Despite an awkwardly scheduled weekend and a less than stellar start Sunday afternoon, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (3-1) swept Alabama-Huntsville (1-3) in the home opening series at the Kohl Center.
After a typical 7 p.m. start for Friday’s game, the Badgers and Chargers had to wait until Sunday at 1 p.m. to play the second game of the series.
That was an unusual challenge for head coach Mike Eaves and his team with UAH looking to bounce back after dropping game one.
“With the activities going on around town, we brought them in, had a meeting, got together and watched the game and we say and do all the right things but if that natural emotion isn’t there where you’re jacked and ready to play the result is we found ourselves in a heck of a game,” Eaves said.
But two second period goals and an eventual hat trick from junior forward Jordy Murray gave the No. 15 Badgers enough of a lift to take down the Chargers despite only having a 1-0 lead after a tight first 20 minutes of play.
“We’re not used to playing in a game Friday and Sunday, especially at 1 o’clock in the afternoon so we kind of had a sluggish start today and the coaches told us to get the guys fired up after the first period,” assistant captain Jake Gardiner said.
“We didn’t match their heart right away and thank goodness we responded well,” Eaves said. “Jordy Murray stepped up to the plate and scored some big goals for us.”
Murray’s first goal of the game came just as a UW powerplay expired in the early seconds of the second period. Freshman forward Mark Zengerle, who scored UW’s first goal on a first period powerplay, found Murray alone in front of UAH goaltender Clarke Saunderson and the sophomore found an opening short side to extend the lead.
UAH forward Chris Fairbanks responded with a powerplay goal off a rebound moments later that got by Brett Bennett, but Murray answered back at the 12:54 mark. Murray picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated in on Saunderson and buried the puck in the top left corner of the net with a quick wrister.
Murray added his third goal almost eight minutes into the final period. After a series of great moves by defenseman Justin Schultz to gain the offensive zone, Murray grabbed a pass from Schultz and deked out Saunderson to give the Badgers a 4-1 lead.
Gardiner added a tally of his own with a one-timer on the powerplay and UAH forward Jamie Easton scored with the man advantage to bring the game to a 5-2 final.
On Friday night, the Badger defensemen proved they could shoulder plenty of the scoring weight as Schultz and Gardiner combined to score three goals en route to a dominating 7-0 win over Alabama Huntsville in the home opener.
Schultz got the scoring started on the powerplay midway through the first period with a blast off a one-timer that beat UAH goaltender Clarke Saunders. UAH forward Sebastian Geoffrion was ejected from the game after receiving a game misconduct for contact to the head and the Badgers went to work with the man advantage. After working to keep the puck in the zone, Gardiner found Schultz who beat Saunders short side to give UW an early lead.
“His release and strength of shot have much improved and he has this reservoir of confidence now that’s a huge jump for him,” Eaves said of Schultz. “He has accelerated to the point he is at now because of that year of experience from last [year].”
Gardiner doubled that lead just over two minutes later as freshman forward Mark Zengerle set the junior defenseman up with another one-timer with a perfect cross ice pass. Gardiner had a wide open net and made the most of it.
“Me, Rammer, Gards, we all played last year so we have got to lead by example and show how its done,” Schultz said of the Badger defensive corps.
Freshman forward Tyler Barnes and senior captain Sean Dolan scored goals 26 seconds apart and both came off redirections in the second period to give UW a 4-0 lead.
Eaves was pleased to see those two goals result from his team’s hard work in front of the UAH net.
“It’s been a point of emphasis for every hockey team I’ve been around,” Eaves said. “These goalies at this level are very very good and if they have a chance to see the puck they are going to stop the puck. When you take their eyes away its tough to see the puck, they have to work to find it and then when you deflect it it makes it even harder.”
Schultz added another powerplay tally at the 8:42 mark of the second period as Saunders failed to find the puck through the multiple screens in front of him.
That would be the last goal Saunders would surrender, as the freshman was relieved by John Griggs after Schultz’s goal gave UW a 5-0 lead.
Griggs would allow two goals of his own as senior Podge Turnbull and freshman Gavin Hartzog added tallies in the third period as Scott Gudmandson earned his first shutout of the season.
