The No. 1 Badger men's hockey team could not manage a victory Saturday night over the Northern Michigan Wildcats, but came out with a 3-3 tie after winning 3-0 Friday.
Saturday's game was headed full-steam toward a Wildcat victory when senior forward Dusty Collins beat Wisconsin goaltender Shane Connelly to put NMU up 3-1 with just under seven minutes remaining.
Connelly started in place of usual starter and first team All-American Brian Elliott, and gave up three goals on just 14 shots in his 10th career game.
But Wisconsin's offense arrived just in time.
Senior forward and Eau Claire native Jake Dowell scored his second of two power play goals with under three minutes to play on a rebound from a shot by freshman forward Jamie McBain.
A minute and a half later, junior defenseman Davis Drewiske scored his second goal of the season—after scoring just three goals in his first two seasons—with a wrist shot to tie the game at three all.
After one session of overtime the game ended in a 3-3 tie, and the Badgers walked away with three of four possible points in the standings.
Friday night's contest had more favorable results for the cardinal and white.
Freshman forward Michael Davies scored two goals and Elliott collected his 12th career shutout—last season he set the Badger career record at 10—en route to the 3-0 victory.
A big question mark on the night—and on the entire season—was where the scoring would come from, and the answer proved to be two new faces.
The two goals for Davies were the first of his collegiate career, and Drewiske entered the season with just four goals in 71 career games played.
Davies' first goal came early in the second period on assists from junior forward Matt Ford and sophomore forward Tom Gorowski.
Ford and Gorowski hooked up again in the third to collect assists on Drewiske's top-shelf shot that beat NMU goaltender Bill Zaniboni and set the score at 2-0.
To complete the hat trick of assists, Ford and Gorowski assisted Davies' second goal in the third period to put the game out of reach at 3-0.
One goal would have been enough for the victory though, as Elliot stayed true to his form of last season and stopped all 23 shots he faced. Elliot set a Badger record with eight shutouts last season, and has gotten off to a nice start this year.
The Badgers open their home schedule at the Kohl Center this weekend against the No. 6 North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The Sioux, like the Badgers, lost a lot of talent to graduation and early departures but are still favorites to challenge the Badgers for the WCHA title.
