But after Saturday night's win over the Sioux, head coach Mike Eaves said the weekend was ""very positive"" during a ""critical time"" of the season.
Before Friday night's game, the Badgers' championship run of last season was memorialized with a video tribute, fireworks and a banner raising at the south end of the rink.
Still, the Badgers (1-1-0 WCHA, 2-1-1 overall) could not use the jolt from the Kohl Center crowd to carry over any momentum into the game. In overtime, North Dakota freshman center Darcy Zajac took advantage of a misplay behind the net by UW freshman defenseman Jamie McBain to score the winning goal —a rebound shot past senior goalie Brian Elliott—in a 3-2 win that ended a seven-game unbeaten streak for Wisconsin.
The Badgers scored the first goal of the game in the second period, when junior winger Matthew Ford took a breakaway pass from McBain and beat junior goaltender Philippe Lamoureux (20 saves).
The lead for UW was brief, though. Sophomore left wing Ryan Duncan scored less than two minutes later on a power play, ending a streak of 44 straight kills for the Badgers and a 138:47 scoreless streak for Elliott (25 saves). Senior left wing Chris Porter added another score only 2:14 later to put the Sioux in front 2-1.
Skille tied the game four minutes into the third period, after drawing a penalty to put UW on the power play. He took a pass from senior defenseman Jeff Likens, skated through the right circle and put a wrist shot into the corner of the net to tie the game.
""I thought we stood around and watched a lot in the first period, which is a byproduct of the ceremony [and] a little bit of North Dakota,"" Eaves said on Friday. ""But I actually thought in the second half of the game we started to play the way that we needed to.""
That style of play carried over to Saturday night, when the Badgers notched a 1-0 shutout. Senior Jake Dowell scored the lone goal of the game eight minutes into the third period, when, in a scrum in front of the net, he knocked in a rebound past Lamoureux (18 saves).
Elliott (27 saves), who made numerous big saves during the course of the game, recorded his 13th career shutout, adding to the school record.
""We had something to prove [Saturday night],"" Dowell said, referring to the team's mindset coming off the loss. ""Guys really stepped up their game.""
Eaves added: ""We were actually in the middle of a storm, and we responded quite well. Now we can build on that.""
