Two nights, two games, two different Badger teams.
Literally and figuratively.
After falling to North Dakota 3-2 in overtime Friday night, and losing three premier players to injury, the Badger men's hockey team responded with a victory Saturday night.
Wisconsin snuck past the Fighting Sioux 1-0 with a goal from senior forward Jake Dowell and another shutout by senior goalie Brian Elliott.
""We responded tremendously,"" head coach Mike Eaves said. ""Even with the young lineup that we had we played exactly the game we needed to play to give ourselves a chance to win.""
The win came despite being short three impact players: Forwards Ross Carlson and Jack Skille, and defenseman Kyle Klubertanz all sustained injuries Friday night.
Skille silenced the building Friday night when he went down in obvious pain after being hit by two UND defenders. He hyper-extended his elbow and is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks.
Carlson injured his knee, while Klubertanz hurt his upper leg in a collision with North Dakota's Chris Porter. Neither player knows how long he will be out until later this week when the swelling subsides.
The injuries left a young and inexperienced Badger squad to face a tough North Dakota team who beat the home team in overtime a night before.
To fill the vacated spots in the lineup, Eaves started freshmen forwards Andy Bohmbach and Ben Grotting—to make it seven freshmen in the lineup—and junior defenseman Josh Engel.
Despite the fresh and inexperienced faces, the Badgers came out with something to prove on Saturday, and they proved it.
After raising the 2006 National Championship banner Friday night, the Badgers came out flat. Though they showed signs of brilliance, they could not muster a consistent enough effort to overtake the Fighting Sioux.
""Now everyone's played at the Kohl Center and experienced the crowd and the atmosphere, and shame on us if we don't start a lot better tomorrow night,"" senior forward Andrew Joudrey said Friday.
No shame would be felt by the Badgers on Saturday.
Wisconsin gave a much more consistent effort, finishing checks and avoiding turnovers. After losing the faceoff battle 36-25 on Friday they turned it around and took Saturday's battle 29-27.
""One thing we tried to do all game was keep our hits up and make sure we were finishing our checks and try to wear them down and cause a turnover,"" Dowell said. ""We had something to prove tonight.""
The Kohl Center became electrified in the third period when Dowell scored his third goal of the season by putting a loose puck into the net with assists from Joudrey and sophomore forward Ben Street.
""[Dowell] has really done a nice job of not only taking his game to another level, but taking his teammates with him,"" Eaves said.
One goal would be enough for Elliott, who stood strong in net for the Badgers, blocking 27 shots and recording his second shutout in three games this season, upping his career mark to 13.
""We didn't get into [Elliott's] face tonight like we did last night,"" North Dakota senior forward Erik Fabian said. ""We let him see every shot.""
