Entering the weekend, there was a dream in Madison. The dream of a MacNaughton Cup, the award for the WCHA champion, and an all but certain berth in the NCAA tournament for the Badgers, who controlled their conference destiny.
And for 59 minutes that dream stayed intact… then came a very rude awakening.
No. 13 Wisconsin was swept in devastating fashion at the Kohl Center by No. 8 Denver, giving up a late lead Friday and getting crushed Saturday. The wins give Denver a 13-2-2 record at the Kohl Center and leave Wisconsin searching for answers.
""I think there was a hangover from last night from the result,"" Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said after the second game. ""Our guys tried to battle through it, and in the end, getting off to the start we did tonight really put us in a hole, and the first rule of thumb when you're in a hole is to stop digging, and we kept digging.
The Badgers opened Friday night with an offensive flurry, putting shot after shot on net and earning a 2-0 lead on goals from junior center Blake Geoffrion and sophomore forward Patrick Johnson.
The Pioneers did, however, score when a puck deflected off a skate past senior goaltender Shane Connelly on one of only three Denver shots in the period, and they tied the game in the second with a goal from junior center Tyler Ruegsegger.
As it had against Minnesota, Wisconsin responded when junior forward Michael Davies pulled up on a 3-on-1 and buried a slap shot early in the third period.
Things stayed that way until Denver pulled goaltender Marc Cheverie in favor of an extra skater with 1:20 left in the game. The Badgers managed several shots toward the empty net, but they all went wide.
Then the sixth skater came into play as a swarm of Pioneers descended into the Wisconsin zone, circling around the UW net looking for an opening. Denver freshman forward Joe Colborne got the puck in close to the net and chipped it up while trying to go high.
The puck landed on the shoulder of Connelly and rolled in with 15 seconds left in regulation, marking the fifth blown third-period lead in 2009.
""I just saw he was down, and he's not the biggest goalie, so we knew coming in that if we get it up there's a chance it'll go in. Just lucky for me it trickled over his shoulder.""
Things only got worse for Wisconsin in overtime, as Denver controlled the puck for the first half minute. Senior forward Tom Gorowsky appeared to clear the zone, and the Badger forwards began streaking down the ice.
The only problem came when Ruegsegger, whose younger sister will play for the Badger women's team next season, knocked the puck to the ice before it crossed the blue line. He then threaded it between two defenders to junior wing Brian Gifford, who beat Connelly for the game-winner.
Wisconsin appeared to feel the ill effects of the overtime loss Saturday, as it struggled with mistakes and putting together scoring chances.
The game-winner came just eight minutes in as Connelly roamed out of the net to play the puck but failed to get a handle on it. This proved costly, as freshman winger Luke Salazar swept in to collect the puck and deposit it safely in the back of an empty net.
""A fortuitous off the boards seemed to steamroll us. It just set the tone,"" Connelly said. ""Giving up a goal like that just didn't set the night off right for us.""
After that, everything fell apart, something Connelly attributed to doubts from the previous game creeping in.
First, Rhett Rakhshani floated in front of the net and scored after a nifty spin move. Then, Wisconsin junior defender Jamie McBain missed a check, leading to a breakaway goal with 12 seconds left in the first period.
Connelly was pulled after that, but it did not prevent a 5-0 Denver win. The Badgers held a 45-28 edge in shots, but the Pioneers had considerably better chances to score as many of Wisconsin's shots were directly at Cheverie.
""Well, we proved he had a very quick chest,"" Eaves said.
Late in the third, Badger forward John Mitchell was involved in an altercation and was disqualified from next Friday's game.
The weekend was unusual on special teams, as the Badgers' top-ranked penalty kill gave up four power-play goals to a Pioneer unit ranked eighth in the WCHA.
After the second loss, Eaves said that his team had lost it's edge, a sort of swagger and confidence, during a bye week after playing Minnesota.
""That edge you have in athletics as a team is such a valuable commodity, and we lost it,"" Eaves said. ""Now our challenge is to get it back.""
UW has four more games in the regular season and sits in fourth place in the conference. Although there is still a chance the Badgers could take home a league title, that dream appears far more distant than it did only a few days ago.
