The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team (11-19-0, 4-16-0 Big Ten) faced off in a border battle against the Golden Gophers (21-8-1, 15-4-1) last weekend, losing their first game 4-1 and winning their second 3-1 at the Kohl Center.

Game One

If you told the average Badger fan the UW men’s hockey team would end the first period against top-ranked Minnesota outshooting them on goal 21-3, they might look at you like you were crazy — and then ask if they were in the lead.

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Well, they did outshoot them 21-3, but the answer to the second question was “no” as the Badgers wound up entering the end of the first period down 1-0.

The beginning of the game seemed to shock the Golden Gophers, who have had their way with this Badger team lately. They were now winners of six straight games in this series, with an average margin of victory of just under five goals. But they came out lackadaisical and got caught up in their own zone for the majority of the first period.

On the other hand, the Badgers had a high-energy start to the game and got an early opening when Gophers defenseman Jackson LaCombe was called for a contact-to-the-head major for a neutral ice hit on UW defenseman Corson Ceulemans.

The Badgers didn’t score on the power play, but it was a harbinger of how the period would go — the zone time they gained from the man-advantage seemed to continue on for the entire period. They had chance after chance, but couldn’t solve Minnesota goalie Justen Close. Close was phenomenal for the Gophers all night long, making 36 saves, including a highlight-reel sliding save, robbing UW alternate captain Jack Gorniak when the game was still scoreless.

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Then, with 4:03 left in the period, 2022 number three overall pick Logan Cooley got the Gophers on the board with a spinning shot from the left circle which snuck underneath the pads of UW goalkeeper Jared Moe and sucked the life out of the Kohl Center crowd. It was just Minnesota’s second shot on goal in almost 16 minutes of game time.

That goal got Minnesota to the first intermission, when they seemed to settle in and played much better. Just 1:04 into the second period, Minnesota forward Jimmy Snuggerud caught the Badgers puck-watching and ripped a wrister past Moe for his 17th goal of the year.

The Gophers would add one more in the second when junior Bryce Brodzinski was left unmarked in the high slot in transition and wired one past Moe. The Badgers did not make many mistakes, but it seemed like each one ended up in the back of the net. Brodzinski’s goal gave the Golden Gophers a 3-0 lead on just seven shots on goal and ended Moe’s night early for the second straight game.

Brodzinski would score another in the third period before right wing Brock Caufield scored the lone Badger goal on a beautiful feed from junior Sam Stange out of the corner. It was Caufield’s 10th of the year, good for the team lead.

UW goalie Kyle McClellan was solid in relief of Moe, making 20 saves on 21 shots.

Game Two

Entering the second game, defenseman Daniel Laatsch had one goal to his name across his 56-game career. After the second game, he had two.

Laatsch scored UW’s second goal of the night, his second of his career, which would hold up as the game-winner for the Badgers in a 3-1 upset over the Gophers.

The loss, coupled with Michigan’s win over Michigan State, means that the Gophers’ Big Ten title celebration will have to wait.

The Badgers did well to rebound after losing the first game, in which they were the better team for long stretches of time. The opening period was a lot closer battle during the second match, with both teams getting their fair share of chances.

The best of the opening 17 minutes belonged to Minnesota freshman Brody Lamb, who danced through a couple of Badgers and got a shot off that trickled through the pads of UW goaltender McClellan, but it was cleared away by Mike Vorlicky at the last second before it could cross the goal line.

It looked like the first period would end scoreless until, just like the night before, Minnesota got on the board late. With 1:32 left in the period, Mike Koster took a shot from long-range that seemed to fool McClellan, placing the Gophers up 1-0.

However, unlike the night before, the Badgers responded with Minnesota native and former Gopher recruit Cruz Lucius. He skated past Jaxon Nelson and took a beautiful pass from Mathieu De St. Phalle before beating Close with a backhand upstairs with just 21 seconds left in the period.

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About halfway through the second, all of the 11,075 fans at the Kohl Center thought UW had taken the lead. A shot from Ben Dexheimer found its way in the crease and Liam Malmquist seemed to tap it in — at least that’s what it looked like in a later replay shown in the stadium. But the referees waved it off, and play continued. That’s when Laatsch did his thing.

A Jack Horbach shot from the right circle went off the post and ricocheted out to Laatsch, who deposited it into a gaping cage to render the Malmquist would-be goal moot and give the Badgers the lead.

The Gophers thought they tied it just 1:30 later with Connor Kurth, but a successful UW challenge for too many men on the ice took that one off the board. After that, McClellan was up to the task.

He was sensational for UW, stopping 32 of 33 Minnesota shots in his first start since Dec. 10. That one goal allowed is the fewest UW has given up against Minnesota in eight games.

With the win, the Badgers improved to 3-3 all-time against the No. 1 team in the nation under head coach Tony Granato, and 4-2 in their last six games against the Gophers when they played UW as the No. 1 team in the nation.

This week, the Badgers are still at home as they welcome Michigan State into the Kohl Center. The Spartans took both games in East Lansing back in early November and are currently tied for third in the Big Ten.