With 36 seconds remaining in the second period in the UW men’s hockey game on Saturday night, Boston College was assessed a rarely called “playing with a broken stick” penalty that seemed to summarize the night’s game for the 11,573 fans in attendance at the Kohl Center.
The penalty didn’t have anything to do with sloppy play by the visiting Eagles, but rather told a story of a team that was playing with a higher level of motivation (after the previous night’s loss) and would do anything to avenge that defeat.
And despite notching a 5-2 win on Friday night at the Kohl Center, Wisconsin failed to sustain any possible momentum from that victory, eventually succumbing to BC’s Saturday night inspiration in a 3-1 loss to the Eagles.
“On five man units, [Boston College] was better and came at us harder at forward than they did last night,” said Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer. “They made breaks for themselves and the puck bounced for them.”
Boston College utilized an aggressive, pressing style of play to capitalize on their blazing team speed. Sophomore forward Ben Eaves and senior wing Jeff Giuliano each finished with a goal and an assist apiece.
However, the biggest surprise for BC came from their freshman goaltender Matti Kaltiainen, making only his third career start. Kaltiainen played like a magician, making virtually every shot Wisconsin took disappear into his glove, as he finished with 33 saves on the night in allowing just a single goal.
Yet UW junior goaltender Scott Kabotoff didn’t let Kaltiainen’s play disparage him any, performing admirably with 27 saves of his own and keeping the Badgers within range of the Eagles much of the night.
“I think [Kabotoff]’s making the second guessers take a step backwards and say, ‘Hey, this kid’s pretty good,'” Sauer said. “He’s got good quickness. I like the way he controls the puck. He gave us a chance to win tonight, and I was very pleased with that.”
Kabotoff, with the assistance of a strong UW defense, held the explosive Eagles to a scoreless tie through the first period. It was then that Sauer’s experience allowed the senior leadership of the Wisconsin forwards to take over.
Utilizing a four-forward, one-defenseman power-play line implemented by the UW coach, Kent Davyduke tied the game 1-1 at 4:02 of the second period. Davyduke, who was left all alone on the right side of the net, took a pass from freshman Alex Leavitt and flipped the puck just under the top of the goal for the score. Leavitt was playing right defenseman for the Badgers in the innovative power-play look. Senior David Hukalo was also credited with an assist on the play.
But it would go all downhill from there.
A Boston College goal by Giuliano just over a minute later would put the Eagles ahead for good. BC then went on to add a third period goal by Eaves and pull out a 3-1 win to split the series.
The Badgers had excellent chances to score but were denied twice. A diving glove side save by Kaltiainen prevented a second period breakaway opportunity by senior UW captain Andy Wheeler and another nice save stopped a breakaway goal by Hukalo.
And while statistically the two teams skated to a stalemate, with an almost even number of total shots (60 to 58), shots on goal (34 to 30), and saves (33 to 27), the score was what mattered in the end. And in the end, the Wisconsin offense couldn’t produce enough goals to win, despite the effort by the defense and Kabotoff.
However, for Sauer and the Badgers, all was not lost, as the game provided Wisconsin with the chance to test itself against the premier up-tempo hockey team in the country. Yet, Sauer seemed relieved that this series is over for this year, and Wisconsin can look ahead to its important WCHA schedule.
“You learn a lot about your team, especially in a series like this,” Sauer said. “We can put this in the bank now and get ready for this year.”
