An opportunity for the Wisconsin men's hockey team to move into the upper half of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings presented itself in prime form in their latest conference series.
Instead of taking advantage, though, the Badgers were swept by Michigan Tech, a team they traditionally play well against. The Huskies won both games in a series against UW for the first time in nine years.
""They're disappointed,"" head coach Mike Eaves said of his players after the sweep was complete. ""They're angry. There are all those emotions when you have an opportunity and don't meet it.""
With the two losses, UW (11-13-2 WCHA, 14-17-3 overall) fell to eighth place in the conference. That makes it less likely that the Badgers will be hosting a best-of-three series in the first round of the conference playoffs.
The regular season comes to a close next weekend, when the Badgers travel to Minnesota-Duluth. UW can finish no lower than eighth place, but could, in theory, leapfrog to as high as fourth.
However, a weak showing Friday and Saturday in Houghton, Mich. which put an end to a season-long four game unbeaten streak, makes that possibility anything but distinct.
In the opener the Badgers were blanked 2-0. That result meant this year's team has the indignity of tying the school record for shutout losses with four. Late in the first period, a redirected puck from MTU freshman winger Ryan Bunger found a way past senior goaltender Brian Elliott (22 saves) for a power play goal.
Sophomore Justin St. Louis added a rebound score midway through the third period. Meanwhile, the Badgers could not manage more than one shot on goal on six power play chances. Granted, that inability came against the No. 1 power play killing unit in the league. Still, Eaves was baffled.
""We worked on a [power play] breakout, and for whatever reason, we started doing something different than we worked on this week, which was a puzzlement to me,"" Eaves said.
Saturday, the Badgers could not escape from an early deficit and lost 4-2, playing without senior forward and captain Andrew Joudrey (upper respiratory illness). Freshman Michael Davies scored twice—giving him ten goals on the season—but the comeback effort fell short after the Huskies iced the game in the third period.
Elliott was pulled less than two minutes into the game after giving up two goals on three shots. Sophomore goaltender Shane Connelly made 23 saves in his stead.
UW was trailing 3-2 entering the final period, but Michigan Tech scored only 19 seconds in on a shot by senior winger Mike Batovanja that changed directions in traffic.
""It was the worst bounce we possibly could have had,"" Connelly said. ""First shift, first 20 seconds they just throw something at the net and it hit something. That's the way the weekend was going. We couldn't really get any opportunities and we got some bad bounces against us.""
The Badgers will have to find better luck next weekend if they want to play another game in Madison. ""We have to take four points from Duluth,"" Davies said. ""There's no question about it.""
—The Capital Times and Wisconsin State Journal
contributed to this report.
