Coming off a huge win Friday night over the No. 6 Boston College Eagles, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team looked to continue their success Sunday afternoon in the Kohl Center, but fell short in an 8-5 shootout.
The Eagles only needed 10 seconds to score, setting the tone for the Badgers’ defense.
It looked to be a long afternoon as the Badgers committed two back-to-back hooking penalties within four minutes and allowed the second Eagle score in the 11th minute, as sophomore forward Chris Brown finished the night with four points and a hat trick.
The Badgers would eventually answer with a goal of their own following a five-minute major assessed to Boston College for hitting from behind and game misconduct that gave them a good power play opportunity.
The teams looked to be evenly matched at the end of the first and seemed as though another thriller was underway in the Kohl Center. However, the second period got away from the Badger defense and would put UW in too deep of a hole to recover.
Freshman defenseman JD Greenway got the scoring going for the Badgers and his season as he netted his first goal in red and white on a beautiful three on one break.
Boston College did not blink an eye to respond as they went on to score four unanswered goals in an eight-minute time frame, tearing through the Badger defense and claiming a 6-2 lead.
“I think Boston College came out and was unhappy with what happened Friday, and they showed us what good teams do,” head coach Tony Granato said. “They get ready to play. They compete. They battle, and they did that for 60.”
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Down four goals in the second period spells disaster for a lot of teams, but the Badgers scratched and clawed their way back with the help of an incredibly skillful between-the-legs score from junior Cameron Hughes and lit a spark under the Badgers.
“It was a huge goal and brought a lot of momentum to the team,” freshman forward Trent Frederic said.
Frederic finished the night with four points and cut the lead to one midway through the third, assisting on a Grant Besse score and bringing the previously demoralized crowd back into the game.
The effort, however, would be too late for Wisconsin as Boston College sealed the game with two empty net goals late in the third and denying the Badgers of late game heroics.
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The Badger defense, along with their top line, struggled all night to stop the Boston College attack.
“We didn’t do enough good things,” Hughes said. “It’s not good enough from us as leaders on the team, so we took it upon ourselves, and we know we gotta do better.”
Despite the loss, the Badgers came out even in the series against the sixth ranked team in the nation and hope to build on the success two weeks from now when they head to New York to meet the Saints of St. Lawrence University.
