A combination of stingy defense, stellar goaltending by sophomore Matt Jurusik and timely power play offense carried the Badgers (2-1-0) to a 3-1 upset victory over the No. 6 Boston College Eagles (1-2-0) Friday night.
Wisconsin energized the Kohl Center crowd just four minutes into the game thanks to a power play goal. The early score set the tone for the night, allowing the Badgers to play a more aggressive game.
“That first goal is a big difference. Last week the first shift of the game was in our net and I remember what we felt like,” head coach Tony Granato said. “Especially a power play goal like that, it got our bench going, gave us a little bit of confidence and certainly carried over into the five-on-five play.”
Twenty seconds after Boston College was whistled for too many men on the ice, junior forward Cameron Hughes found senior forward Grant Besse wide open right in front of the net. His initial attempt was turned away, but the rebound came right back to him and he flipped a backhander top shelf to put UW up 1-0.
Wisconsin scored its second goal on another power play, this time with a five-on-three advantage. The Badgers struggled to set up offensively until under 20 seconds remained. Sophomore forward Seamus Malone skated behind the cage and fired a pass to redshirt junior Tim Davison, whose shot was initially saved by Joe Woll. The rebound came right to junior forward Ryan Wagner, who shoved the puck home into a wide open net to give the Badgers a 2-0 lead with 12 seconds left in the period.
Seamus Malone delivered the final dagger with 10:42 left in the third, dancing his way into the offensive zone. He skirted around a defender at the blue line, and then faked a shot at the wing before sending a wrister off Woll. Woll denied the shot but Malone recovered his own rebound and buried the puck into an open net to give Wisconsin a 3-goal advantage.
The Eagles got a goal back 12 seconds later when J.D. Dudek found twine after a rebound from Chris Calnan’s initial shot. BC picked up its offensive pressure right after the goal, testing the Wisconsin defense. The Badgers staved off the threat and held on for the rest of the period to pull off the upset, largely in part to Jurusik’s performance.
“Matty [Jurusik] made big save after big save when we needed him,” Granato said. “He really looked composed today, in control. He calmed our team down a lot with big saves.”
After a shaky first period, Jurusik stopped nearly everything without allowing dangerous rebounds. Especially in the second, he denied several Eagle breakaways, including a one-on-one stonewalling of forward Julius Mattila.
“That second period breakaway save he made was spectacular. He didn’t move. He just made a great save there,” Granato said. “There were probably three or four other situations when they started getting momentum and he was there to shut them down.”
The Boston College offense displayed its speed throughout much of the game, but Wisconsin was able to compensate when they were out-skated by sacrificing bodies in passing lanes.
“It’s a huge part of our game and coach Tony has stressed it a lot. Having your stick on the ice, keeping it in the lane and stuff like that,” Wagner said.
In the first period, sophomore defenseman Patrick Sexton slid in front of a centering pass that would have found a wide open Eagle in front of the net, preventing a potential scoring opportunity. There were countless times when Badger players got sticks on the puck to break up passes that would have led to similar chances for the Eagles, like when freshman forward Trent Frederic ended a breakaway threat with a diving poke check with just 1:30 left in the game.
Nonetheless, Granato was rather subdued about the victory, emphasizing that there is more to work on before the Badgers can start celebrating. He talked about the top line being more patient offensively as well as tightening up on defense.
“We know we are going to have to get a lot better as we move forward,” Granato said. “You don’t want to rely on your goalie making as many big saves as he did tonight, you don’t want to rely on your power play to score two goals every night to win a game.”
Wisconsin will look to improve on tonight’s lapses and pick up another victory Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
