The Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team (11-12-3) began their five-series run of Big Ten matchups this past weekend against Michigan (record), winning the first game and tying the second at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin found similar results the last time they competed against the Wolverines in December, when they won the first game and lost the second in overtime in Ann Arbor. In their second match-up of the season, Badgers fans showed up for Wisconsin. Saturday night was the highest-attended game of the season with over 13,000 fans filling the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin went into these games on a four-game win streak, the highest they’ve had this season. While the Badgers faced deficits both nights, they managed to keep the crowd excited with a few comeback scores.
Down 4-2 in the second period of Friday night’s game, Wisconsin made a three-goal run to win the game. Saturday night, the Badgers were down at two significant times, once at 3-1 and once, toward the end, at 4-3. They came back to tie the score 4-4.
Game one
The Wolverines started the game off strong on Friday night with a goal from former Badger William Whitelaw only a minute and a half into the first period.
During a power play halfway through the period, Wisconsin forward Christian Fitzgerald responded to Michigan’s lead with a goal of his own. Junior forward Simon Tassy received a pass from freshman forward Gavin Morrissey and looked to shoot close to the net before dumping the puck back out to Fitzgerald. For his fourth goal of the season, Fitzgerald sunk a shot from the right circle to tie the game 1-1.
The rest of the first period remained electric as two more goals were scored, one by Wisconsin and the other by Michigan, to keep the game tied 2-2. Badgers freshman defender Logan Hensler scored his second goal of the season, his first during the previous week’s games against Long Island University. But Michigan tied the game heading into the second period with a goal from freshman defender Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen.
The Badgers had five power play opportunities in the first and second periods, capitalizing on two. Michigan only got one chance for a power-play goal Friday night, and junior forward T. J. Hughes used the advantage to increase Michigan’s lead to two.
The Wolverines’ Ethan Edwards made the next score of the game, followed up by Wisconsin sophomore forward Owen Mehlenbacher. This was the second power-play goal of the night for the Badgers and Mehlenbacher’s first power-play goal of his career.
Down 4-3 in the third period, Tassy scored his third goal of the season for the Badgers to tie the game. Junior defenseman Ben Dexheimer shot first, and, through a scramble of Michigan defenders around the net, the puck found Tassy’s stick and shortly after, the back of the net.
With just over three minutes to go, the Kohl Center energy peaked over the tied score. No penalties were called during the final period, and Wisconsin dominated offensively. Before the winning goal, Wisconsin won five faceoffs and made two shots on goal while Michigan recorded no moves.
At 3:09 on the clock, Fitzgerald scored his second goal of the night to put the Badgers into the lead, 5-4. Credited with the assist, Badgers forward Tyson Dyck intercepted a desperate pass from Michigan and made a quick slide to Fitzgerald who shot from the left side and banked the puck off of the post past the Wolverines goalie.
Head coach Mike Hastings said there hasn’t been a lack of effort in Fitzgerald’s game, and the success seen tonight is due to his hard work.
“It’s great to see him have some success tonight and have the game reward him for all the work that he’s been doing,” Hastings said after the game. “Hopefully, this fuels that fire.”
This game ended similarly to the last time Wisconsin met Michigan at the Kohl Center. The Badgers were down 4-2 by the middle of the second period. They scored on a power play just before the second ended and managed to wring out two more goals in the last five minutes of the third period to win 5-4.
Badgers fight back
Heading into game two, Hastings emphasized the opportunity for both teams.
“It's a very important game for us. The season doesn't end if we win it, the season doesn't end if we don't,” he said. “But it's an opportunity that we want to try and take advantage of, and I guarantee you Michigan is going to be right there.”
The Badgers scrambled in the second game of the season, having to work hard to make up 3-1 and 4-3 deficits during the game.
Michigan started the game out looking to not be swept. They scored three goals, and the period ended 3-1.
Michigan junior forward Kienan Draper scored first, three minutes into the game. Hughes and Luca Fantilli followed halfway through the period with goals only three minutes apart from each other.
After these goals, Wisconsin pulled goaltender William Gramme and sent Tommy Scarfone into the net.
Dyck was the first to light the lamp for Wisconsin. He won a faceoff on the right side of the net and passed quickly to sophomore defenseman Joe Palodichuk. Dyck then cut in front of the crease and took a pass from graduate student defenseman Anthony Kehrer. Dyck earned his third of this year.
Michigan gave Wisconsin three power play opportunities in the first period, but the Badgers didn’t capitalize on any of them.
The second and third periods were quieter in terms of action — fewer penalties were called and goals were scored far apart.
Badger forward Quinn Finley scored his 19th goal of the season in the second period to put the game within one score. Less than five minutes into the second period, Kehrer skated quickly up to the blue line and passed the puck to Finley, who skated past Michigan defenders and went one-on-one with Wolverines goalie Logan Stein.
Fitzgerald made the next play for Wisconsin to tie the game 3-3. A shot from Dyck made it past the Michigan goaltender’s pads and into the crease, where Fitzgerald came out on top of the scramble and put the puck in the back of the net for his third goal of the series.
Michigan took the lead again in the third period with a goal 8:24 in from sophomore forward Evan Werner.
Wisconsin then tied the game with less than four minutes of regular game time to go. Dexheimer scored his first goal of the season off the second rebound of Wisconsin’s shot attempts. Kukkonen took a shot from the top of the right circle and freshman forward Ryan Botterill picked it up for a second try. Dexheimer made the final play off of that missed shot for the game-tying goal.
Much to Wisconsin’s dismay, overtime play showed up again against Michigan. Since the regular season began, the Badgers have had nine overtime games. Out of the 11 overtime periods the Badgers have played in, they’ve now lost eight.
This game ended in a tie after two scoreless overtime periods.
“We would love to take big steps, but progress is progress, and we’re making it,” Hastings said of the team's progress after the game. “When our athletes can put themselves in a position to be successful, we are getting better.”
The Badgers took eight of the 12 points available this weekend from No. 10 Michigan.
Looking to the end
With a Big Ten run just starting, Wisconsin will follow a similar path as the Wolverines. Both teams are looking to better their positions going into the Big Ten tournament in March. Right now, Wisconsin sits in fourth place, one point behind third-place Ohio State and two points ahead of fifth-place Michigan.
The top four teams in the Big Ten receive home ice advantage for their first game in the tournament schedule.
Next week, the Badgers play at Minnesota, the current second-place holder with 19 wins. Wisconsin then competes against Penn State, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
