MINNEAPOLIS—Playing in an atmosphere with a distinctly postseason feel, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (11-15-2 WCHA, 16-16-2 overall) continued its push toward the playoffs, earning a confidence-building series split with rival No. 4 Minnesota (20-8-0, 24-12-1) to close out the regular season.
Sophomore forward Mark Zengerle led the way for the Badgers in a dominating 4-1 victory Friday, but the Gophers would fight back and earned a 2-1 come from behind win in the series finale.
Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves tinkered with his lineup prior to the series, most prominently putting junior Ryan Little on the top line with Zengerle and sophomore forward Tyler Barnes. Little was put on the line with hopes of creating a favorable defensive matchup, but the result was an offensive spark for Wisconsin.
The Little-Zengerle-Barnes line was responsible for three of the Badgers’ four goals Friday night—accounting for a total of seven points—but no player shined brighter than Zengerle, who recorded four points in the game, including a highlight-reel goal late in the second period that silenced the Mariucci Arena faithful for good.
Wisconsin inflicted most of its damage in the second period, scoring three goals in total—two on the power play—to run away with a 4-1 triumph in what Eaves called one of the Badgers’ most complete games of the season.
“Playing in this building can be difficult if the crowd gets into it,” Eaves said after the win. “We were able to get the lead and take them out of it and then we just kept adding. The timely goals we created were a key element.”
After being embarrassed on their own ice in the series opener, Eaves foresaw that his team would see a motivated Minnesota group the following night, and the Gophers lived up to that expectation as their offense pushed the pace of play out of the gate.
Minnesota landed 15 shots on goal in the first period, but the Badgers survived the Gopher onslaught and were able to take a 1-0 lead midway through the second on a Barnes power play goal. Wisconsin held that lead into the third and had a chance to extend it with an early power play, but that’s where it began to unravel for the Badgers.
On that man advantage Zengerle turned the puck over at center ice to Gopher sophomore forward Erik Haula, who walked in on goal and scored shorthanded to tie the game. Just over three minutes later, Minnesota sophomore defenseman Nate Schmidt scored a power play goal on a shot from the point that would stand up as the game winner as the Gophers skated away with the 2-1 win.
It was Haula’s shorthanded goal that gave Minnesota the momentum and brought the crowd alive and the Gophers never looked back.
“We were pretty happy up 1-0 and going on a power play,” Zengerle said, “and the opposite of what we thought was going to happen happened, and that was a killer.”
Freshman goaltender Joel Rumpel was brilliant between the pipes all weekend for Wisconsin, stopping 26 shots Friday and 31 Saturday. Rumpel had a shutout bid foiled Friday when Minnesota scored with just over a minute left in the game.
“He’s a big lad, he uses his size well and he’s pretty cool, calm and collected [in goal],” Eaves said of Rumpel.
Despite Saturday’s disappointing loss, Wisconsin—who ends the season having won four of its last six games, including three on the road—never looked overmatched by the WCHA’s top team, and is confident in its chances in next weekend’s WCHA Playoffs.
“Were playing our best hockey right now,” Zengerle said after Friday’s win, “and you want to play your best hockey going into playoffs.”
Eaves said playing in a road atmosphere like that at Mariucci Arena lets the Badgers know what to expect heading into their road playoff series.
“This is the way we need to play,” Eaves said. “It’s going to be an environment like this no matter where we go, it’s going to be contested…this kind of weekend sets it up for us.”
By virtue of the Badgers’ loss Saturday and Bemidji State’s win over Alaska-Anchorage, Wisconsin finishes in 10th place and will travel to Denver to face the No. 9 Pioneers in the first round of the postseason.
