It is a frustrating feeling, but in sports there are times when a team's good play goes unrewarded. This was the case for the Wisconsin men's hockey team this weekend in their series against top ranked Minnesota Duluth, falling to the Bulldogs in back to back overtime games, 6-5 and 3-2.
In the series opener Friday night, the Badgers put their offensive woes from the last weekend against North Dakota behind them.
""Scoring five goals is a positive we can take,"" head coach Mike Eaves said. ""If you take a look at all the positives that happened across the board, that was one of the good ones.""
After the Badgers stormed to an early 3-1 lead, Duluth showed the offensive firepower that makes them one of the nation's top teams, rattling off four unanswered goals in the second period.
""We had a down second period and we came together,"" freshman forward Tyler Barnes said. ""We are a team of fighters, we don't want to give up the win.""
The Badgers found a way to tie the game in its waning minutes when Barnes tipped a Craig Smith shot on the doorstep with an empty net on the other end, his second goal of the night.
Wisconsin, as it would all weekend, showed great resiliency coming back from a two-goal deficit, but Duluth was able to benefit from a brutal non-call at the end of overtime to steal the win.
In overtime, junior defender Jake Gardiner was the victim of a hook at the blue line, which directly led to the game winner as the loose puck was picked up by Duluth and fed to the front of the net, where forward Travis Oleksuk slipped it by Wisconsin goalie, senior Brett Bennett, handing the Badgers the 6-5 OT loss.
""The call at the end wasn't very fortunate for us,"" Gardiner said. ""But this was a positive for our team. It shows that we can play against anybody.""
The Badgers again showed great resiliency Saturday, overcoming two-one goal deficits to again force overtime. But for the second time, the team came up just short when Duluth junior forward Jack Connolly collected a rebound off an odd man rush and put it past Bennett for their second OT win of the weekend.
""We showed resilience coming back at the end, but we need to find ways to get that last goal and win games,"" junior forward Jordy Murray said. ""We just have to play a complete game.""
""This group didn't quit, didn't stop working, didn't stop trying, and those are good qualities that we can build on,"" Eaves said.
As well as the Badgers played this weekend, the harsh reality is that they weren't able to take a point from this series, and now find themselves on a four game losing streak.
""We're close. We're not a winning team yet and we're finding ways to lose right now,"" Bennett said. ""We just have to keep working hard, keep grinding and just find ways to win the one-goal games.""
