In a change from its usual schedule, the Wisconsin men’s hockey
team topped the Riga 2000 Latvian team 3-2 in a midseason
exhibition contest Tuesday night. Many of Wisconsin’s younger
players were able to step up to lead the team to the victory. The
Badgers’ top three scorers, Ryan MacMurchy, Rene Bourque, Andrew
Joudrey; three of their top defensemen Ryan Suter, Andy Wozniewski
and Dan Boeser; and first-string goaltender Bernd Bruckler were all
healthy scratches.

UW fell behind 1-0 early in the first period as Riga’s Grigorijs
Pantelejevs scored on a rebound in front of the net.

Midway through the period, Badger forward A.J. Degenhardt scored
to tie the game at one. Although Wisconsin controlled the puck for
most of the period, Latvian Edgars Zaltkovskis trickled a goal past
Badger goalie Brian Elliott’s glove with three minutes left.

Adam Burish, who centered the Wisconsin first line, attributed
the team?s slow start to the fact this was an exhibition game that
does not count in the standings.

“It was hard to get the guys focused starting off,” he said.
“That’s why I think we got off slow.”

The Badgers saw Riga play a cleaner second period and keep the
play down in Wisconsin’s zone for most of the frame, out-shooting
the Badgers 12-4 in the period. UW picked up play with about four
minutes remaining in the period, and Adam Burish made a perfect
pass from the corner to Nick Licari who was left alone in front of
the net. Licari, a sophomore, went top-shelf past Riga goalie
Edgars Masalskis to score the game-tying second goal.

Wisconsin began the third period with a spring in its step and
dominated throughout. Degenhardt missed a chance to score his
second goal of the game 30 seconds in, as he had an open net on the
right side but slid the puck too far and missed the net
completely.

There was a stoppage of play 2:46 into the third after a shot
from UW defenseman Tom Gilbert knocked Masalskis’ helmet off.

After play resumed, the Badgers came right back 40 seconds later
to score.

Licari brought the puck from behind the net and passed it
through the crease to a waiting Burish for the Badgers’ third and
final goal of the game.

After Riga pulled Masalskis for the one-man advantage, Elliott
was able to withstand a flurry of shots from the Latvians in the
final minute to hold on to the Badger victory.

UW’s first line scored all three goals and led the team through
some of their early struggles. Elliott was also flawless in net in
the final two periods, stopping all 24 shots he faced and making 29
saves total.

Despite somewhat sloppy play and the need for another third
period goal to come from behind for a victory, UW head coach Mike
Eaves was satisfied with his team’s performance.

“You’re satisfied with the win,” he said. “But I think that many
of our players could have played better. It’s tough, a midweek
game, and a game that does not mean an awful lot are tough games to
prep for and I understand this, and our coaching staff understands
this and you just try to maneuver your way through that type of
game and we did that.”

The third-place Badgers will resume their WCHA season schedule
this week with two home games against Minnesota State, as they look
to extend their unbeaten streak to a UW record-tying 14 games.

Burish expressed the team’s confidence for this weekend and
believes the team will be ready for Minnesota State.

“We’re coming into the weekend looking to get four [points], and
nothing less,” he said.