The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team continues to impress under Tony Granato, taking care of No. 6 Boston College 3-1 in the first of a two-game series this weekend.
The Badgers (2-1, 0,0 Big Ten) made a big splash in their home opener Friday, scoring a goal in each period to help take down the sixth ranked team in the nation. The 3-1 upset marked the second of the season for the Badgers and the first win as a head coach for Granato at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin continued their dominance on the power play this season, adding two more power-play goals on eight chances. The Badgers now have seven power-play goals on the season and have a conversion rate of 29 percent, good enough for the fifth best percentage in the country.
Men’s hockey: UW hosts No. 6 Boston College in regular season home opener
Senior Grant Besse opened the scoring as he took advantage of the Badgers first power play of the game, cleaning up his own rebound to put Wisconsin up 1-0 just four minutes into the contest.
The game remained 1-0 for the better part of the first two periods until the Badgers capitalized on another power play at the end of the second. The Badgers capitalized on a 5-on-3 with 20 seconds left in the second period, as Ryan Wagner scored his first goal of the season to give UW a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore goalie Matt Jurusik came up big throughout the game and provided key saves in the third period to help the Badgers seal their upset. Jurusik stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced from the Eagles, a tremendous improvement from the four goals a game he allowed against Northern Michigan University.
Seamus Malone put the Badgers up 3-0 with 10 minutes left in the game, cleaning up his own shot to tally the third rebound goal of the game for Wisconsin. Boston College, however, responded with a goal of their own just 12 seconds later to bring the score to 3-1, but Jurusik and the Badgers defense held strong and stifled the Eagles offense in the final minutes of the game.
The Badgers will look to continue their impressive play under Granato in the second game of the series, which will be played at the Kohl Center on Sunday at 3 p.m. The game will televised on ESPNU.
