The hardest games to win are the ones to end another team’s season.
Wisconsin, who has been playing do-or-die hockey since November according to captain John Ramage, blew past Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, earning a bid to the conference’s Final Five tournament in St. Paul, Minn.
It is the first time since 2010, Wisconsin will take the ice at the Xcel Energy Center for the single-elimination WCHA championship.
The Badgers (13-8-7 WCHA, 19-12-7 overall) opened up play Friday with energy, keeping Duluth (10-13-5, 14-19-5) in its zone for the majority of the first five minutes. The next fifteen minutes of the period were another story, after UMD scored their first goal of the night at the 12:22 mark.
UW seemed to regain some of the fire it possessed in the opening minutes after a goal by freshman forward Nic Kerdiles six minutes into the second period.
Another goal by Ramage, a senior defenseman, with five minutes left in the second period and a little defense is all the Badgers would need to close out the victory, but when junior forward Mark Zengerle got the puck in the final seconds behind his own goal, he wasn’t about to let the opportunity go to waste.
The goal was Zengerle’s third point of the night, adding to his assists on both the previous Badger goals.
“[Zengerle] kind of knew in his mind they were tired,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “This time of year, to have an offensive guy feeling it from the inside out is a good thing for us.”
Saturday night Wisconsin found its groove early once again, scoring three goals in the first eight minutes en route to a convincing 4-1 victory.
According to Eaves, “great start” is the first thing he writes on the team’s board before games.
“Stats tell us that the team that scores the first goal has the winning percentage in its favor,” Eaves said. “That great start put [Duluth] in a position they couldn’t get back from.”
Junior forward Jefferson Dahl started the scoring 2:48 into the contest, with junior forward Michael Mersch adding a second a little over a minute later.
Not to be kept down for long, UMD sophomore forward Justin Crandall cut the Badgers’ lead to one 32 seconds later, scoring the Bulldogs’ only goal of the contest.
Freshman defenseman Kevin Schulze closed out a hectic first eight minutes with a goal from the point, prompting Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin to pull his junior goalie Aaron Crandall, Justin’s brother, from the game.
Late in the first period junior defenseman Jake McCabe left the game with a “lower body injury,” according to Eaves, and would not return to the contest.
Duluth freshman goaltender Matt McNeely was able to settle the Bulldogs down until junior forward Tyler Barnes lit the lamp once again with a goal halfway through the third period, putting the cherry on top of a 7-goal weekend for the Badgers.
“To finally get back to the WCHA Final Five, it’s huge for the guys,” Ramage said. “We’re excited to go and make some noise out there.”
