The Wisconsin men's hockey team stretched its unbeaten streak to five games this weekend, taking three points from Minnesota-Duluth in a two-game series at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.
The Badgers (4-6-2) rebounded from a 3-3 tie Friday night with a commanding 4-1 win on Saturday.
With his team down 2-1 entering the third period Friday, junior forward and co-captain Blake Geoffrion scored a pair of consecutive goals to put Wisconsin in front with less than six minutes left in the game. Less than a minute later, Minnesota-Duluth's Justin Fontaine recorded his sixth goal of the season, knotting the game in the eventual 3-3 tie.
Wisconsin jumped out to an early lead on sophomore forward Patrick Johnson's second goal of the year. Freshman forward Matt Thurber drew the attention of the Bulldog defense and sent the puck cross-ice to a wide-open Johnson to put the Badgers up 1-0 late in the first period.
The Bulldogs answered with a pair of goals in the second period. UMD's Mike Connolly tied the game midway through the frame, and Evan Oberg put Minnesota-Duluth ahead less than two minutes before the second intermission.
With just over 12 minutes to go in regulation, Geoffrion out-fought UMD's Nick Kemp for the puck, skated to the top of the right faceoff circle and sent a wrist shot sailing past Minnesota-Duluth junior goaltender Alex Stalock to tie the game at 2-2.
Geoffrion's second goal of the night put the Badgers up 3-2 as the period wound down, but the Bulldogs would not give up. Fontaine knocked a rebound past senior goaltender Shane Connelly for the final goal of the night, giving each team a point in the WCHA standings.
After settling for a tie the night before, the Badgers were quick to get on the board Saturday. Freshman forward Chris Hickey recorded the first goal of his collegiate career less than three minutes into the opening period.
Freshman defenseman Eric Springer and sophomore forward Podge Turnbull were credited with assists.
After taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, Wisconsin began the second period in much the same way as the first. With the Badgers on the power play, senior forward Tom Gorowsky notched his fourth goal of the year just 47 seconds into the period.
Nearing the end of the period and with his team already on the penalty kill, Turnbull left the box and got control of a loose puck. Skating in on the breakaway, the Hayward, Wis., native sent the puck past Stalock for the shorthanded goal, expanding Wisconsins lead to 3-0.
Minnesota-Duluth's Josh Meyers added a power-play goal midway through the third period, but junior forward Andy Bohmbach iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final seconds, securing Wisconsin's 4-1 victory.
The three points the Badgers earned this weekend give them 11 in WCHA play, good for third in the standings. Wisconsin has however played at least two more league games than all of its opponents.
The Badgers face more Minnesotan foes next weekend with a two-game series in St. Cloud.
- ouwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
