The Badger Herald

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Goals come unnaturally

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Also by Kevin Hagstrom:

Injury forces Smith to watch action from afar (February 21, 2008)
Badger forward steps into role (February 19, 2008)
UW, Mavericks remain tied after split (February 18, 2008)
Badgers host Mavericks (February 15, 2008)
Johnson notches 1st goal (February 11, 2008)

by Kevin Hagstrom

Monday, February 25, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS — As seldom-seen as the total lunar eclipse last week, Wisconsin exhibited a rare brand of hockey in Saturday night’s 4-4 tie versus rival Minnesota.

“There must be a full moon tonight because there was shootout at O.K. Corral,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said.

Four times the Badgers came back from one-goal deficits, and nearly all their goals were finding unconventional ways of going into the net. To further the unusual evening at Mariucci Arena, players who Eaves expected little from contributed in game-impacting ways.

“It was just one of those games in athletics sometimes you can’t quite understand,” Eaves said.

Nor was it just limited to Wisconsin.

Minnesota’s Patrick White scored off a deflection, and Jay Barriball backhanded one in off the crossbar before falling over at the right side of the net. And the Gophers’ fourth line produced a goal as well. Evan Kaufmann scored late in the first period, his sixth of the season.

Wisconsin, in atypical fashion, got goals from a member of all four lines Saturday night. The way each even-strength tally was scored or setup — second line forward Michael Davies’ came on the power play — was just as fluky as the next.

“Coach Oz (Osiecki) and I looked at each other a few times and rolled our eyes, like ‘Holy Moly,’” Eaves said.

First line forward Patrick Johnson failed to capitalize on perhaps the best look of the night with the score tied early in the third period, a chance from the low slot set up by a terrific pass from Kyle Turris. But on a broken play in the offensive zone where linemate Blake Geoffrion kept the puck alive, Johnson scored.

In the first period, third line forward John Mitchell, unwilling to skate in any further because exhaustion was settling in, fired a shot from the far point in on Alex Kangas. Minnesota’s freshman goaltender misread the flight of the puck and it bounced off his forearm and fell into the back of the net.

“We watched video after [Friday] night’s game and saw that their goaltender is kind of weak at his sides and high,” said Mitchell, underlining his mindset on the play.

“You emphasize, ‘Get the puck on the net,’” Eaves said.

Perhaps most surprising was Wisconsin’s third goal of the night. Not only did it come from a player who has been benched at times this season for inconsistent play, but the precision of the shot was remarkable.

With little clearance room between the post and Kangas’ pad, fourth-line forward Podge Turnbull clanked a shot off the near post and in to tie the game at 3-3. It was his first goal since Wisconsin defeated Denver 7-2 on Jan. 12.

“A couple of those goals probably shouldn’t have gone in tonight,” Turnbull said.

“If you get a shot, you really don’t want to pass it up because you never know, it might go in,” he added.

Although only Turnbull was part of the scoring equation, Eaves commended his fourth line for its level of play.

“I thought the line of (Aaron) Bendickson, Turnbull and (Andy) Bombach came out of nowhere and really provided us with us some quality shifts,” Eaves said.

Bombach hadn’t suited up for Wisconsin since the second game of the Alaska-Anchorage series more than a month ago, and had appeared in just 11 games heading into play Saturday night. But with defenseman Jaime McBain unable to go and Brendan Smith still recuperating, Eaves was forced to move Josh Engel to defense, opening up a roster spot for the sophomore.

From the team’s standpoint, fluky or not, they’ll take a point any way they can.

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