The Wisconsin men’s hockey program began the season by peppering Wayne State with nine goals on 89 shots.

With UW coming out firing, preseason questions regarding where offense would come from were laid to rest for the time being.

The season opener Friday found UW on the short end of the stick, however, dropping the game 5-4. The Badgers (1-1 overall) led most of the way, until WSU (1-3-1) scored three unanswered goals to take the lead as the second period concluded.

Wisconsin was kept alive in the third period by 17-year-old center Alex Leavitt, who made his Badger debut a memorable one. The youngster tallied an assist and knotted the game at four-all in the third period, when he scored his first collegiate goal.

However, Leavitt’s offense wasn’t enough to propel UW over WSU. Even though the Badger offense took a remarkable 54 shots on goal (the most in five years) against Wayne State goalkeeper David Guerrera, they weren’t able to hold off Wayne State. WSU’s Jack Redwood slipped the game-winner by Badger goalie Scott Kabotoff with five minutes remaining.

“I thought we had chances [Friday night],” said head coach Jeff Sauer. “But we didn’t put them away. You have got to give [Guerrera] credit. When you get that many shots on a guy, you hope more go in.”

The following night the Badgers did find more offensive success against WSU. Wisconsin made sure that they put away Wayne State Saturday, capitalizing on all three of their power plays.

UW managed to net three goals within the first nine minutes of play to put the Warriors down early. The Badgers got their first power-play goal from Leavitt on a two-man advantage, and their second when senior Matt Doman netted his first of the season a mere 25 seconds later on the second of the two penalties.

Wisconsin dominated the game throughout, content with keeping the puck in the WSU zone. The Badgers seemly took shots whenever they pleased, tallying 35 on the evening.

And more importantly, UW managed to connect on the shot attempts.

With the Badgers up 3-0 midway through the second period, Kent Davyduke found the puck in his lap after Wayne State coughed it up at mid-ice on a Warrior power play. Davyduke found himself with only Guerrera between him and a shorthanded breakaway goal. The Wayne State goalie never stood a chance with Davyduke juking left, then right, before going back to his left for pretty wrist shot, padding UW’s lead to 4-0.

The Badgers were also strong defensively, as Austrian-born freshman goalkeeper Bernd Bruckler made his case as Wisconsin’s goalie with an impressive 25 save shutout, making acrobatic stops in his first collegiate start.

“He’s a different goalkeeper [than Graham Melanson],” said Sauer. “He’s quick and athletic. He handles the puck extremely well and he really communicates with his defensemen ? and it’s in English.”

Needing only one more goal before the Kohl Center crowd received free ice cream, junior winger Brad Winchester made it happen. Winchester added his second goal of the night with just over 15 minutes remaining in the third period, getting assists from Andy Wozniewski and Matt Hussey, who totaled three on the evening. It was UW’s third power play goal of the day, making them perfect when having the advantage.

“[Saturday night] we came back and made a couple adjustments,” said Sauer. “We righted ourselves.”