MANKATO, Minn. — The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team played about eight more minutes than they wanted to this weekend.
With the Badgers on the road at Minnesota State, UW went into overtime twice, losing Friday’s game 4-3 and tying Saturday’s contest 3-3. In both games, head coach Mike Eaves’ squad had the lead before surrendering the tying goal in the last 10 minutes of the third period.
Considering Wisconsin is 0-6-11 in extra time the past two seasons, extending the game is one of the last things the Badgers may want to do.
“We just can’t get a win,” junior forward Michael Davies said. “We are playing hard, we are doing exactly what we want to do, and what we want to accomplish. We are getting pucks behind their D and we are just not getting a win.”
Coming off a frustrating loss Friday night, the challenge for Eaves’ team was to determine what energy the Badgers would bring for Saturday’s game.
Although UW started the game down 2-0 after giving up goals to the Mavericks’ Kael Mouillierat and Trevor Bruess, Wisconsin responded by scoring three goals in less than five minutes to take the lead in the second period. At the front of the charge was Davies, who scored two goals Saturday and chipped in another Friday.
“You could feel it on the bench, we kind of took over there and had some real good things going for us,” Eaves said. “And then it dissipated toward the end of the period for us. We would sure like to ride that wave as long as we can.”
For the second night in a row, however, UW gave the lead back when MSU’s Rylan Galiardi scored on a power play 10:26 into the third frame.
“This weekend, in the third period, it was the power play goal that made the difference,” Eaves said. “And one of your better penalty killers has to be your goaltender, and quite frankly, I’m sure Shane would like to have that one back he gave up for the third goal.”
Any chance of a Wisconsin comeback was effectively ended when sophomore Brendan Smith was called for hooking a little over two minutes into overtime, forcing the Badgers to kill a penalty to simply preserve a tie.
“Their speed is very good,” Eaves said. “We have some pretty good D core and their ability to push us wide and turn us was pretty impressive.”
UW came to Mankato looking to wrap up home ice for the WCHA playoffs. By the end of Saturday’s game, they were thankful to have left with at least one point.
“The big thing is we got the point,” Eaves said. “In a difficult place and at difficult times for us. We will take that home with us.”
Much like it did against Denver two weekends ago, the Badgers were able to control play for most of the game Friday night but still fell to the Mavericks in overtime.
“We have two fishes that we have half way out of the water and we haven’t gotten them in the boat,” Eaves said.
After the loss against Denver, most of the Badgers blamed themselves. This time, however, a lot of anger was directed at another source: the officials.
“I am not going to go down that path,” Eaves said. “Obviously they were critical times in the game. And unless I was willing to give you a $1,000 dollar check right now — unfortunately I called my wife, and she said I can’t — I’m not going to say anything about those things. The viewpoints those gentleman have certainly aren’t the ones we have.”
The critical times Eaves refers to were two goals waived off, both involving senior forward Tom Gorowsky. In the second period, junior captain Blake Geoffrion was able to find the back of the net on a power play, only to have it disallowed as Gorowsky was called for interference in front of the net. One period later, freshman forward Derek Stepan centered the puck through the crease where it bounced off Gorowsky’s skate into the net. The play was reviewed and waived off when it was ruled Gorowsky kicked the puck in.
“They said I distinctly kicked the puck in the net,” Gorowsky said. “I don’t know how they made that distinction after watching it on video. It was really disappointing. I didn’t know I touched the puck at all. … I don’t know how they got a distinct kicking motion.”
Eaves strained in the postgame press conference to keep from criticizing the officials.
“Totally, disagree,” Eaves said of the Gorowsky goal that was waived off. “I’m walking a slippery slope right here, and I can just tell you that we disagree.”
UW had a chance to seize the momentum back early in the third period when the Mavericks were awarded a penalty shot for assistant captain Jamie McBain hooking a player on an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Senior goaltender Shane Connelly was up to the task, however, and turned away the Mavericks’ shot with his right blocker.
“I actually thought it was a little bit more fun,” Connelly said. “It’s a lot more fun when the game is on the line with a penalty shot in the third period. I wish [the game] could have turned out differently but it was a lot of fun.”