The Wisconsin men’s hockey team entered the rink Saturday night looking for its second WCHA sweep of the season after winning 4-0 Friday against Alaska-Anchorage.
They had to work for it, but the Badgers accomplished what they wanted at the Kohl Center.
In a 3-2 game, the highlight reel play of the night was also the most important goal of the game. Tied at 2-2 with just over four minutes to play in regulation, UW center Mark Zengerle found teammate Joseph LaBate at center ice, who proceeded to pass the puck to Justin Schultz flying down the right wing.
It looked as if Schultz would take the puck all the way to the net, but instead dumped it off at the last second for LaBate, who was crashing hard to the net and put it away for the game-winning goal.
The win put the Badgers (11-10-2, 6-9-2) two games above .500 for the first time all season and added to a season-best stretch of five wins in their last six games.
“We hope [the winning streak] helps us mature as a team,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. “One of the things that we felt was frustrating after the first period tonight, we didn’t come out and play nearly as hard or as effective as we needed to, which was disappointing.”
Apart from the exciting game winner, most of the game’s entertainment was contained to a three minute and 15 second span in the second period when both teams exploded.
UAA got the scoring barrage started, earning its first lead of the series with a goal from Austin Coldwell just over three minutes into the period. The Badgers answered immediately with a goal just 16 seconds later from Tyler Barnes and a goal from Derek Lee a little more than a minute after Barnes’ quick response. But UAA wasn’t about to go away, getting a game-tying goal from Curtis Leinweber less than two minutes after the Badgers took the lead, tying the game at 2-2.
“The nice thing about that part of the game, it got the crowd into it and there was some energy back in the building again,” Eaves said. “Then it was a couple of heavyweights throwing punches at each other trying to find a weak spot and take over.”
Game one Friday night marked a historical stretch of play by Rumpel and the resurgence of an offense that had been shut out 3-0 in its previous game against Minnesota State.
Winning 4-0 in front of more than 10,000 fans who braved Friday’s snow storm, the Badgers scored once in the first period, twice in the second and recorded one final tally in the third period as Rumpel put the finishing touch on his second shutout in three games. Friday’s game marked the first time a rookie Badger goaltender has had multiple shutouts since the 1980-81 campaign when Terry Kleisinger accomplished the feat.
“He looks a lot more confident [than at the beginning of the season] for sure… He was doing great before break for us, and ever since break he’s been locking the door for us,” Zengerle said.
Despite the wide margin of victory for Wisconsin, the game had a relatively uneventful feel, as a back and forth pace dominated much of the action. The first penalty of the contest didn’t even occur until the second period as there were a total of just four power plays in the entire game.
“The first period seemed… very methodical, but that’s not the level of energy we need to play with,” Eaves said. “We said to the boys, ‘You know fellas you battle so much harder against each other all week and then you come out in the game and they want to do things right,’ but there has got to be that level of compete and energy.”
Zengerle, who had his 20-game point streak halted last weekend, broke the monotonous tempo with his tenth goal of the season midway through the first period to put Wisconsin up 1-0. Zengerle also went on to score his team-leading 34th, 35th and 36th points of the season.
“[Zengerle] is playing to his strengths and his strengths are his ability to see the ice, and he really has the innate ability to know what he is going to do before he gets the puck on his stick,” Eaves said. “That’s what good offensive players do.”
All-American Justin Schultz, who had been held scoreless in three consecutive contests, complemented Zengerle by collecting three points of his own including the Badgers’ final goal and assists on the goal by Zengerle and a second-period score by Jake McCabe.
“I think those guys like Mark [Zengerle] and Justin [Schultz], they know they are going to be back on the score sheet,” Eaves said. “It is part of who they are, the fact that they weren’t is a rare thing.”
Wisconsin’s other goal was scored by Frank Simonelli barely 40 seconds into the second period to put the Badgers up 2-0.
