My how far they have come. When you look at what the No. 9 Wisconsin men's hockey team has done since their disastrous month of November, you can't help but be impressed. The Badgers have now won 10 of their past 11 games, but its how they're winning that shows much they have grown as a team.
This past weekend against conference foe Minnesota State, the Badgers won two consecutive hard fought, one-goal contests, winning 3-2 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday. Games like the two we saw this weekend are the kind Wisconsin struggled with earlier this season. They showed the resiliency that has been a staple of this team all year, but the added bonus of coming away with two close wins has to make the series sweep of Mankato all the more gratifying.
In the series opener on Friday, the Badgers came out in the first period and dominated the pace of play. However, it was the Mavericks that would take the lead into intermission when senior forward Andrew Sackrinson found a loose puck off a faceoff and put it by UW senior goalie Scott Gudmandson.
But the Badgers would come right back in the second, with senior forward Podge Turnbull, junior defenseman Jake Gardiner and freshman forward Michael Mersch scoring three unanswered goals in the period to give Wisconsin a 3-1 lead.
""Coming in after the first period was a little bit of a gut check for us, and I think we handled it pretty well,"" Turnbull said. ""It was just a good thing for us to come out in the second period and answer the way we did.""
Wisconsin would hold their 3-1 lead for most of the third period, but with about five minutes left in the game, the Mavericks drew within one when junior Mike Louwerse beat Gudmandson with a slapper from the point.
In the final minutes of the game, the Badgers withstood a strong push from Mankato to tie the game. They were successful in doing so thanks to a number of big saves by Gudmandson to close out the victory. He made 37 stops in total for the game.
""That was his busiest night in a long time, in both quantity and quality of shots,"" head coach Mike Eaves said of Gudmandson. ""It was a good night for him, if that backbone of our game isn't there, then we're wearing frowns.""
For Saturday's series finale, the story of the game was the play of both Wisconsin and Mankato's penalty kill units. The Badgers were able to get a power play goal in the first period from junior forward Jordy Murray, but the Mavericks held them in check from there on out, and the Wisconsin penalty kill held Mankato to a 0-for-5 mark.
""We scored one goal and they don't get any in the specialty teams, and that's the difference in the game perhaps,"" Eaves said.
Thanks to Murray's goal, the Badgers held a 1-0 lead into the third period. But early in the final frame junior Joe Schiller came down the right side and tied the game with a shot that beat Gudmandson on the near post.
That tie game would only last 39 seconds thanks to Badger sophomore forward Craig Smith. After a pass from Gardiner, Smith broke into the Mankato zone alone, made a nice move and buried what would stand up as the game-winning goal.
""That shows how we work in units here; we get a goal scored on us and we use it to respond pretty well,"" Smith said. ""Our team responds very well in those situations.""
Again the Badgers would have to hold off the Mavericks, as they outshot Wisconsin 17-4 in the final period, but Gudmandson stood on his head to preserve the victory in the game's closing minutes. He made another 34 saves that night to ensure the win.
""He made some huge saves for us tonight,"" Smith said. ""Late in the game they were making some pretty good rushes on him. He stood his ground and made some huge stops.""
Gudmandson recognized how this series shows just how far this Badgers team has come since the start of the season.
""The best word to describe our performance is growth and maturity,"" he said. ""A lot of guys have matured and the freshman are coming into their own and guys are finding their roles on the team.""
""We felt how bitter we were after every one-goal loss we had and now we feel how happy and excited we can be when we win,"" Gudmandson added.
