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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Badgers stumble in season opener

street: Ben Street?s third-period goal Saturday was his first of the season.

Badgers stumble in season opener

The Wisconsin men's hockey team took one point out of its opening weekend, losing 3-2 to Colorado College Friday night and working to a 1-1 draw in the series finale Saturday. The Badgers played most of the weekend without their top center, senior Blake Geoffrion, who left Friday's game in the first period with a concussion and did not play Saturday.

Still evaluating his options between the pipes, head coach Mike Eaves gave each goalie a chance to see live action. Junior Brett Bennett got the nod Friday, while junior Scott Gudmandson manned the net Saturday.  

The Badgers, who entered the season ranked No. 13 in both major polls, jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the second period Friday. Wisconsin's second goal came when sophomore Derek Stepan pushed the puck to the blue line, beat his man with a great individual move to the middle and left the puck for senior Andy Bohmbach, who scored to put the Badgers in control.  

The play was indicative of the Badgers' performance for the majority of the night. They played fast, passed effectively and put continuous pressure on the Tiger defense. 

Colorado College responded with two goals in less than four minutes later in the second period, however, and entered the final period with momentum on its side. Eaves dismissed the notion that the Badgers got complacent with a two-goal lead and pointed instead to execution.

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""We made bad decisions in our neutral zone,"" Eaves said after Friday's game. ""And because of those decisions, we put ourselves in a position where we give up grade-A scoring chances and our goaltender didn't really have a chance to make saves on them.""

The game-winner for Colorado College came with just over two minutes remaining, when a puck went off Wisconsin senior Ben Street's stick and into the net. The Badgers outplayed Colorado College for much of the night, especially on offense, as they peppered Tiger freshman goalie Joe Howe with 41 shots. 

All the offense and pressure from Friday night disappeared for the first period and a half on Saturday. Wisconsin came out flat, and the Tigers took advantage, tallying a goal during a two-man advantage just over six minutes into the contest. 

Gudmandson and the defense put the clamps down after that, and Wisconsin slowly started to build back momentum through the second period. They finally broke through with an equalizer early in the third period.

Street hit the post on a breakaway but stuck with the play and chased down the puck in the right corner. He turned and shot from behind the end line but found the back of the net by putting the puck off the back of the goalie.

""Not much had been working so far, so I figured I would try to bank one in, and luckily it worked out,"" said Street, who scored his first goal of the season after sitting out most of last year with an injury. 

As the Badgers look forward to a series at Minnesota State next weekend, the focus will be on how the team transitions from Friday to Saturday. Eaves described the team as ""Mr. Jekyll on Friday and Mr. Hyde on Saturday,"" an issue the Badgers will need to resolve as the season moves forward.

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