Hat tricks do not come often for defensemen, so when Wisconsin junior defenseman Jake Gardiner had one of his three tallies taken away after the puck hit senior forward Sean Dolan's skate Friday night during a 4-4 (OT) tie against Michigan, it seemed unlikely such a feat would happen at the Kohl Center in the near future.
UW sophomore blueliner Justin Schultz made the Badger faithful wait just one night.
The West Kelowna, British Columbia, native scored three times and hit the post on two other occasions Saturday night as the Badgers (3-5-2 WCHA, 7-6-3 overall) earned a 4-1 win against Michigan State and closed a grueling six-game home stand on a positive note.
The hat trick is the first by a UW defenseman since Barry Richter notched three goals Nov. 27, 1982—18 years to the day before Schultz.
""My shot's definitely gotten better and [I'm just] more confident with the puck,"" said Schultz, who now has nine goals on the season.
All told on the weekend, the defensive corps for Wisconsin accounted for seven of the team's eight goals.
""I can't remember a weekend where that's happened here in our time,"" Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said of the goal production. ""On the power play, they were giving us shots. In basketball terms, they weren't giving us the post shot so we had to take the three-pointer.""
Although this weekend's College Hockey Showcase does not count for anything in the WCHA standings, the young Badgers needed something positive to come from the weekend after a four-game losing streak at the hands of North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth.
In an effort to spark the team, Eaves switched his goaltending rotation and started senior Brett Bennett Friday night and fellow senior Scott Gudmandson Saturday night. Gudmandson started both games against North Dakota two weeks ago, but was pulled last weekend against UMD during a poor performance.
""I thought he jumped right back in there and played with a great purpose,"" Eaves said of Gudmandson's performance Saturday. ""He was very sharp.""
After falling behind by two goals in the first period Friday, UW responded Saturday with a goal just 63 seconds into the game. It came on a rebound attempt from Schultz after freshman Mark Zengerle took the initial shot. More than a lead, though, it gave meaning to an important talking point between Eaves and his players between games.
""We talked about having a great start and what it takes to create that great start, both physically and mentally,"" Eaves said. ""We'll be able to tell over these couple weekends how well we've learned that lesson by the way we approach the first part of the next four games we have.""
UW makes a 3,400-mile trip to Anchorage, Ala., next weekend to take on the Seawolves in a WCHA series. The puck drops at 10:00 p.m. central time Friday and Saturday nights.
