
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Wisconsin men’s hockey team had a chance to make a statement on the road this weekend and took full advantage of it.
Playing No. 3 North Dakota, the No. 11 Badgers tied Friday and won Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena to get three crucial points in the WCHA standings to close out 2009.
The Fighting Sioux lived up to their nickname, pulling to within 4-3 with 16 seconds left Saturday night before the Badgers hung on for the win. The night before, UW had a 3-2 lead going into the third period before giving up the equalizer and skating to a tie in overtime.
The difference between the games was simple for UW head coach Mike Eaves.
“Bottom line, we scored the fourth goal,” he said.
The winning goal came on a Brendan Smith shot from the right circle that beat UND goaltender Brad Eidsness. North Dakota’s Jake Marto got a slashing penalty and the Badgers converted half a minute into the resulting power play.
That gave the Badgers a 4-2 lead and capped a major comeback for Wisconsin. UW finished the first period down 2-1 behind UND goals by Brett Hextall and Chris VandeVelde.
Hextall put UND on the board after UW finished killing a five-on-three penalty. Skating up the left wing, he scored on a shot over UW goaltender Scott Gudmandson’s right shoulder. VandeVelde’s goal came when he tried to launch a cross-ice pass that went off Badgers defenseman Ryan McDonagh’s skate and into the goal.
In the first period, Wisconsin was outshot 17-3, equaling the most shots the Badgers have given up in a period all season.
The second period proved much better for the Badgers (11-5-2, 8-4-2 WCHA), who outshot the Sioux 13-9. UW’s fourth line of Andy Bohmbach, Matt Thurber and Patrick Johnson sparked the team, creating offensive chances, as well as holding steady on the defensive end.
“They gave us great minutes — they gave us great energy and they contributed. It was a big factor for us,” Eaves said of the fourth line. “We were able to play more the way we wanted to tonight, especially in the middle of the game, because we had four lines going. One line was following the other line and kind of picking up where they left off.”
Derek Stepan found Michael Davies behind the UND defense and hit him with a long pass to give him a breakaway. Davies launched a shot past Eidsness and tied the game up at two. John Mitchell would find Ben Street open in front of the net just 1:59 later to give UW its first lead of the night.
Escaping with their first one-goal victory of the season was sweet revenge for a Badger team that was up 2-0 after one period Friday night before being dominated for most of the rest of the game.
Penalties haunted UW in the series opener, as UND had eight power plays to the Badgers’ three, converting on two of them. Heading into the overtime period, UND seemed to have the momentum, and Craig Smith took a slashing penalty to give the Sioux a power play for most of the backend of the overtime.
Penalties would prove to be UW’s bane the entire series.
“[We] were just talking about that — what do we do to get rid of these silly stick penalties we’re taking?” Eaves said. “We have a couple drills that we’ll do; we’re going to have to go back and get the mindset that we have to be better with our sticks. We’re spinning the revolver and playing a little Russian Roulette by taking so many penalties, there’s no doubt.
“We didn’t have that in the first period as much as we had in the rest of the game.”
“Bottom line is, I can’t be putting myself in a situation where it’s a debatable call,” Smith added. “It’s something I’ve got to fix.”
UW put itself ahead on goals by Smith and Blake Geoffrion, but the second period was not a good one for the Badgers. Wisconsin took six penalties and was outshot 12-2, erasing any momentum that came from a 3-1 lead that got UND starter Eidsness pulled from the game. Gudmandson came up huge for UW repeatedly, preserving the Badgers’ one-goal lead heading into the third.
“I think the second period, we got out of our rhythm there. There [were] a bunch of penalties and stuff,” he said.
After playing on their heels for most of the second period, it appeared that UW could breathe again after a Justin Schultz shot from the point was tipped in by Michael Davies. The ref behind the net waved it off immediately, though, as it was called for being deflected by a high stick.
Despite looking like they were in position to win the game, the Badgers aren’t disappointed by the results of the series.
Although they described Friday as “frustrating,” Eaves said the tie signaled good growth for the team. The players seemed to agree that UW got what it wanted out of the series.
“You always kind of measure your season by how you do at the Ralph Engelstad,” Street said. “To take three out of four points is a pretty good thing for us.”