ST. PAUL, Minn.—It took perfection against Penn State to send Wisconsin to the Big Ten Tournament championship.
The Badgers’ final win over the Nittany Lions capped off a 5-0 rout of Penn State this year. After PSU upset Michigan in double overtime in the quarterfinals, Wisconsin took advantage of the Nittany Lions’ exhaustion and outskated them on their way to a 2-1 victory.
Wisconsin (13-6-1 Big Ten, 23-10-2 overall) overcame a sluggish start to down Penn State (3-16-1 Big Ten, 8-26-2 overall) with two goals from senior forward Michael Mersch and consistency from junior goaltender Joel Rumpel.
“He’s been great against us all year,” Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said of Mersch. “He’s a tough, big body to handle.”
The Badgers struggled to get their legs moving early on, but they generated chances in the first period using defensemen.
“You see it a lot when you play—we hadn’t played in a week,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “They played last night, so they’re in game mode right away. We were a step behind. So that’s why we looked off.”
When senior forward Sean Little and Penn State sophomore forward David Glen took canceling penalties midway through the first, junior defenseman Jake McCabe gave Wisconsin its best offensive chance with a quick spin pass up to senior forward Mark Zengerle.
Minutes later, a neutral zone open-ice check by senior defenseman Frankie Simonelli sparked another offensive chance for the Badgers.
The Nittany Lions struck first early in the second period after a botched Wisconsin line change led to an odd-man rush. Sophomore forward Curtis Loik scored off a feed from linemate Kenny Brooks to put Penn State up 1-0.
But the Badgers would not fall so easily. Just seconds later, Mersch notched his first of the game and 21st of the year with a wraparound attempt that slipped past Penn State sophomore goaltender Matthew Skoff.
The teams traded penalties and chances for most of the second period. Wisconsin’s break came off a Penn State bench minor for too many men with a little over a minute remaining in the second.
The Badgers made quick work of Penn State’s penalty killing unit, executing a tic-tac-toe play that ended in Mersch’s second goal of the game, the eventual game winner.
“It was a little bit ago that we had a chat as a group,” Eaves said. “Our numbers weren’t good … After we got everybody back, we said we don’t need to look at percentages, we need to be a group that is effective and can score goals that have meaning in games.”
Up 2-1, Wisconsin played safe for the final frame and let the Nittany Lions tire themselves out. With Penn State looking to pull its goaltender in the final minute of the game, Wisconsin bottlenecked the Nittany Lions in their own zone to secure the win and a place in the Big Ten championship game.
Rumpel, a Hobey Baker finalist, was awarded his 20th win as both Mersch and Zengerle held onto their Big Ten goal and assist leads, respectively.
The Badgers await their next opponent, which will be the winner of the semifinal tilt between the Minnesota Gophers and the Ohio State Buckeyes 7 p.m. Friday. The championship game will be at 7 p.m. Saturday evening at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
