All it took was one goal Friday night for the third-ranked Badgers to get going.
Unfortunately for head coach Mike Eaves’ squad, however, the momentum they built over a four-minute stretch in the third period did not prove to be enough as Wisconsin skated to a 3-3 tie with No. 1 Denver at the Kohl Center.
Still, the tie was a positive result for Eaves and the Badgers.
“I think the result was what you might expect from two top college teams in the hockey world,” Eaves said. “It was an interesting game. I thought that we came out and played pretty well. … It was fun to see us get the momentum going a little bit.”
For the first 45 minutes, though, the game was all Denver.
After both teams went scoreless for more than 16 minutes, Pioneers forward Joe Colborne netted a power play goal to give DU the 1-0 lead. They would maintain that lead for the next 25-plus minutes before extending it to 2-0 less than two minutes into the third period.
At that point, UW appeared to be headed for a disappointing home loss to the nation’s top team. Just three minutes later, however, the game completely turned around.
At the 4:31 mark of the period, senior forward and tri-captain Blake Geoffrion tipped in a strong wrist shot from fellow senior Michael Davies to cut the margin in half and ignite the announced crowd of 12,603.
When the puck hit the net, it was clear the game was far from over.
“After their first goal, the building started rocking again,” DU forward Anthony Maiani said. “You knew they were going to get momentum going and it’s a tough thing to do. … It was tough, they took us right out of it.”
Not only did Geoffrion’s 16th goal of the season get the Badgers on the board, it also broke DU goalie Marc Cheverie’s shutout streak of more than 180 minutes against UW.
Once that happened, Wisconsin knew it could score on the Nova Scotia native.
“I think it was good for our confidence,” Geoffrion said. “It was just good to finally see a puck get by.”
Wisconsin’s second goal came less than three minutes later at the 7:15 mark when Davies put in his own goal this time, on a pass behind Cheverie, who left the net wide open on his right side.
Davies’ goal tied it up and the cardinal and red clad crowd erupted. Less than 90 seconds later, they would have even more to cheer for.
At the 8:43 mark, Geoffrion struck again, thanks in large part to an excellent feed from the left side by sophomore forward Jordy Murray. When Geoffrion netted the goal to put UW ahead 3-2, the noise was deafening in the Kohl Center.
According to Cheverie, the Pioneers seemed to let up after taking the 2-0 lead early in the third.
“That’s our story all year long, we let up,” he said. “We sat back and you know, you can’t do that at this level, especially on the road against a team like Wisconsin. They’re going to make you pay if you do that.”
Yet, the game’s fifth goal was still far from the end.
A little more than nine minutes later, Denver tied things up with a goal from Maiani, which eventually sent the game into overtime.
Both teams had plenty of chances to score in the game’s final two minutes of regulation and the overtime period, but the goalies for the Badgers and Pioneers stepped up to end it 3-3.
While both Wisconsin and Denver may be a bit fortunate to get the tie in their own ways, it was still a bittersweet feeling.
“You never feel good about a tie,” Cheverie said. “But we were lucky to get back in that game.”
