‘Frustrating’ was the word of the weekend by Badger players and coaches when talking about the consecutive drubbings by No. 16 Michigan at the Kohl Center Friday and Saturday.
Coming into the series, one could guess that the two-win Badgers (0-5-1-1 Big Ten, 2-15-3 overall) would be outmatched by the No. 1 scoring team in the country, Michigan (7-1-0-0, 15-8-0), but not many expected it to go as badly as it did.
Friday night, UW had a 4-1 lead over Michigan early in the second period, only to allow six unanswered goals to lose 7-4. After letting in three goals and playing poorly in the first, Wolverines junior goalie Steve Racine was pulled for sophomore Zach Nagelvoort. Other than one goal early in the second, Nagelvoort played lights out.
Junior forward Justin Selman led the attack for Michigan, notching his first career hat trick and tallying an assist as well. On the weekend, Selman had six points, grabbing another two assists Saturday.
With a three-goal lead in the second, many would assume the Badgers had the game in their hands, but the coaching staff wasn’t as easily fooled.
“We, as a coaching staff, saw things that were indicating that in our own zone we weren’t doing things that we needed to get possession of the puck. So we talked about it, but they ramped it up in the second, we didn’t move our feet, we were hooking, we were holding… I sure didn’t feel like we were in control,” said head coach Mike Eaves.
Eaves said that he was looking forward to see who would respond better Saturday, and the Wolverines responded emphatically, winning the game 6-0. Nagelvoort started the game in net, and picked up right where he left off, saving the measly 17 shots the Badgers put up. Wisconsin was outshot 82-37 on the series, and that alone tells the story of why they couldn’t beat Michigan: They weren’t getting any offensive pressure and their opponent had it in spades.
Senior Badger goalie Joel Rumpel looked shaky to begin the game, letting in two goals in the first two minutes, getting himself pulled early in favor of senior Landon Peterson in a move reminiscent of Michigan’s change the night before. However, Peterson also let in two goals in the first, and Rumpel was back in the game after the first intermission. He played well the rest of the game, only allowing two goals on 25 shots, but the damage had already been done.
“Getting pulled, letting your team down like that, I wanted to come out and make some big saves and not let any in. That obviously didn’t happen,” Rumpel said.
While the empty Kohl Center stands by the end of the games showed that many fans had given up hope, the team still plans on grinding it out.
“The mentality in the locker room is to keep going, keep the energy up on the bench, and to our credit I think we did that. I know you can’t see that on the ice, but we felt it. No one is giving up, we’re getting ready for Minnesota,” said senior forward Joseph LaBate.
The Badgers will take on the No. 17 Golden Gophers (2-2-2, 12-9-2) at the Kohl Center next Friday and Saturday, starting at 8 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively. The Badgers tied the Gophers, then won in a shootout, in one of the games in their series last weekend in Minnesota, so a Badger upset isn’t out of the question.
