In its opening weekend of Western Collegiate Hockey Association play, the No. 9/10 Wisconsin Badgers (1-1 WCHA, 4-2 overall) were only able to split its series with No. 13/14 Michigan Tech (4-2 WCHA, 5-3 overall), losing Friday's game 4-2 but then reversing the score in Saturday's affair.
In Friday's loss, the Badgers again got off to a quick start, as sophomore forward Aaron Bendickson dumped off a nice pass from behind the net to senior defenseman Kyle Klubertanz for a one-timer only 4:54 into the game.
However, the one goal advantage was short lived, as Michigan Tech - with the help of a power play - evened the score as senior forward Jimmy Kerr put a wrist shot past Badger junior goaltender Shane Connelly at the 13:38 mark.
With under a minute in the first period, Michigan Tech would strike again - this time with an extra attacker - and once again it was Kerr who nailed a slap shot past Connelly from almost exactly the same spot as before. Michigan Tech took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
With the Badgers coming off of a bye week, it was unclear how they would react to WCHA play, but head coach Mike Eaves felt his team played well, especially out of the gate.
In terms of being off two weeks and how we handled the flow of the game I thought we handled it pretty well,"" Eaves said.
Early in the second period, Michigan Tech struck once again, as junior defenseman Geoff Kinrade put a shot through Connelly's five hole to give the Huskies a two goal lead.
But the Badgers were not perturbed and a little over halfway through the second period, senior defenseman Davis Drewiske's slap shot bounced off of the Huskies' junior goalie Michael-Lee Teslak and in for Drewiske's first goal of the season.
Teslak once again played phenomenally, and made multiple saves that shocked the crowd. Junior forward Ben Street explained Teslak's importance to Michigan Tech.
""Yeah I played against him in junior hockey too; we were in the same division. So I have seen a lot of him,"" Street said. ""You have to give him credit, he is a good goalie. He made a lot of saves to keep them in it.""
Michigan Tech would go on to add an empty-net goal with under two minutes in the third period to put the game out of reach for UW.
Saturday's affair started off very different for Wisconsin, as they did not score a goal in the first period for the first time this season.
The Badgers made some lineup changes, most notably taking out sophomore forward Michael Davies and freshman forward Podge Turnbull and putting in sophomore forwards Andy Bohmbach and Zach Bearson.
""This game tonight was truly an important game for us in our development as a team because we are trying to get certain things established,"" Eaves said. ""We made lineup changes tonight based on that.""
A Michigan Tech goal just over 24 seconds into the second period by senior forward Jordan Foote seemed to give the Huskies all the momentum.
But just over a minute and a half later, UW freshman forward Sean Dolan found the back of the net off of a pass from senior forward Matthew Ford. Dolan's goal was his first as a Badger. The teams would go into the second intermission tied 1-1, setting up a memorable third period.
Early in the third period, a goal by Drewiske was wiped away, as the instant replay showed - to the officials at least - that a Wisconsin player's skate was in the crease at the time of the goal, resulting in no goal.
But the Badgers would show their resiliency, as about half way through the period, Klubertanz would once again find the back of the net, putting a shot to the right of Teslak.
With under five minutes left in the game, freshman defenseman Cody Goloubef scored the first goal of his career, as he put in a shot off of a second rebound during a power play.
Michigan Tech, however, would not be denied. The Huskies went with an empty net with a little over two minutes left, and were able to score a goal as senior forward Tyler Shelast deked out Connelly to put Michigan Tech within one.
With less than a minute left, Michigan Tech once again went with an empty net, but this time it would come back to bite them, as freshman defenseman Ryan McDonagh shot the puck from past center ice, and the puck trickled into the net as time expired, giving UW the 4-2 victory.
With No. 2 North Dakota coming to the Kohl Center next weekend, Eaves feels that Saturday's victory was crucial for the young Badgers.
""To come and play as we did, we earned the victory tonight,"" Eaves said. ""It was important for us to do that.
