Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves spoke all week at practice about the need to manufacture goals, and after this weekend’s series sweep of Michigan Tech, it is safe to say the Badgers did just that.
It was a series that saw the Badgers collect an astounding 14 goals, while only allowing two scored against them.
In Saturday night’s game, both teams struggled to generate scoring chances early on, but a five-minute major for checking from behind and subsequent game misconduct penalty on MTU forward Mikael Lickteig blew the game wide open. Lickteig was ejected and as he skated to the locker room, any chance for a Michigan Tech victory left with him.
With 10 full minutes on the power play, the Badgers scored three goals as they took full advantage with the extra man.
“That was a turning point in the game, and it took the wind out of their sails,” Eaves said. “Up until that point, the game was in the balance — which way the game was going to go. The major penalty — and then taking advantage of the major penalty — was the difference in the game.”
Junior defenseman Brendan Smith finished with three points (two goals, one assist) and he started the scoring onslaught for UW after he snuck up from the blue line and fired a slap shot by Michigan Tech goalie Kevin Genoe.
“I got open luckily, and Derek (Stepan) made good passes to me,” Smith said. “The first one was a magnificent pass, so I had an open net.”
Less than a minute later, John Mitchell, who got an opportunity to play on the first line and power-play unit, doubled the Badgers’ lead.
Mitchell has had his struggles this season, but the senior forward was given a chance to make an impact playing alongside some of UW’s more skilled players and he delivered.
“I was able to skate with Blake (Geoffrion) and Craig (Smith), and they’re amazing players,” Mitchell said. “I was kind of nervous coming in and didn’t know if I had settled down with them, but I found my groove initially and it carried through the weekend.”
Smith and Mitchell would each tally another power-play goal, as the Badgers never let up, en route to a dominating 6-0 victory.
Lost in the shuffle was the shutout performance put forth by junior goaltender Scott Gudmandson, who stopped all 15 shots he faced.
Gudmandson was pleased with his play, but he was quick to credit his defensemen, who allowed the Huskies to register only two shots on goal in the third period.
“I didn’t really have a lot of work tonight. The defense was unbelievable,” Gudmandson said. “The defense did a good job and made it pretty easy for me.”
Friday’s series opener had a similar outcome as the Badgers won by another six-goal margin. UW earned an 8-2 victory, but according to the coaching staff, despite jumping out to a 4-1 first period lead, it was a flawed performance in the early going.
Patrick Johnson banged home a centering pass for the first goal of the night, Blake Geoffrion scored twice and Ryan McDonagh capped the scoring in the first period, but the players were not showered with praise when they skated off the ice.
“Coach was a little upset with our performance in the first period. We didn’t come out ready to play; we needed to play better defensively and do the little things,” Smith, who had four assists on the night, said. “We were very lackadaisical and we were very fortunate to have that lead after the first period.”
Eaves refocused his team in the locker room as the Badgers came out energized on the defensive end in the second period, only allowing three shots to reach goaltender Brett Bennett.
Geoffrion also helped carry his team through, as he was the go-to-guy with the man advantage. The senior captain and team leader in goals scored again midway through the second period, giving him three power-play goals on the night to register his first career hat trick.
“We take a lot of pride in our special teams, and coming into every game, we want to get at least one [power-play goal],” Geoffrion said. “And tonight that was the turning point in the game.”
The Badgers put bodies in front of the net all night and scoring chances were relentlessly poured on the Michigan Tech goaltender as UW refused to get complacent with such a large lead.
“Are you going to go out there and sit back, or are you going to go out there and play hard and play the way you need to play to be a good team?” Eaves said of his intermission speech. “That was what we wrote on the board and we went out and played to that.”
