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Women’s hockey: business as usual

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Also by Dean Toda:

Two-headed golatender working wonders for UW (February 21, 2007)
UW flocks to Eagles Nest for finale (February 16, 2007)
Mission accomplished for UW with sweep (February 12, 2007)
Size matters in UW-OSU rematch (February 9, 2007)
Bauer power carries Badgers (January 31, 2007)

by Dean Toda

Monday, February 26, 2007

Michael Davies scored two goals, but Wisconsin men’s hockey fell 4-2 at Michigan Tech on Saturday to fall to 14-17-3 and 11-13-2 in the WCHA this season.

It took less than two minutes for the Badgers to fall behind by two goals, allowing tallies at 49 seconds and 1:41 of the first period. Tyler Shelast gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead when a centering pass bounced off a UW defenseman and sat in front of UW goaltender Brian Elliott (Newmarket, Ontario). Shelast got to the puck before Elliott’s poke check and snapped it past Elliott for the score. Less than a minute later, Justin St. Louis beat Elliott low to the far post with a wrist shot, chasing the senior from the Badger goal without a save.

MTU added a third goal, 3:07 into the second stanza when Ryan Angelow picked up a rebound in front of goaltender Shane Connelly (Cheltenham, Pa.) and shot it past the sophomore.

The Badgers got some life with their first goal of the weekend, at 5:18 of the second period. Freshman forward Michael Davies (Chesterfield, Mo.) smacked the rebound of a Josh Engel (Rice Lake) shot out of the air and on goal to get credit of the tally. MTU goalie Michael Lee-Teslak made the initial save, but appeared to knock the puck into his own net when trying to glove the loose puck out of the air.

Then in the last minute of the second period, Davies struck again, getting the puck to the right of Teslak along the goal line and firing home his own rebound to climb the Badgers to within a 3-2 score.

But it took just 19 seconds of the third period for the Huskies to regain a two-goal lead when Mike Batovanja put a puck on net from high on the left boards that found its way into the net. The puck was on its way wide of the Badger goal, but caromed off a shin pad in front of the goal and changed direction past Connelly.

Wisconsin pressured for much of the third period, but failed to get another puck past Teslak.

Wisconsin succeeded on one of five power-play chances, while killing all five Michigan Tech power plays. Elliott allowed two goals on two shots, before Connelly stopped 23 of 25 shots to absorb the loss and snap a personal six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1). The loss was his first of the season and dropped the sophomore to 3-1-1.

The Badgers, stuck in Houghton, Mich., at least one more night because of the snow storm in Madison, return to the ice on Friday and Saturday, March 2-3 at Minnesota-Duluth for the last two games of the regular season. Both games will air live on FSN North and can be heard on the Wisconsin Radio Network and UWBADGERS.COM.

Despite the sweep, the eighth-place Badgers still remain just two points behind Colorado College for the fifth and final WCHA home playoff spot, and four points behind fourth-place North Dakota with two games remaining. The Badgers need to finish one point ahead of Colorado College (home-and-home vs. Denver) or tied with North Dakota (at St. Cloud State), and must also pass Michigan Tech (at Minnesota) and Minnesota State (season complete) to secure home ice.

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