The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team (4-11-1, 2-6-0-1 Big Ten) snapped their losing streak but have still not won a game since they beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers in overtime Nov. 5.
The Badgers skated to a 1-1 tie Friday against the Clarkson University Golden Knights (8-4-3-0, 3-2-1-0 ECAC) at the Kohl Center — a game that was followed by a 3-0 win by the Golden Knights Saturday.
In Friday’s game, junior goalie Jared Moe played in net for Wisconsin. Moe has been solid throughout his first this season in Madison. He has posted a 2.54 goals against average and a .924 save percentage, which rank 32nd and 12th in the nation, respectively.
Against Clarkson, he made 23 stops on 24 shots, allowing only one goal during the 65 minutes of play. Offensively, Wisconsin was not able to put more than one goal past Clarkson sophomore goalie Ethan Haider.
There was no scoring from either side during the first two periods of the game. In these two frames, the Badgers racked up 18 shots on net total, while the Golden Knights had 13 shots. Both goalies stood tall through two periods.
In the third period, senior forward Nick Campoli got Clarkson on the board on a partial breakaway where he beat Moe on the glove side, making it 1-0 with just under 11 minutes to play. The Badgers had chances to tie the game, but did not convert until captain Tarek Baker dragged the puck from his forehand to his backhand and deposited a rebound past Haider. Ryder Donovan and Daniel Laatsch were credited with the assists on the game tying goal.
The game then went to overtime, where neither team managed to score. The match ended in a 1-1 tie after the extra time.
In the second game of the series, Cameron Rowe played in the net for the Badgers. Rowe allowed two goals and had 23 saves. But he was provided no scoring support by the Wisconsin offense, which was shutout by Haider who stopped all 31 Badger shots on net.
There was no scoring in the opening period as Wisconsin outshot Clarkson 9-7. In the second period, the Golden Knights started to pull away by scoring two minutes in. Freshman forward and Dallas Stars third round pick Ayrton Martino beat Rowe on a slot shot to make it 1-0.
In the third period, Clarkson built on the narrow one goal lead with two more goals. Junior forward Anthony Romano scored 11 minutes in on a shot that squeaked by Rowe, which was followed by an empty net goal with just 37 seconds left to seal a 3-0 win over the Badgers.
Since Wisconsin’s struggles persisted against a non-conference opponent, the team must continue looking to get back on track and salvage the season.
The team will play again Dec. 2 in an exhibition against the U.S. Under-18 Team at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin will continue Big Ten play against Penn State on Dec. 10 and Dec. 11 in Madison.
