With rival Minnesota in town for a weekend series, the Wisconsin men's hockey team played with a high level of energy on both Friday and Saturday night. However, energy does not always equal execution, and Wisconsin looked sloppy at times during the series split with its neighbor to the northwest.
The Badgers (2-3-1 WCHA, 4-3-1 overall) started the weekend right, scoring a goal 24 seconds into Friday night's contest and holding off a third-period rally from Minnesota en route to a 4-2 victory. On Saturday, the Badgers out shot Minnesota by 19 shots, 47 to 28, but did not capitalize as efficiently as the Gophers and fell 5-2.
The top line for the Badgers opened the scoring in a hurry Friday. Junior defenseman Ryan McDonagh took a shot from the blue line, and senior forward Blake Geoffrion redirected the puck past Gopher goalie Alex Kangas.
Minnesota tied the game early in the second period, but Wisconsin responded, getting the lead back just 43 seconds later. Junior defenseman Cody Goloubef collected the puck at the edge of the offensive zone, skated to the middle and beat Kangas with a backhand shot. The goal underscored the key theme for the weekend: timely scoring.
""It really brought the energy back into the building,"" Goloubef said. ""The crowd didn't really have that much time to get down because it was pretty bang-bang, back-to-back. It was a big play.""
In the third period, Minnesota put together some momentum and closed to within one goal. However, the Badgers got a perfectly timed goal from senior forward Ben Street.
With just under two minutes left, Street took a precisely placed centering pass in traffic and beat Kangas to close the scoring on the night.
The teams switched places Saturday night, as Minnesota got big plays, both goals and saves, when they were needed most. The Gophers scored less than two minutes in, built a 3-0 lead by the end of the second period and held off a strong third period from the Wisconsin offense.
Kangas set a career high with 45 saves for Minnesota, including a denial of Wisconsin junior defenseman Brendan Smith, who had found himself all alone on a breakaway.
After employing a goaltender rotation for the first three weekends, Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves and his coaching staff decided the time was right to start junior Brett Bennett back to back nights. Eaves said he saw a certain level of confidence in Bennett Friday night and decided to ""let him ride it.""
After giving up five goals Saturday, Bennett said all he could do was look ahead and continue to improve.
""I didn't play well, but I felt there were some things in my game that looked good."" He said. ""I felt good in some aspects of the game. I think it's going to come.""
The Badgers will wrap up a three-week home stand next weekend when the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves (2-4-0 WCHA, 4-6-0 overall) travel to Madison for an in-conference matchup. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kohl Center.
