After devoting at least four years of work, sweat and time to a college hockey program, it seems unlikely that any meaningful conclusions can be drawn from the final game in front of a home crowd just because this particular Saturday was labeled “senior night.”

On this rare occasion, however, the symmetry of senior night — all seven members of the graduating class scored at least one point and they accounted for 10 points in all — might have actually summed up the contributions from the veteran group this season.

On the season, Michael Davies leads the team in points with 40, while Blake Geoffrion is close on his heels with 36. Fifth-year senior Ben Street is one of three captains along with Geoffrion, while the understated game of Aaron Bendickson — he wreaks havoc on the penalty kill and finishes checks despite his small size — often sets the emotional tone for the rest of the players.

In what might be the last game in front of the Kohl Center faithfuls, the collective effort would be a fitting way to go out.

“Everybody stepped up and chipped in,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said.

“The seniors got the hard hat tonight.”

Street, who decided last year not to return from injury and play on senior night, changed the momentum and tone of the game with his buzzer beating breakaway goal to end the second period.

“Tonight, I just decided to make the most of it,” Street said. “There is not (a) point in being emotional that it might be the last home game; just seize the moment, and make the best of it.”

Gudmandson gets the nod

With playoff time quickly approaching, Eaves has decided to try and figure out who will be between the pipes each night for the stretch run.

Despite giving up five goals Friday night, Gudmandson was given the nod based on his body of work this season.

The junior netminder struggled again Saturday, allowing several fluky goals and only finishing with 19 saves in 23 chances. Though requested, Gudmandson declined to appear for post game interviews.

“Guddy struggled,” Eaves said. “There is no question there. I thought the way he had been playing he earned it… he would be the first one to tell you, for whatever reason he struggled. The thing I said to him after the game: ‘back to work.'”

Energy Missing

Thursday night in Minnesota, the Wisconsin basketball team blew its shot at a conference title with a disappointing showing against the Gophers.

One night later against St. Cloud State, the Badger hockey team may have done the same.

The Badgers’ slide started when Brendan Smith took a two-minute interference penalty just under 90 seconds into the game. Though UW managed to kill the penalty, Wisconsin lost the jump in its skates and gave up a wrap-around goal to senior Ryan Lasch several minutes later.

In a game with heavy conference implications, Eaves was disappointed with his players’ effort in the first 10 minutes.

“The first 10 minutes, we didn’t have a great start,” he said. “For whatever reason, we were flat.”

Street echoed his coach’s thoughts.

“It was kind of a weird start,” Street said. “There was a penalty early. Jordy [Murray] kind of got caught in a long shift… the first 10 minutes only a few players played. No one really got in the flow. It was pretty stagnant on our bench too.”

Though Eaves believed UW picked up the intensity for the final 50 minutes of the game, Wisconsin still made enough mistakes to suffer a 5-1 loss.

The second mistake came when Gudmandson came out aggressively to prevent a breakaway — but ended up turning over the puck to Garrett Roe for a wide open net.

Sloppy on defense for much of the night, Gudmandson was left in no-man’s land when the defenseman let Roe slip between them.

“If I didn’t clear that puck he would have had a clear cut breakaway,” Gudmandson said. “It was a gamble… but he knocked the puck out of air and made a good play. If I had to do it again I probably would have gone out and tried to fire it.”

Mistakes were also made on the penalty kill — St Cloud’s Tony Mosey was left unchecked near the net — and in the third period when the final tally sapped all energy from the building.

Both Eaves and Street believe the Badgers out-chanced their opponent, but were unable to capitalize when presented the opportunity. For the Huskies’ part, no strong chance went to waste.

“Every time we made a mistake, we found the puck in our net,” Eaves said. “We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities. I think we will find in the game that we had a lot of good chances and didn’t bury them.”