It’s not as if Bernd Brückler was having anything less than a remarkable season for the UW men’s ice hockey team before its weekend series against No. 8 St. Cloud State.

The junior goaltender had been widely credited as the catalyst for the Badgers’ turnaround from their miserable 2002-03 campaign; his name had been mentioned in the same sentence as WCHA MVP as many times as anyone in the conference.

But until Saturday night, something was missing from Brückler’s breakout resume. As good as he had been, allowing two goals or less in 17 of his 30 games this season, Brückler had not quite managed to tally a shutout. In fact, the Austrian netminder had not held an opponent scoreless since his first collegiate game some two seasons ago.

Saturday night Brückler rectified that, stopping all 25 shots the Huskies threw at him.

“It’s been a while, that’s for sure,” Brückler said with a smirk after the game.

Head coach Mike Eaves said that he has been impressed with his goaltender’s performance and improvement this season.

“When you watch him right now he seems in control ? his positioning, his rebound control, his decisions with the puck are all pretty solid,” Eaves said. “Such a huge part of a goaltender’s equipment is his confidence, and [Bernd] has that in spades.”
Bruckler stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced Friday night. On the weekend he posted a save percentage just under 98 percent.

Carlson’s Birthday Bash: The Badgers may have benefited from a bit of birthday-luck on Saturday night. After scoring the game-tying goal in Friday’s contest, freshman forward Ross Carlson knocked one in that proved to be decisive in the first period on Saturday.

But while Carlson ? who celebrated his 22nd birthday with the victory ? was able to find the net better than any of his teammates over the weekend, he claimed after the game that he didn’t know quite how that happened.

“I didn’t know where to go [with the shot]. I was going upper-corner on the one that I scored (Saturday night) and it went five-hole somehow.”

The goal was a present for both Carlson and the Badgers, who moved into sole possession of third place in the WCHA with the victory.

“It definitely was a very nice birthday,” Carlson said.

After missing the first 20 games of the season for Wisconsin this season, Carlson has stepped into the Badgers’ system perfectly since joining the team. The junior college-transfer has scored 14 points in his first 14 games ? good enough to lead Wisconsin in points per game.

Carlson is quick to deflect any credit to his teammates.

“It’s not really me to be honest with you. It’s more of my linemates that help me out. They find me when I’m open. Robbie Earl, I can’t say enough about him. He’s so fast up that wing; I try to hit him every time. He just cruises. And when Dowell is out there winning faceoffs, that helps immensely.”

Heatley brings offensive punch to lineup: Freshman Mark Heatley was back in uniform Saturday after being a healthy-scratch in five of the previous six games. Eaves said he decided to add Heatley to the mix to create a bit of offense after scoring just once Friday night.

“[Against] North Dakota we scored nine goals,” said Eaves after Saturday’s victory. “Last night we scored one. You take a look at what your needs are.”

“‘Heater’ gave us what we were hoping he would give us, and that’s a little offensive spark. He’s going to hopefully continue to give us that. He’s a young man who has some things you can’t teach.”

Heatley scored his fifth goal of the season in his return to action, and said it was just good to be back on the ice.

“I was just really excited, even in warm-ups, to be out there again,” Heatley said. “I miss it so much. You realize how much you miss it when you don’t play.”