DETROIT — Any goaltender is going to have a hard time stopping pucks he can’t see. Even if he is as hot as Rochester Institute of Technology senior Jared DeMichiel.

That fact was made perfectly clear Thursday during the Badgers’ 8-1 thrashing of RIT in the opening game of the Frozen Four.

In the week of practice leading up to the matchup with the Tigers, UW head coach Mike Eaves wanted his players to understand the importance of creating traffic in front of DeMichiel, whose terrific play helped the underdogs advance to Detroit.

“Our coaching staff made a point to our entire team to take the goalie’s eyes away,” Mitchell said. “[DiMichiel] played obviously well against good teams like Denver and UNH and we didn’t think they got too many bodies in front of him.”

DiMichiel may have been riding a hot streak, but according to Eaves, no goaltender is unbeatable when constant traffic persists in front of them.

“It doesn’t matter what goaltender you play against,” Eaves said. “Whether it’s (Martin) Brodeur or (Scott) Gudmandson, you make them less effective by having people in front of them. When they can’t see the puck they are not as good.”

In the first period of the game, that plan was executed to perfection.

The Badgers scored two goals in the first 10 minutes, giving them all the scoring they needed in Thursday’s game.

Senior forward John Mitchell parked his 6-foot-5-inch frame in front of the RIT crease and buried a loose rebound in the opening minutes. While providing a screen at the top of the crease, sophomore center Derek Stepan deflected a shot past DiMichiel just over eight minutes later.

“Both their goals were shots from the point with traffic,” DiMichiel said. “The first one was a bad rebound on my part. I didn’t really see the puck and I can’t give a rebound like that. The second one was a deflection and there is not much you can do there.

It was the fast start UW wanted, and it came from getting bodies in front of the Tigers’ netminder.

“We felt that was one of the things we wanted to do tonight. The first goal was indicative of it and the second one as well,” Eaves said. “We had people right there”

Power play puts game out of reach

The Tigers dug a hole after the first 20 minutes, but when RIT took six penalties in the second period, the game turned into a blowout.

The UW power play kept the pressure on RIT and the goals kept coming.

“We were effective on the specialty teams in the second period and that was the turning point of the game,” Eaves said.

The Badgers capitalized on their first power play opportunity of the period when freshman defenseman Justin Schultz scored to extend the lead to 4-0. But that was just the beginning.

Midway through the period, more RIT penalties gave the Badgers a two-man advantage. Mark Cornacchia was given a five-minute major for hitting from behind and an additional ten-minute game misconduct.

The sophomore forward was ejected from the game and this all occurred with Tyler Mazzei serving a minor penalty.

During the two-man advantage, a picture-perfect series of passes ended up on the stick of Michael Davies and he scored a backdoor goal easily.

One minute and 25 seconds later, Taylor McReynolds was called for tripping and Blake Geoffrion scored another 5-on-3 goal.

Those two tallies proved to be backbreakers.

“Two quick goals like that were just too tough for us to come back from,” DiMichiel said.

UW had the NCAA semifinal under control from the start, but the second period power play opportunities ensured the Badgers would be playing for a national championship Saturday.

“The power play got rolling in the second,” Stepan said. “And once the snowball got moving it just kept building.”