The No. 13 Wisconsin men's hockey team took a major step forward this weekend, sweeping No. 10 St. Cloud State this weekend at the Kohl Center 3-2 Friday and 4-3 Saturday.
Both nights saw the Badgers battle back from a one goal deficit to win, which has been the story of late for UW. Including Saturday's game, Wisconsin has staged a comeback in five of the last six contests, and six of the last nine.
However, the Badgers have always played well against the Huskies, and have remained unbeaten against SCSU in the last 13 games.
Senior forward Josh Engel offered some insight into Wisconsin's success against St. Cloud State.
We are a hard working team; they have a lot of speed like any Minnesota team,"" Engel said.
""But [we] just want to be really simple and detailed and make sure we play a lot harder than them, and that's what we have been doing.""
Engel definitely played hard on Saturday, as the Rice Lake, Wis. native scored two goals off of rebounds from sophomore Husky goaltender Jase Weslosky.
But Engel will be the first to admit that multi-goal games are not his forte, as the former defenseman is still learning the forward position.
""I am just trying to keep it simple, go to the net and try to get the rebound goals,"" Engel said. ""I am not the type of player to dangle out there or anything, so my job on the team is to be a physical presence and try to get to the net and cause trouble for the goalie.""
The Badger line of Engel, sophomore Blake Geoffrion and freshman Patrick Johnson seemed to provide Wisconsin with the spark that it needed.
Johnson put a rebound past Weslosky to give UW the early lead only one minute into the game.
""The balance that [Geoffrion, Engel and Johnson] bring they can play with and without the puck and be very effective,"" Eaves said.
However, the story of the weekend was Friday's game, when the Badgers scored all three of their goals in spectacular fashion.
Sophomore forward John Mitchell hit a one-timer past Weslosky early in the second. The goal brought Wisconsin to within one goal, and the shot by Mitchell got the crowd involved - which was something that had been lacking to that point in the contest.
""John has done an incredible job in the last couple of years,"" Eaves said after Friday's win. ""Over the course of his time here you are starting to see some of that come to fruition for him.""
Mitchell retold the events that led to his fourth goal of the season.
""[Sophomore forward Ben] Grotting came over and made a move toward the puck,"" Mitchell said. ""He's got great speed and took it wide, made a nice delay play to set the zone. I kind of got lost in the center of the ice and he was able to find me the puck.""
However, the Badgers would outdo themselves two more times, as Geoffrion tied the game at 2-2 with a wrist-shot that went past Weslosky's right leg pad and off of the post - even more impressive since Geoffrion was falling down when he shot.
About six minutes later, junior forward Ben Street brought the crowd to its feet with a goal off of a deflection from a shot by freshman forward Kyle Turris. Street deflected the puck, which then bounced off the ice and then off of the crossbar and into the goal.
But what might have seemed like luck to most was actually a well-developed play.
""I had an idea when he shot it that the goalie would probably be moving side-to-side and I thought maybe if I can get a stick on it, I'll get lucky on it and that's exactly what happened,"" Street said. ""I tipped probably 50 pucks this morning in morning skates so I don't know if that helped, but it was definitely a fortunate play.""
Overall, this weekend's sweep saw some pretty magnificent goals, along with different players stepping up for the Badgers.
With the semester break coming up, UW knows it is important to try and carry momentum into the second half of the season.
""I think it gives everybody confidence going into the future and next weekend before break,"" Turris said after Saturday's win. ""It shows that we are making that step to mature as a group and we are coming together as a team.
