The Wisconsin Badgers (0-2-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, 3-3-0 overall) have already garnered their first sweep of the season in claiming two wins over the Quinnipiac Bobcats at the Kohl Center.
Badger senior co-captains forward Rene Bourque and defenseman Dan Boeser led the effort this weekend. Bourque collected four points on two goals and two assists, while Boeser contributed three assists over the weekend.
\The main thing is we got the sweep and we have some momentum going,"" sophomore forward Ryan MacMurchy said. ""We feel good about ourselves. We have some positive things to look forward to.""
The Badgers' 2-1 victory Friday night came in overtime after three hotly contested periods. The Bobcats (2-4-0 overall) did not wait long in taking the lead, notching their first score with 32 seconds left in the first period. Bourque, however, scored his first goal of the season midway through the second to tie the contest.
Bourque's goal came five seconds into a Badger power play, which directly followed six straight minutes of penalty killing. Wisconsin's special teams managed to hold their opponents at bay, though, and capitalize as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Quinnipiac managed to stay in the game due to the phenomenal play of their senior goaltender Justin Eddy. The senior stunned the Kohl Center audience with a plethora of fantastic saves that continually stymied the surging UW attack.
""[Eddy] was really the reason we were in the hockey game,"" Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold said. ""If he wasn't there, we would've gotten blown out.""
In overtime, Bobcat sophomore defenseman Dan Rossi took an ill-advised slashing penalty that set the Badgers up for another power play. At 3:22 of the extra session, the three senior captains gave the Badgers a 2-1 win. Senior defenseman Andy Wozniewski rebounded a slapshot from Boeser and quickly dumped it in the net, making it the Badgers' sixth power play goal in five games. Bourque was also credited with an assist.
The second match was not as close for the upstart Bobcats as Wisconsin skated to a convincing 4-1 win. After an uneventful first period, Bourque gave the Badgers their first lead of the game early in the second period. MacMurchy tallied two goals and finished with four points on the night, while freshman Andrew Joudrey, who entered the series as the Badgers' leader in points, added another goal to his own total.
""We felt pretty confident out there,"" Joudrey said. ""We knew that ... we could outpower [Quinnipiac] and win every shift. Our mindset was just to go out there, keep it simple and go as hard as we can.""
Though Quinnipiac played tough and smart, their offense was clearly overwhelmed. In the series, Wisconsin outshot their opponents 97-37 and prevented any goals in 12 minutes on the penalty kill.
""We're better than we were at the beginning,"" Wisconsin Head Coach Mike Eaves said. ""We're not where we want to be, but we're going to progress toward that.\
