MINNEAPOLIS — Shane Connelly has had some impressive performances in his career as the Wisconsin goaltender, but even he would rank Friday’s 3-2 win over Minnesota as one of his finest.
“It’s up there in my top three games,” Connelly said. “It’s definitely up there. It can rank one or two, but it’s up there in the top three for sure.”
Connelly was peppered early and often by the Gopher offense Friday, facing 45 shots and turning away 43 of them. In the first period alone, Connelly saw 19 Minnesota shots and stopped all 19.
“We survived the first period,” Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said. “Shane was excellent.”
Despite being outshot 19-6 in the first, all the Badgers needed to break the scoreless tie was one shot. A goal by UW’s Jamie McBain late in the period helped alleviate some of the pressure on Connelly.
“The first period, we were under the gun there,” Connelly said. “You can see the frustration in their eyes when they get to 15 shots and have no goals, and then we take the lead 1-0.”
“Obviously, we were getting outplayed that first period,” McBain said. “Connelly kept us in it, no doubt. But we weathered the storm.”
Of the 43 saves Connelly made Friday, none stood out more than a robbery of Minnesota’s Jay Barriball. The Gophers’ Jordan Schroeder and Barriball had a two-on-one rush after UW defenseman Ryan Little fell down in the Badger zone. Schroeder hit Barriball for a one-timer just in front of the net, but Connelly snatched the puck with his glove and maintained the 2-0 lead for his team.
“I saw Schroeder coming down. … I wasn’t sure if he was going to pass it. I was looking for him to come back blocker side,” Connelly said of the play. “He dished it over, and I was fortunate to have my glove in the right place at the right time. It was a great play by him, and I got lucky on that one, but it was a big save.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Eaves said of the save. “He was sharp tonight. We needed him to be sharp, and he came up big for us.”
The 45 shots weren’t the most Connelly faced all season — that would be a 52-shot output by the Denver Pioneers in the second weekend of the season.
“When we played in Denver at the beginning of the year, he was really good in the first period, and then he kind of lost it as the game went on,” Eaves said. “But from start to finish [Friday], he was pretty darn big for us.”
As big as the 5-foot-9-inch Connelly was in net Friday, he needed a repeat effort Saturday to steal another road victory against the Gophers. After being tested both physically and mentally the night before, the question was how Connelly would respond.
A 33-save night was his response.
Minnesota put 37 shots on Connelly in the second game — including a late barrage in the final minutes — but the senior netminder turned away just enough to earn his 15th victory of the year.
“It was nice to see him go back-to-back,” Eaves said. “He faced a lot of shots last night, and he showed that he’s in pretty good shape. He was sharp all night long for us.”
He may have been sharp all night, but Connelly looked his best late in the game with the Badgers clinging to a 5-4 lead after Tony Lucia scored for Minnesota with under four minutes to play. Wisconsin was unable to seal the win with an empty-netter, making the last minute especially challenging for Connelly.
“We started to make it a bit interesting,” Connelly said. “They forced us to just scramble around. They did everything they could. They were making plays, and my deal was just to get in the way of the puck.”
After facing 82 shots in two games, Connelly and Wisconsin now have a weekend off to rest up and prepare for a potential battle for first place against Denver.
No Badger is likely welcoming the break as much as Connelly.
“I’m pretty exhausted,” Connelly said after Saturday’s win. “It was definitely a lot of work. I need to get my stamina for later on in the year when we have to make big playoff runs.”
