Wisconsin’s senior goaltender Bernd Brückler stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced Sunday night to rebound from one of the worst performances of his stellar career in the opening game of the best-of-three series with Alaska-Anchorage.
Over the course of the past four seasons, Wisconsin has come to rely on the exceptional goaltending of Brückler. In the Badgers’ 5-4 win in game one with Alaska-Anchorage, however, Brückler was anything but exceptional. The senior never found a rhythm, and the end result was four goals allowed to a UAA squad that has not exactly been an offensive force this season.
“[Brückler]’s struggling, bottom line,” Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said after the game Friday night. “After the first goal I knew he wasn’t sharp, he was fighting the puck. I was hoping that he’d get himself straightened out.”
Brückler got caught out of position on the Seawolves’ first goal and then was beaten after a turnover led to a break for UAA just four minutes later. The goals erased the two-goal advantage that the Badgers had built in the first period of play.
After giving up a power-play goal a minute and a half into the third period, Brückler’s night came to an early end when he misplayed a long clearance by Anchorage and then couldn’t recover in time to keep the puck from trickling into his own net. The play magnified Brückler’s struggles and led to him being pulled from the game for the first time in his career.
The Badger offense rallied for three goals late in the third period to take Brückler off the hook, but the netminder was hardly in a cheery mood following this victory.
“Obviously I’m as glad as anybody that we won this game and the boys did a tremendous job coming back and winning it, including (sophomore) Brian Elliott in goal,” Brückler said. “I obviously have to clear my head and get ready to play again because we have a lot of hockey left.”
With all of the great saves Brückler has made, bailing his teammates out after mistakes, it was no surprise that the Badgers rallied to make up for the senior netminder’s mistakes on this night.
“He’s bailed us out, in the three years I’ve been here, dozens of times,” team captain Adam Burish said. “It’s our turn to pay him back. We need to help him out just like he’s helped us out all year.”
Unfortunately for Brückler, he wasn’t able to get back on the horse right away as Elliott got the start in Saturday night’s 2-1 loss. According to Eaves, Brückler had to regain his confidence stopping pucks in practice, something he did Saturday afternoon before the game. That performance with goalie coach Bill Howard prompted Eaves to send Brückler back out for the decisive game three.
“[Brückler] really practiced well, his focus was there, he looked really good,” Eaves said. “That’s the kind of thing we were hoping to see. Seeing the way that Bernd does, being a senior, knowing how badly he wanted to get his teammates there, the decision was pretty easy.”
Brückler repaid his coach’s confidence by rebounding from his disastrous Friday performance to lead the Badger’s to a 2-1 victory in game three. On the very first shot he faced, the senior stretched out to make a spectacular save to rob Charlie Kronschnabel of an early goal. The only goal that Brückler allowed was a deflected shot that would have been difficult for any goalie to prevent. The game proved a giant steppingstone toward rebuilding the senior’s confidence heading into the WCHA Final Five and the NCAA tournament.
“Well, it’s a step in the right direction, anyways,” Brückler said of his performance. “I just have to have good days of practice and get my confidence that way again. I just came back with a clear head and wanted to do my best for the team.”
