[media-credit name=’JAKE NAUGHTON/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]

With emotions running high all weekend at the Kohl Center,
the Wisconsin Badgers and North Dakota Fighting Sioux skated to a series split.

Behind a fantastic performance by junior goalie Shane
Connelly, UW came away with a 4-0 shutout Friday. Wisconsin came out flat
Saturday night, however, and fell to No. 3 North Dakota 3-1 in the series
finale.

North Dakota (5-3-1, 3-3-0 WCHA) struck first midway through
the opening period when Chris VandeVelde’s backhander snuck over Connelly's
shoulder for a power play goal. Just as it looked like the Badgers would escape
the first period down just 1-0, the Sioux’s T.J. Oshie took a one-timer in
front of the net from linemate Ryan Duncan, beating Connelly with only three
seconds remaining before intermission.

Wisconsin (5-3-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) had just six shots on goal in
the first period and looked lost on both sides of the puck.

"There were a lot of things we were disappointed in," head
coach Mike Eaves said following Saturday’s loss. "Lack of confidence, poise
with the puck — we held onto it too long. … We looked disjointed, disorganized,
and a good team took it to us pretty good tonight."

"We knew they’d be fired up and ready to go," defenseman
Davis Drewiske said. "We said all the right things beforehand, but just didn’t
have a lot of spark coming out of the locker room."

One of the only emotional lifts the Badgers received all
night came late in the second period. Already leading 2-0, the Sioux had a
chance to close the door with another goal. Connelly was caught out of position
in front of the net, leaving the right side of the goal completely open. North
Dakota’s Brad Miller got the puck in front of the net and shot toward the open
side of the goal. Connelly dove back and flipped through the air to swat the
puck with his stick just before it crossed the goal line, bringing the Kohl
Center crowd to their feet and providing a temporary lift for the Badgers.

"My stick was in the right place at the right time,"
Connelly said. "My job is to keep the puck out of the net, so I’ve got to use
head, stick, toe, whatever to try to keep it out and keep the team in the
game."

Wisconsin was unable to do anything with the energy and
momentum finally on their side, instead allowing North Dakota to score again
just minutes later. Andrew Kozek put UND up 3-0 after his shot hit the post on
the right side of the net and bounced in.

Matthew Ford put UW on the board late in the third period,
but the 3-1 deficit was too much to overcome for the Badgers.

Both teams finally let their emotions get the best of them
near the end of Saturday’s game, with tensions culminating in a fight that
resulted in 20 total penalties, 120 penalty minutes and 10 ejections — five
from each team.

"For the whole series, I thought it was pretty high
intensity for early in the year," Drewiske said. "Any time there’s two talented
teams going at it, once in a while stuff can boil over."

An entirely different Wisconsin team showed up for the
series opener Friday. The first period saw no goals by either team, as North
Dakota failed to capitalize on easy scoring opportunities. Both Oshie and
Robbie Bina had shots at the net with Connelly out of position, but Oshie’s
shot went wide and Bina’s clanked off the goalpost.

"To come out of (the first period) 0-0 was pretty good for
us," Eaves said. "It was a matter of regrouping [and saying], ‘OK, now you’ve
seen it. You’ve seen why they were picked to do a lot of things this season.’"

With their top line on the ice, the Badgers finally opened the
scoring in the second period. UND goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux tried to clear
the puck out of the zone, but forward Podge Turnbull kept it in along the
boards. After Turnbull sent a pass towards the net, Kyle Turris put up a shot
that was stopped by Lamoureux. Ben Street then collected the rebound and
slipped it past Lamoureux, giving UW a 1-0 lead and extending Street’s scoring
streak to eight consecutive games.

With the outstanding performance of Connelly — who made 43
saves on the night — one goal would have been enough for the Badgers. They went
on to score three more times, however, as Brendan Smith, Blake Geoffrion and
John Mitchell each recorded third-period goals.

"We needed [Shane’s] efforts in net with a young team,"
Eaves said.

The Badgers will now face Colorado College on the road next
weekend as they look to earn their first conference series sweep.

"On
an individual basis, the guys can take the experience [from this series],"
Drewiske said. "We know that if we want to be a big time team, we’ve got to be
able to win on back-to-back nights."