If the Badgers’ first game of 2010 was any indication, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team is in for a wild year.

Wisconsin withstood 1:25 of six-on-four hockey to finish the game and hang on for a 5-4 win over Merrimack in the Badger Hockey Showdown. Michael Davies’ boarding penalty at the 18:35 mark of the third period ensured the Warriors would get one last good chance to win after leading 2-0 early in the game.

“That team didn’t go away, give them credit,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said.

Junior tri-captain Ryan McDonagh got the game-winner, firing a wrist shot from the left point with the Badgers on the power play. The goal came just 1:37 after Merrimack’s Stephane Da Costa tied the game 4-4.

“I was just doing what we practiced the whole year, just getting pucks on net,” McDonagh said. “Big (John Mitchell) had a huge screen and I don’t think the goalie could see it.”

Hanging on for the win was the saving grace for a team that played well at times and not so well most of the rest. The Badgers fell behind 2-0 on goals by Merrimack’s Karl Stollery and Justin Bonitatibus before scoring four unanswered to take a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.

UW’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act Saturday could be attributed partially to the absence of three key players – Derek Stepan, Jake Gardiner and John Ramage – to the U.S. Under-20 national team, which is currently playing at the IIHF World Junior Championship. All three players had played in all 18 of UW’s games, forcing the Badgers to shuffle lines and defensive pairings.

“First of all, it’s hard for people outside looking in to recognize what a difficult task it is to try to insert three players into your lineup where your chemistry is changing. You’re missing Derek Stepan and Jake and Rammer,” Eaves said. “You’ve got to quickly try to find chemistry and combinations of new defensive pairings.”

The absence of defensemen Gardiner and Ramage meant center Aaron Bendickson was moved to defense, marking the first time the senior played defense at the collegiate level. Eaves filled the other gap at defense by playing junior defenseman Craig Johnson in his first game of the season. Johnson made his ice time count, scoring UW’s first goal on a shot from the right point that found its way through a lot of traffic before going in.

“Good plays by the forwards, they worked it low, kept the play going. Matt (Thurber) came out of the corner with the puck, rolled it right to me, set it up perfect for a nice goal,” Johnson said. “I haven’t scored since my freshman year, so it was pretty exciting. It was a good momentum change for us – we picked it up after that.”

The Badgers played their best stretch of the game following the first intermission, firing 21 shots on goal in the second period. Justin Schultz tied the game at two on the power play, just 2:50 into the period, showing poise by getting a defender to bite on a fake shot, then buying time to fire a wrist shot past Warriors goaltender Joe Cannata.

Wisconsin got another highlight-reel goal 7:06 into the period when Jordy Murray took a long entry pass from Michael Davies in for an almost-breakaway. The pass looked like it was just out of Murray’s reach, but he was able to control it and deke around an outstretched Cannata to give UW its first lead.

“I got pretty lucky I guess, the puck hit my stick and it didn’t go all the way to the corner… I got it and the goalie came out pretty far, I was a little surprised by that, I didn’t really have an angle to shoot at,” Murray said, “so I kind of faked it, and basically tucked it in and had a wide open net.”

Sean Dolan got UW’s next goal to give the Badgers a two-goal cushion heading into the third period. Merrimack’s Christ Barton scored 6:36 into the third to pull the Warriors back to within 4-3, before Da Costa tied the game.

Despite all the adversity the Badgers faced in missing players and returning from a three-week layoff, the end result was a win that gave UW a 12-5-2 overall record. Eaves said the game was a typical first-game-back in terms of rustiness, but was pleased the Badgers came out with a win.

“There was moments I wanted to pull my hair out,” Eaves said. “You have to take a step back and understand what we’re dealing with – I think all the coaches here at the tournament would pretty much tell you the same thing, that you’re going to see things that [the players] hadn’t been doing very often before the break, and now we have to get going again.”