MINNEAPOLIS - Entering a building where they had not won in two seasons and facing a top-10 team, the Badgers seemed unlikely to solve their recent Saturday-night struggles or survive a game where they did not play their best.
Wisconsin, however, did both, sweeping the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Mariucci Arena and vaulting into a tie at the top of the WCHA standings. The Badgers were 0-3-1 at Mariucci in the last two seasons and had to overcome offensive onslaughts from Minnesota both nights.
You talk to anyone around the league, coming to Mariucci, it's a big deal,"" UW senior goaltender Shane Connelly said. ""To leave here, playing the Gophers maybe for the last time here and to come out with two wins is definitely incredible. It's one of the highlights of my career.""
The beginning of Friday night's game was a struggle for Wisconsin. The Gophers generated 19 shots and a slew of scoring chances while the Badgers could only put the puck on net six times. Furthermore, Wisconsin's leading goal scorer, junior wing John Mitchell, was thrown out of the game for checking a Gopher from behind.
The Badgers were down a man for the next five minutes, but scored the only goal of the period when junior forward Blake Geoffrion won a faceoff in the Gopher zone and junior defenseman Jamie McBain buried a long slap shot.
""We survived the first period. Shane was excellent,"" Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said. ""And when Mitch got his penalty, we could have gone one of two ways. It could have been a built-in excuse for us, or we could have responded the way we did. I think that was a turning point in the game.""
In the first minute of the second period Wisconsin scored during 4-on-4 play, when sophomore defenseman Ryan McDonagh intercepted a Minnesota pass, took a shot, and freshman forward Derek Stepan banged in the rebound. The Badgers extended the lead with a goal from junior forward Andy Bohmbach late in the second period.
The Gophers responded with two goals in the final period, but Connelly survived 45 total shots to earn the win.
Despite the victory, many of the players and coaches believed that the team had simply not played as well as it could have.
""We felt we didn't play to our ability last night and lost a little bit of respect, our own respect,"" Eaves said after Saturday's game. ""One of the themes was to play well enough and hard enough like the way that we know we can and get some of that self-respect back. And we did that tonight and won.""
Wisconsin jumped out to a 3-1 lead after Mitchell poked the puck past Minnesota netminder Alex Kangas, McBain fed junior wing Jordy Murray with a pretty back-hand pass near the goal mouth and Dolan tipped a long shot from defenseman Cody Goloubef.
Minnesota responded, as it had the evening before, with a pair of quick goals in the second period, including a short-handed goal by junior forward Ryan Flynn that came moments after a defensive misplay from McBain.
McBain redeemed himself minutes later when his shot from just inside the blue line slid past Kangas, who was screened by Geoffrion. Halfway through the final period Mitchell scored his second goal of the day after Goloubef fired a shot toward several skaters at the goal mouth.
""There was kind of a scrum. I was able to kick the puck to my backhand, and just kind of throw it on net,"" Mitchell said. ""It just had eyes and legs, and that's all I can really say about that. It just found the back of the net.""
Minnesota's Tony Lucia scored with four minutes left in the game, but Connelly stopped the rest of Minnesota's shots to seal the 5-4 victory - the Badgers' first Saturday victory since Jan. 10.
Wisconsin, which began the year 0-6-1, is now tied with Denver for first place in the WCHA.
""It's satisfying, to this point, for those young men in that room. They lived through that tough start,"" Eaves said. ""If anything, it eventually made us stronger as a group '¦ We have a quote in our locker room that says, 'From toughness comes character.' And we went through the tough times early and we've been able to respond.
