November wasn’t kind to Wisconsin, but entering the mid-season break, the men’s hockey team finally has a bit of momentum again.

The Badgers swept WCHA foe Bemidji State at the Kohl Center, winning 2-0 and 3-2 games to pick up four important points in the standings. Wisconsin owns a three game winning streak now, matching its best stretch since sweeping Michigan Tech and winning a game at Minnesota as October turned to November.

Saturday’s 2-0 win and Friday’s 3-2 victory were both tightly contested, but in game two, the Badgers did the one thing that has seemed to elude them all season: start strong.

UW has been prone all season to slow starts, especially at home, but came out Saturday with energy, skating hard and finishing checks.

“We were really solid in the first period,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “That was as good a solid start as you can get – maybe not flying up and down the ice, but we did the things we needed.”

The Badgers weren’t rewarded for their work until the first period was almost over, though.

With under a minute to play, freshman winger Michael Mersch made a move around a BSU defenseman and entered the offensive zone. With fellow freshman Tyler Barnes flying up the other wing, Mersch had an open look from the left circle, but elected to drop the puck to defenseman Justin Schultz in the high slot. Schultz fired the puck right back to Mersch right outside the crease, who redirected the puck for an easy goal.

“When you give Justin the puck, good things happen,” Mersch said. “I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and he gave it back to me. It was a great play.”

UW held its 1-0 lead through a scoreless second period.

At 13:08 of the third, senior Podge Turnbull – who was moved to center for this game – won a faceoff in the Bemidji State zone, dropping the puck to defenseman Frankie Simonelli. Simonelli shot the puck on goal and Turnbull managed to get a stick on the shot, causing the puck to skip past BSU goaltender Dan Bakala go give UW a 2-0 lead.

The Badgers would withstand the Beavers’ last ditch efforts with their goaltender pulled to preserve the win and give goaltender Scott Gudmandson a shutout.

Gudmandson, who had a shaky start to Friday’s game, was excellent for 117 and a half minutes of the series, controlling rebounds and playing the puck with confidence.

“I think I’ve been playing pretty well the last few games here,” he said of his play. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the guys playing around me.”

Gudmandson was partly bailed out by Craig Smith Friday night, as the sophomore scored the game-winning goal early in the third period to give UW a 3-2 win.

With Wisconsin on the power play due to a check from behind by BSU’s Shea Walters, Mark Zengerle found Smith in the slot, and the center fired home a shot to complete the UW comeback. Gudmandson weathered almost a minute and a half of 6-on-5 play to end the game and made up for a rough start to the game.

Those two and a half minutes of poor play almost ruined game one for the Badgers. By the 2:30 mark of the first period Friday, BSU already had a 2-0 lead.

On a delayed interference penalty to Jordy Murray, Bemidji State pulled Bakala for the extra attacker and scored when Radoslav Illo managed to poke a puck over Gudmandson’s shoulder to give BSU a 1-0 lead.

On the resultant power play, it took just 29 seconds for the Beavers to strike again, as Ian Lowe fired a cross-ice pass to Jordan George at the bottom of the right circle. George hammered the puck home to give the Beavers the early two-goal advantage.

“It was probably as disappointing a start as we’ve had this year,” Eaves said.

Smith would pull the Badgers to within one at 12:16 of the first period, taking a pass from Barnes in transition and making a move on Bakala one-on-one to make it a 2-1 game.

Just over halfway through the second period, Turnbull scored after firing a shot from the BSU blue line that knuckled and managed to get past Bakala and tie the game.

“Good things happen when you shoot the puck, especially when you get it on net,” Turnbull said. “I can’t say too much about the shot or anything.”

The two wins give the Badgers something to build off of as they take a three-week break. Eaves has consistently said he would wait until the winter layoff to reassess where the team is at. Saturday’s gutsy win at least gives him a good feeling to end the first half of the season.

“Satisfying would be a word,” he said. “We told the boys, I hope this is a satisfying win for you.”