The defending national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers came to Madison this weekend sporting all the premier talent of a repeat national contender and all the wobbling swagger of a limping dog.

In spite of controlling the action both nights, the Gophers couldn’t produce when it mattered and wound up surrendering three of the weekend’s four points to the Badgers. A 3-3 tie Friday night and 4-3 Badger victory Saturday night added to the struggles of the Gopher’s underachieving WCHA season.

Friday night started off slowly for UW. Minnesota’s premier winger, Thomas Vanek scored a pair of goals, leading his Gophers to a 3-1 lead at the second intermission, but senior Badger captain Dan Boeser hadn’t given up and wasn’t about to let his teammates do so.

The defenseman gave a passionate speech that turned the game around. Head coach Mike Eaves said after the game that he had been looking to deliver a speech himself, but couldn’t have done it any better.

“That’s probably as mad as I’ve been playing hockey in my life,” Boeser said. “I stepped out of my box a little bit, and sometimes I have to do that.”

Boeser came out and put his words into action immediately. Thirty-six seconds into the third period a shot from Boeser careened the right way off of Minnesota forward Barry Tallackson’s stick, and the Badgers were within a goal.

A couple of minutes later, the Badger’s leading goal scorer, Ryan MacMurchy extended his personal goal-scoring streak to four games. Badger netminder Bernd Bruckler stopped the 12 shots that he faced in the third period and two more in overtime to get the Badgers a comeback tie.

Saturday night’s game developed similarly. Vanek, last year’s Frozen Four MVP, again got the Gophers out of the gate before the Badgers knew it was open. The sophomore from Graz, Austria put his seventh and eighth goals of the year past Bruckler on one-timers. Bruckler, also from Graz, was unable to curtail his talented countryman all weekend, allowing him four goals.

Fortunately for the Badgers, Bruckler had far less trouble with the rest of the Gopher forwards. He seemed to gain confidence with every shot he stopped.

“I got in a groove throughout the game and was able to hold on and keep my team in the game,” Bruckler said after his 39-save performance.

Freshman Jake Dowell got the Badgers on the scoreboard 11 minutes into the game. Weaving his way past two Gopher defenders, Dowell made an outstanding second effort, grabbing his own rebound and knocking it past Minnesota goaltender Kellen Briggs.

The Gophers regained their two-goal advantage early in the second period on a backhand shot that slipped past Bruckler. It was the last mistake Bruckler made, as the junior stopped the next 20 shots he faced.

Senior captain Rene Bourque cut the lead in half, somehow finding a streaking Tom Sawatske with a perfectly placed pass that sailed past three hapless Gophers en route. Minutes later, Bourque spotted a rebound as a Boeser shot fell in front of Briggs. Bourque flailed at the puck, but it took Briggs’ own flailing arm to knock the it the goal line.

With the game tied late in the third period, the Badgers took a bad penalty and found themselves in a potential bind. Dowell, on the ice for the penalty kill, carried the puck past the Gopher defense and into the neutral zone. Thinking of dumping the puck on net as the play unfolded, Dowell caught a red streak out of the corner of his eye. He connected with Adam Burish, flying into the offensive zone, for a game-winning one-timer.

After the game Dowell admitted his own surprise. “I was just going to try to get it in and get a shot or dump it. I guess that makes up for the 2 on 1 earlier where we couldn’t get a shot.”

Burish was still shaking from the rush after the game. “My first goal at the Kohl Center: shorthanded, against Minnesota, to win the game,” he said. “It’s unbelievably special.”

The 1-0-1 weekend gives the Badgers a six-game unbeaten streak going into next weekend’s visit from No.6 ranked Colorado College. While Eaves isn’t ready to say that his team is where he wants them to be, he admits that the victories over Minnesota have provided “crucial momentum.”

“It’s a statement to the rest of the league,” he said, “but we still haven’t forged the identity for ourselves that is the coaches’ vision.”

Bruckler agreed with his coach but said that he likes the direction in which his team is heading. “The last couple weeks we’ve been molding ourselves and establishing ourselves in each other. Things are really starting to go our way.”