Minnesota State came into Madison with clear physical intentions, and the Mavericks weren’t afraid to take penalties — 27 in all — to get their point across.
The Badgers made them pay.
Over the weekend, UW scored 12 goals, with half of them coming on the power play.
“They’re a chippy team, and coming into a [series] like this, they try to get some momentum off that and they kept it close for a long time,” tri-captain Blake Geoffrion said. “That’s how they play the game, that’s how they get their momentum.”
In Saturday night’s contest, MSU built some momentum right away as Eli Zuck scored with just 53 seconds gone in the first period. Junior goaltender Brett Bennett, in his first start since being pulled two weeks ago in Duluth, had some trouble playing the puck and the Mavericks capitalized.
But thanks to the efforts of fourth-line winger Andy Bohmbach, Bennett and the Badgers wouldn’t play behind for long. Less than a minute later, Bohmbach went hard to net and lifted the puck over MSU goaltender Phil Cook to tie things up.
The Hudson, Wis., native had been demoted to the fourth line by head coach Mike Eaves and Bohmbach’s response was a welcomed surprise.
“He got the game puck tonight. I said to Andy ‘I don’t know what you had for a pregame meal, but I’m going to need that again,'” Eaves said. “He looked like he had speed and anticipation, and it was fun to see that.”
Bohmbach was pleased with his Saturday performance, but netting a game-tying goal for his team was the response he was most proud of.
“[The goal] felt good; it’s always good to rebound like that, get a goal right after they do,” Bohmbach said. “Shuts them up for sure, and gets our team going a bit as well.”
The goal certainly got the Badgers going, as Geoffrion and Ben Street also scored to give UW a 3-1 lead heading into the second period.
Geoffrion’s tally came on the power play at the 9:59 mark as Michael Davies continued to spark the Badger attack with his great vision and flawless passing. Davies found Geoffrion in the slot and the senior fired a snapshot past Cook’s glove.
Street also benefited from some great vision as John Mitchell did his best Davies impression to help give the Badgers a two-goal lead with one minute remaining in the first frame. Mitchell calmly gathered the puck in front of the MSU crease and the 6-foot-5 forward somehow found Street who was trailing behind him.
“[Mitchell] showed great vision tonight,” Eaves said. “That was an area we hoped we could expand and he made some great passes tonight.”
After a breakaway goal from grinder Ben Grotting and a shorthanded goal from defenseman Jake Gardiner, the Badgers went back to work on the power play.
With a 5-2 lead in the final minutes of the second period, Brendan Smith fired a shot into the top shelf to expand the Badger lead and end the night for Cook.
As play moved into the third period, the Mavericks got a power play goal from Tyler Pitlick, but the Badgers had an answer. On another power play opportunity, defenseman Ryan McDonagh wristed a shot from the point that beat newly inserted MSU goaltender Austin Lee.
Geoffrion added one more, blasting a slap shot from the left circle in the bottom right corner of the net after exiting the penalty box to give the Badgers a resounding 8-4 victory.
UW needed a sweep to keep pace in the WCHA title race, and Friday the Badgers got off to the winning start they needed.
Wisconsin dominated play in the first period (17-5 advantage in shots) but had nothing to show for it. MSU would open the scoring at the 14:24 mark despite being outplayed, thanks to a shot from Mike Louwerse that beat Scott Gudmandson.
Cook did all he could to keep UW off the scoreboard, but with a 5-on-3 power play the Badgers finally broke through.
Davies fired a shot on the doorstep that was initially saved by Cook, but the senior forward grabbed the rebound and fired home the second attempt.
Seconds later, still on the man-advantage, Davies struck again.
This time Davies got his stick on the puck in mid-air and he was able to direct it past a sprawling Cook to give UW the lead. It was another display of Davies’ remarkable hands and offensive ability.
“We have a bunch of guys with good hands,” Eaves said. “But Michael has real good quickness and some eye-hand coordination and that is one of his gifts.”
Despite going 0-4 on the power play in the first period, Davies knew the power play unit would eventually come through.
“We couldn’t score on the power play. We were getting our chances, even on 5-on-5, we knew we were going to end up getting one; we just stayed persistent,” Davies said. “I was able to tuck two in.”
In the second period, Geoffrion tallied a power play goal and Aaron Bendickson netted a shorthanded score midway through the third period.
MSU made it close late thanks to a shorthanded goal of its own and a converted penalty shot, but it was too little too late.
The 4-3 win Friday coupled with Saturday’s dominating performance has put UW in prime position to make a push for the WCHA title and the Badgers are well aware of how tight this race is.
“Every weekend, there’s not an easy game to take off, or an easy team to play — you’ve got to win them all,” Geoffrion said. “Especially here at the end of the year with it so tight and anybody can pretty much win it.”
