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Wisconsin hockey continues road woes in Mankato

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Also by Tyler Mason:

Miami could ruin Pats' perfect mark (December 13, 2007)
Wisconsin hockey continues road woes in Mankato (December 10, 2007)
Hot stove season best time of year (December 6, 2007)
Engel finds niche at new position (December 6, 2007)

by Tyler Mason

Monday, December 10, 2007

MANKATO, Minn. — The Wisconsin men’s hockey team hadn’t won on the road all season. On top of that, it had a bad history playing at the Alltel Center, with just a 4-7-1 all-time record entering their series with Minnesota State.

Neither of those fortunes changed for the Badgers over the weekend, however, as they lost 3-1 Friday and skated to a 1-1 tie Saturday.

Coming into the weekend series, Wisconsin (7-7-2, 4-5-1 WCHA) was a team playing with confidence, having just swept St. Cloud State at home last weekend. The Mavericks (5-6-3, 3-6-3 WCHA) came in near the bottom of the conference standings, sitting ahead of just lowly Alaska-Anchorage.

Unfortunately for the Badgers, games aren’t played on paper.

Minnesota State jumped on the board first Saturday night after Wisconsin goaltender Shane Connelly gave up a rebound and was unable to corral the puck. The Mavericks’ Joel Hanson picked up the rebound and snuck it past Connelly, who was out of position after the initial shot. The puck bounced off UW defenseman Jamie McBain and into the net, giving MSU a 1-0 lead just minutes into the game.

"I didn’t really get beat on it," Connelly said. "It was just a rebound and kind of a fluke one."

Connelly would calm down after looking a bit rattled early on. The junior netminder played confidently the rest of the game, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced during the night.

"A lot of times there were good shots, but the ‘D’ did a good job of keeping guys to the outside," Connelly said. "They had a few good odd-man rushes and one (save) I wasn’t supposed to make, I kind of fell over. … We kind of got lucky there."

Neither team managed to score in the second period despite several power play opportunities for each team.

Wisconsin’s best chance to score came midway through the period after Minnesota State’s Brian Kilburg was called for elbowing. Freshman Kyle Turris took a nice pass at the blue line, split a pair of Mavericks defenders and fired a shot that clanked off the post.

The Badgers finally broke through in the third period on a Jamie McBain slapshot. McBain took a centering pass from Turris and fired a shot from the point that found its way past MSU’s Mike Zacharias, evening the game at 1-1.

"I got the puck, saw the opening and just took the opportunity to shoot," McBain said. "That’s what we’ve got to do more often."

The goal was the only time during the series Wisconsin converted on the power play, as they went 1-for-14 on the weekend with the man advantage.

"We’d been getting the chances, and now finally we actually got a little production out of it," McBain said.

Zacharias played a strong game in net for the Mavericks, stopping all but one of the 29 shots he faced.

"I thought both goaltenders made some big saves," UW head coach Mike Eaves said.
It appeared early as if things would go the Badgers' way Friday night, as Turris put the Badgers on the board just over a minute into the game. Turris took a pass from Ben Street and beat Zacharias past his left pad.

But Minnesota State had an answer, and it came just 13 seconds later. The Mavericks' Mick Berge snuck a shot five-hole to beat Connelly, tying the game at 1-1.

It would be all MSU from that point on, as it would get all the scoring it needed in the second period off two power play goals.

After a questionable call that put Josh Engel in the penalty box for interference, Minnesota State's Geoff Irwin put the puck under Connelly's left leg to give the Mavericks a 2-1 lead.

Another UW penalty led to another MSU goal, this time after Turris was called for tripping midway into the second period. The Mavericks' Rylan Galiardi redirected a shot from R.J. Linder, causing the puck to take a funny bounce past Connelly for a 3-1 MSU lead.

Despite two 5-on-3 opportunities — one late in the second and one in the third — UW was unable to muster a response, dropping the game 3-1.

The loss ended a three-game unbeaten streak for the Badgers, who went 2-0-1 against Michigan State and St. Cloud State in their previous three contests.

"We get a tie, we move up in the standings a little bit and we’re back right in the thick of things," Connelly said.

Wisconsin will now have nearly three weeks off before returning to action Dec. 28 in the Badger Hockey Showcase at the Kohl Center, giving the team plenty of time to assess where they sit after the first half of the season.

"I would have thought we’d have done a little better on the road. We’ve shown our youth there and need to grow there," captain Davis Drewiske said. "The room for error really reduces in the second half of the year. It doesn’t matter who you play, it’s going to be a battle."

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