Coming into the WCHA playoffs the Wisconsin men’s hockey team was riding a wave of momentum, but in the end that renewed confidence wasn’t enough to push the Badgers past No. 9 Denver on the road in their first-round WCHA match-up.
Wisconsin took a one-game lead in the best-of-three series with a win Friday, but the Pioneers stormed back to take the final two games of the series, capped off by senior forward Luke Salazar’s game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the series for Denver in Sunday’s game three and ensure Wisconsin’s second consecutive first-round playoff exit.
The two teams split the first two games of the series, the Badgers winning 1-0 Friday and the Pioneers taking Saturday’s contest 3-1, setting up a do-or-die game three Sunday night.
In that decisive game three, Wisconsin held a 2-1 lead heading into the third period thanks to second period goals from sophomore forwards Mark Zengerle and Tyler Barnes, but weren’t able to put Denver away.
After UW junior defenseman John Ramage was called for an elbowing penalty, DU sophomore Nick Shore knotted the game on the Pioneers’ first power play goal of the weekend just over two minutes into the third. The two teams closed out the rest of the period scoreless, setting up overtime.
In that extra frame it was Denver who responded with its season on the line. Just under two minutes into the sudden death period Salazar scored on a wrap around, ending the Badgers’ 2011-’12 campaign.
“We came a long way this year,” Wisconsin junior defenseman Justin Schultz said after Sunday’s loss. “It’s unfortunate we lost in overtime like that, but I don’t think we have any regrets.”
“We made a nice run,” Zengerle added. “Denver is a good team and we gave them everything we had.”
The best-of-three series started out promising for Wisconsin. In Friday’s season opener the Badgers battled Denver through two and a half scoreless periods before getting the game-winning goal from an unlikely source.
With just under six minutes left in regulation, freshman defenseman Jake McCabe brought the puck on an end-to-end rush, toe-dragged the puck around a Pioneer defenseman and put the puck on goal where an oncoming sophomore forward Sean Little was able to poke it in for the goal.
Little—who had just one career goal before Friday’s game-winner—was certainly an unlikely hero, but nonetheless put Wisconsin just one win from the WCHA Final Five.
“[McCabe] made a great play and I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time,” Little said of his goal.
In hockey, coaches will preach the fact that it’s hard to end a team’s season, especially on that team’s own ice, and Wisconsin found that out as the Pioneers rebounded to tie the series Saturday and force Sunday’s decisive game three.
Game two was again scoreless after two periods of play, but the Badgers and Pioneers traded goals early in the third—Denver getting a goal from senior forward Nate Dewhurst and Wisconsin from junior defenseman Justin Schultz—but as he would in game three Salazar came through in the clutch for the Pioneers, netting the game-winning goal with just over seven minutes left in the game.
Wisconsin freshman goaltender Joel Rumpel was brilliant between the pipes all weekend and gave the Badgers a chance to win each night. Rumpel turned away 28, 38 and 30 shots in the series. His 28 stops Friday gave him his third shutout of the season, a Wisconsin freshman record.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
