Minneapolis, Minn. — The UW men’s hockey team lost its hold on the fifth and final WCHA home-ice playoff spot on Saturday night, suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Mariucci Arena in Minnesota.
The loss, coupled with victories by Alaska-Anchorage and MSU-Mankato on Saturday night, dropped UW from fifth to seventh-place in the tightly contested WCHA playoff race. That is not to say the Badgers didn’t have their chances.
“We can’t expect other teams to help us,” Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer said. “We played well, and to lose is frustrating. We did everything we had to in order to win.”
Winless in their previous six games, the Badgers finally came out on Saturday with the renewed sense of urgency necessary to compete with the fourth-ranked Gophers.
Freshman goaltender Bernd Bruckler, starting in place of Scott Kabotoff, stifled Minnesota through the majority of the first period, allowing the Badgers to strike first. Junior forward Erik Jensen knocked in a Matt Murray slap shot for his first goal of the season, giving Wisconsin a 1-0 lead.
UW’s aggressiveness quickly backfired, however. Wisconsin’s Matt Hussey was penalized for interference after checking a stickless Gopher player into his own goalpost, giving Minnesota its first power play opportunity.
Senior center and Hobey Baker Award candidate Johnny Pohl took advantage and punched in the first of his two goals on the night to even the score at one goal apiece and sparked Minnesota to a 3-1 second period lead.
With less than five minutes left in the second period, Minnesota was called for two consecutive penalties, giving the Badgers a much-welcomed five-on-three advantage.
The Badgers used that advantage to change the momentum of the game. Minutes later, UW slapped in two quick goals of its own, one by freshman Alex Leavitt (17:40) and the second by senior Matt Doman (18:30). Following a scoreless third period, the stage was set for a dramatic overtime period in which Wisconsin would have the opportunity to clinch the last home-ice playoff spot.
But the Gophers had other plans. Minnesota’s other Hobey Baker candidate, Jordan Leopold, beat Bruckler with a slapshot for the game-winning goal and the 4-3 Minnesota victory. Bruckler finished with 28 saves.
“Big time players have to score the big time goals,” Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said of the overtime goal. “Jordan [Leopold] didn’t have much in his legs left, and he just made a good play and beat [Bruckler] upstairs.”
“Wisconsin played really well tonight,” Lucia continued. “They’re in a desperate fight for home-ice and I wasn’t surprised at all that they played as well as they did.”
Leopold’s game-winner also gave the Golden Gophers (16-7-3 WCHA, 24-7-4 overall) the series sweep following a 6-3 win over the Badgers on Friday.
Wisconsin (10-13-3 WCHA, 12-18-4 overall) is now faced with the distinct possibility of opening up the WCHA playoffs on the road. The Badgers would have to earn two points in the WCHA standings with either a win or a pair of ties next weekend against St. Cloud State.
However, the No. 2 Huskies (19-5-2 WCHA, 27-6-2 overall) are currently in second place in the conference and will be trying to capture the MacNaughton Cup and the WCHA regular-season championship.
Yet, despite a losing streak that now stands at seven, Sauer holds out hope.
“We’ll get it done next weekend,” Sauer said. “We’re due to have a big game. Who knows, maybe we’ll see [Minnesota] again in the playoffs.”
