The Wisconsin men’s hockey team played their first away games of the season this past Friday and Saturday against the defending national champion and No.1 ranked University of Denver. This marked the first time the Badgers have played at Denver since 2016.
On both nights, Wisconsin scored the first goal of the game with great shots from younger players Gavin Morrissey and Quinn Finley.
Freshman forward Morrissey scored early on Friday night with no defender between him and the goal. It was Morrissey’s second of the season and Ryland Mosley was credited with the assist.
Pioneers defender Eric Pohlkamp responded with a goal of his own just three minutes later. The first period ended tied at 2-2, thanks to a goal from Finley followed by another equalizer from Pioneers forward Sam Harris.
Finley’s first goal of this series was thanks to great positioning off of a pass from Mosley. Close to the crease, Finley shifted to the right side of the net and backhanded the puck to the top right corner.
No goals were counted in the second period, although seven penalties were called, with three on Wisconsin and four on Denver. The Pioneers found the back of the net on one of the seven power play chances during Friday’s game. Wisconsin was given six chances, but no goals came from them.
Denver was the first to score in the third period. Cale Ashcroft, a sophomore, scored his first goal of the season with 7:35 on the clock.
The Pioneers finished the game with an empty net goal late into the third period. The Badgers increased their strength in hopes of tying up the game but ultimately fell short.
Finley was the first to draw a goal on Saturday night, only 7:41 into the first period and on a power play. Mosley started the play off strong with a faceoff win in the left side circle. He passed to defender Ben Dexheimer, who tried to get a good look on goal. Seeing nothing, Dexheimer sent a backhand pass to Finley who wound up and sunk the puck in the back of the net, past senior goaltender Matt Davis.
The next goal came in favor of the Pioneers almost two minutes after Finley’s play. Immediately after, frustration was evident from Wisconsin defender Joe Palodichuk, who mildly cross-checked the scorer, Connor Caponi.
Denver remained unanswered the rest of the night and tallied five more goals for a final score of 6-1.
Both teams played cleaner than the previous game and totalled only five penalties. All were minors and resulted in 2-minute power plays.
Finley is quickly becoming a key player of the Wisconsin offense as he’s on a five-game point streak with five goals and two assists. The sophomore from Saumico, Wisconsin ranked third among UW freshmen for scoring last season. He’s well on the way to break that record this season with almost half of those points in only the first six games.
Wisconsin entered as the underdog in this series, so it didn’t come as a shock when the No. 20 team lost twice to the No. 1. However, these competitions add to the growing number of losses they’ve tallied early in the season.
To turn it around, the Badgers must start winning home games, where they have added energy from the Kohl Center crowd.
The Badgers have been outshooting opponents every game. Wisconsin outshot Denver 59-55 in their series. The weekend before, the Badgers created 67 shots over the Buckeyes 47. The opportunities are already there for Wisconsin.
“We’ve been ringing the bell quite a bit as far as some opportunities that have gone off the post. We just need to stay with it,” Hastings said in a post-game interview after a victory over Lindenwood.
Hastings also discussed the level of effort after losses to Ohio State, stating it goes hand-in-hand with execution.
“One thing I've tried to pride our program on since last year was playing connected hockey, and right now, we're not quite there.”
The poor record of 1-5 poses a challenge for a turn-around as the season progresses. With these losses, Wisconsin will fall out of the rankings leading into next week’s series against Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish moved up to No. 19 in the rankings after a split series against Long Island this past weekend.
Wisconsin will face Notre Dame away this coming weekend. The puck drops at 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.
