Last week, the University of Wisconsin-Madison men’s hockey team faced Lindenwood in a two-game series season opener that ended in a split win with the Lions.
Wisconsin suffered a 2-4 loss on Friday. Freshman Gavin Morrissey notched the first goal on the power play to tie the game 1-1. After being down 1-3, graduate student Ryland Mosley brought the Badgers within one, but another goal in the third period from Lindenwood sealed the win for the visitors.
On Saturday, the Badgers fell to an 0-2 deficit before sophomore Quinn Finley tied the game with his first two goals of the season. This brought the game into overtime, where senior Daniel Laatsch found the back of the net for his first goal of the season to take home game two for the Badgders’ first win.
The Badgers have nine players currently on the scoresheet and witnessed both senior Tommy Scarfone and sophomore William Gramme in the net over the weekend. Gramme held on in Saturday’s OT win with a .882 save percentage.
Sitting at 2-13 on power play conversions for a .154 percentage, Wisconsin doesn’t boast strong numbers as the Lions sit at a 1-5, a .200 percentage. Due to missed chances, Wisconsin falls from No. 9 to No. 16 in NCAA rankings.
With a 1-1-0 record, Wisconsin men’s hockey faces the Ohio State Buckeyes (1-0-1), who are coming out of a split series against American International. Ohio State tied their first game 3-3 on Friday and came out with a stronger 5-2 win on Saturday.
Ohio State’s sophomore goaltender Kristoffer Eberly has the highest save percentage at .929 of all four Wisconsin and Ohio State goalies played over last weekend and might be the netminder the Badgers face on Friday.
The teams have a long conference history, but their last meeting decided the fate of the Big Ten quarterfinal series that sent the Badgers home with a two-game loss in a best-of-three game series. The Badgers’ revenge season and road to a national championship starts with wins against Big Ten opponents like Ohio State.
The series begins at 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Kohl Center.
