It was a tough weekend in Boston for the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers (2-2-0 overall), who were handed two decisive losses by No. 7 Boston College (2-1-0) and No. 15 Boston University (3-1-0) in the team’s first road trip of the season.
Wisconsin was beaten 9-2 by Boston College Friday on BC’s Jerry York Appreciation Night. The Badgers were again defeated Saturday night, as they kept pace with Boston University through the first period only to lose 7-3.
Missing junior goaltender Joel Rumpel, who was injured in practice this week, the Badgers played junior goaltender Landon Peterson against Boston College. Peterson kept the Eagles scoreless through 10 minutes before allowing four goals within six minutes, two to freshman forward Austin Cangelosi and one to junior forward Johnny Gaudreau and freshman defenseman Ian McCoshen.
“Our hope was to survive the first period and we didn’t,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “We fell into the trap of trying to make things happen and ended up making things worse.”
Just 21 seconds into the second period, Wisconsin’s comeback attempt was halted by a goal from sophomore defenseman Michael Matheson. Less than two minutes later, freshman defenseman Scott Savage scored, sending Peterson to the bench and bringing the tally to 6-0.
Sophomore goaltender Adam Miller entered the game in relief and held the Eagles at bay, but Boston College notched another goal midway through the second period, this time from junior forward Michael Sit.
Wisconsin finally got on the board shortly after BC’s seventh goal with a goal by senior forward Michael Mersch, who redirected junior defenseman Jake McCabe’s shot from the point past BC’s junior goaltender Brian Billett.
However, it didn’t take long for the Eagles to score again, as a goal from senior forward Kevin Hayes made it 8-1 early in the third period.
Badger sophomore forward Nic Kerdiles then scored off a rebound from senior defenseman Joe Faust, extending his point streak to 15 games. His goal was spoiled by a final tally from BC’s senior forward Patrick Brown later in the frame, finalizing the score at 9-2.
Boston College’s nine goals were the most the Badgers have allowed since Mike Eaves became head coach in 2003.
“We still feel like we’re a pretty decent team,” Eaves said. “As I told the boys after the game, the best part about tonight is that we get a chance to play tomorrow night [against Boston University].”
Despite Eaves’ optimism, Saturday night was no better for the Badgers. Coming off of its loss to Boston College, Wisconsin played more aggressively in the first period against Boston University.
The Terriers got on the board first with a powerplay goal from sophomore defenseman Ahti Oksanen, but McCabe followed with a powerplay goal of his own.
The 1-1 game took a disheartening turn for the Badgers midway through the second period.
Senior defenseman Garrett Noonan then put the Terriers ahead 2-1. Eighteen seconds later, freshman forward Robbie Baillargeon bested Peterson to extend Boston University’s lead to 3-1.
Badger redshirt sophomore forward Keegan Meuer responded by putting one past Terriers sophomore goaltender Matt O’Connor a little over a minute later.
Following Meuer’s goal, Nic Kerdiles, who extended his point streak to 16 games on McCabe’s first-period goal, was ejected from the game for illegal contact to the head. The Badgers killed off all but 20 seconds in the ensuing five-minute major, and Boston University went up 4-2 on a powerplay goal from sophomore defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.
The Terriers’ lead continued to grow. BU’s sophomore forward Mike Moran notched a goal early in the third frame.
The Badgers saw a glimmer of hope when a slapshot by senior forward Michael Mersch brought the score to within two, but Boston University went on to score two more goals, one from sophomore forward Matt Lane and the other from Cason Hohmann. The final score was 7-3 in favor of the Terriers.
Wisconsin took 15 penalties and allowed 16 goals this weekend. However, one of the areas the Badgers improved in from Friday to Saturday was shots on goal. In its match against Boston College, Wisconsin managed only 19 shots to the Eagles’ 40. The Badgers outshot Boston University 43-26.
The Badgers will have this weekend off and will face Lake Superior State at the Kohl Center Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
