A tough loss and a short week of practice apparently had no affect on the No. 16 Wisconsin men’s hockey team (12-7-7 WCHA, 16-11-7 overall) this weekend, as it swept No. 13 Nebraska-Omaha (14-10-2, 18-14-2) on the road.
Coming off a rare Sunday-Monday series last weekend, the Badgers had just two days to prepare for a Mavericks team that was three points ahead of UW in the WCHA standings.
After 4-3 and 6-2 victories, however, Wisconsin has overtaken UNO and is just four points behind conference-leading St. Cloud State.
Friday night’s game was marked by back-and-forth action, as the teams were never separated by more than one goal and neither team scored consecutive goals. Junior forward Mark Zengerle got the Badgers on the board in the first period with his seventh goal of the season. The lead would not stand for long, though, as the Mavericks pulled even on a goal from the nation’s leading scorer, junior forward Ryan Walters.
The teams would trade goals in the second and third before sophomore forward Brendan Woods put Wisconsin ahead for good, scoring with just 1:42 left in the third period to secure the 4-3 victory.
Saturday night’s game began as more of the same, with both teams scoring first period goals, but this time the Badgers pulled away in the second. After junior forward Tyler Barnes scored in the first, redshirt senior forward Ryan Little, junior forward Michael Mersch, sophomore defenseman Jake McCabe and Zengerle would all add second-period goals to push the Badger lead to three.
Already missing senior center Derek Lee this weekend, the Badgers took another blow Saturday when Woods, playing center to fill in for Lee, received a five-minute major and a game misconduct after a first period hit. The loss apparently had no impact on Wisconsin’s offense, however, as UW would go on to score four goals in the second, the most goals they’ve scored in a period this year.
Mersch would add another goal in the third period, his team-leading 20th of the season, to wrap up UW’s 6-2 victory.
Even Wisconsin’s much maligned power play unit got in on the offensive action, going 2-for-6 Saturday. It was the first time the team had scored a goal with the man advantage on the road since Oct. 27, snapping a 0-for-39 streak.
Mersch (two goals, two assists) and Zengerle (one goal, three assists) both recorded four points Saturday, and the six goals were the most that Wisconsin has scored in a game this season.
The Badgers return home next weekend to host St. Cloud State in their regular season finale.
