There weren’t many positives for Badger fans this weekend as the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team (4-12-6, 1-7-2-1 Big Ten) dropped two home games to border rival Minnesota (13-10-0, 8-2-0 Big Ten) in blowout fashion this weekend. The Gophers experience and offensive superiority proved too much in both contests, gliding easily by the Badgers winning 4-0 and 9-2, respectively.

While the first game was the more competitive of the two, neither were close from the opening drop.

Minnesota set the tone early in the game Saturday with a 12-second goal off the opening faceoff by forward Hudson Fasching, who leads the Gophers in points after this weekend. The goal set the tone for a game that would run UW out of their own building.

For the Badgers, the severity of the losses come as a big surprise. They have been competing well against top ranked teams like the Gophers all season, but were unable to keep anything out of their own net as Minnesota won all but one period of play in the two game series.

But, UW head coach Mike Eaves said this series doesn’t need to be analyzed too deeply.

“I don’t think we need to over analyze this,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “You’re going to have nights like these. We know we’re better than this and we have to get back to the basics. It was the fundamentals that got us and we will return to square one on Monday.”

One of the strong suits for the Badgers this season has been freshman goalie Matt Jurusik, but he struggled early and often to block anything as he let in eight goals on only 30 shots. Jurusik was pulled several times in both games, something Eaves is normally very reluctant to do.

“I just wanted Matt to clear his head,” Eaves said. “This is a learning experience for him and I know he’ll be ready going forward.”

Despite the two-game struggle this series for the Badgers, they are still tied for fourth in a stacked Big Ten Conference with six points.

With just six games left in their current stretch of eight consecutive home games, the team will look to bounce back.

“There’s not one thing to fix,” Eaves said. “We need to get back to the base of the pyramid and start over. I know we will be better than this.”