Feb. 3, 2010

by John Gilbert, for WCHA.com

Even in the amazingly tangled battle at the top of the men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association, Wisconsin’s recent split with Minnesota Duluth set itself apart with two completely diverse games. Instead of one team having an edge, both teams had a decisive edge, with Wisconsin winning 5-2, then UMD reversing things for a 4-0 victory – all of which might have made their split mutually acceptable.

UMD had held onto first place while losing twice to Bemidji State on its “break” outside the WCHA, because Wisconsin tied and beat Denver to prevent the Pioneers from overtaking UMD. That sent Wisconsin to Duluth with the Bulldogs in first place by a point, St. Cloud State and Denver tied for second one point back, and Wisconsin and Colorado College tied one point farther back – five teams within two points.

The match-up appeared to show a bigger and more defensive-oriented Badger team against a smaller but quicker Bulldog squad that had zoomed to the top with a scoring-by-committee attitude. But the series became an exchange of near-perfect games that defied form charts.

The first night, Friday, Jan. 29, the Badgers gave up a goal at 1:26 to David Grun, then stormed back to outshoot the Bulldogs 16-6 for the period, and 52-19 for the game. Midway through the first period, a rapid-fire exchange saw John Mitchell somehow finding himself alone at the crease on a power-play, as if invisible – a difficult task for a 6-foot-5 guy – and he banged in a goal at 10:29. Twenty seconds later, Jake Gardiner scored off Aaron Bendickson’s right-corner face-off for a 2-1 Wisconsin lead, only to have Jordan Fulton counter with a UMD goal at 11:11 – three goals in a 42-second outburst, and a 2-2 tie after one lopsided period.

After that, however, it was all Wisconsin, even though the scoreboard didn’t reflect the outstanding performance of the Badgers. UMD goalie Kenny Reiter was pressured and tested by some serious Badger shots as the red-clad visitors out-hustled the Bulldogs to every loose puck, while the redoubtable Wisconsin defense simply prevented UMD’s skaters from penetrating in the other end. At 9:01 of the second period, Craig Smith scored off Blake Geoffrion's left-corner set-up for a 3-2 Badger lead.

In the third period, it stayed 3-2 even as the shot counter kept clicking only on one side, as the Badgers outshot UMD 21-5 but couldn’t dent Reiter again until he was pulled for an extra skater with two minutes left, and Smith hit the empty net with 1:22 left. Reiter went back in, and Geoffrion hammered a third-chance try on a scramble in the slot. The 5-2 victory was well-earned, but the final score was misleading considering the 52-19 shots.

Most impressive was Wisconsin’s penalty-killers, who pressured the Bulldogs in their own end, despite being shorthanded, and the Badgers somehow made top scorers Jack Connolly (2 shots), Mike Connolly (0 shots) and Justin Fontaine (1 shot) look frustrated at their inability to generate any attack, and as a line the three were each -2 for the game.

“I give full credit to Oz for the penalty-kill,” said coach Mike Eaves, referring to assistant Mark Osiecki.

When asked about the previous accusation of the Badgers being so ploddingly defensive as to be boring, Eaves said: “We have solid upperclassmen for the first time since we won it (the NCAA title) four years ago. Any time a team is a contender, you’ll see that it has young guys coming in to contribute, but upper-classmen to lead the way.

“From the beginning, I knew we had so much potential, but we’ve gotten contributions from all four lines.”

Bendickson acknowledged that it was a big performance.

“But it was 'way closer than the 5-2 score indicated. On the penalty-kill, the key is we kept moving our feet, because they’ve got a very good skating team and a good power-play.”

To anyone who hadn’t yet seen the Badgers, but had been impressed with UMD, Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota, St. Cloud State, and intermittent flurries by Minnesota, the first-game evidence was clear: Wisconsin was the best team seen all season. The challenge the next night was clearly up to UMD. Having relinquished first place, another loss – particularly another lopsided loss – might pop the Bulldog balloon and undo all they had worked so hard to achieve.

Reiter started again in goal, while Eaves replaced the solid Scott Gudmandson with Brett Bennett, who was just back from a shoulder injury. Fontaine opened the game by racing up the right side, catching a rink-wide pass, and got full force behind a rocket as he crossed the blue line. His slapshot beat Bennett and caught the short side at 1:15. Good start, the standing-room crowd of 5,388 might have thought, but then, UMD had opened with a goal in the first two minutes the night before, too.

There was, however, no similarity to the Wisconsin-dominated flow of the first game. The Bulldogs were flying, and when big Ryan McDonagh was penalized at 2:56, it took only :16 seconds before the two unrelated Connollys exchanged passes and set up Brady Lamb for a power-play shot from the right point. The 2-0 lead had been achieved on their first three shots, and Eaves had sensed that Bennett needed a bit more time, so he pulled him right then and sent Gudmandson in.

UMD had outshot Wisconsin 14-11 in the first period, meaning the 'Dogs got nearly the total shots they had in the first game in only the first period. The pattern of exchanging rushes continued in the second period, but Reiter blanked the Badgers, and the Connolly magic worked again. Jack Connolly battled hard to gain possession in the left corner, fought his way behind the net, then fought his way out on the right of the cage before zipping a pass across to the left side, where Mike Connolly slammed it in for a 3-0 lead at 13:21.

Reiter made a huge glove save on Derek Stepan before the second period ended, and Rob Bordson notched the only goal of the third period. UMD’s 31-28 shot advantage for the game wasn’t overwhelming, but based on the previous night, it was a monumental turnabout.

“We never got into rhythm,” said Eaves, afterward. “Offense is about rhythm, and it wasn’t an easy night for us. You’ve got to give them some credit. Tonight, it felt like we were dumping and they were getting to it first. Last night we dictated; tonight we reacted.”

UMD coach Scott Sandelin sounded deeply proud of his players.

“It was a big game for us, and we answered the bell,” Sandelin said. ”Maybe last weekend (against Bemidji State) didn’t hurt us in the standings, but when you add last night’s game in, maybe we were starting to loses a little of that confidence. Last night, we got embarrassed, but tonight, we did a lot better job of containing them. To bounce back and play the way we did tonight was huge.

“Our third goal was really big. Jack Connolly took a hit on the boards and stays with it, then makes a great play to come around the net, and makes a great play under pressure.”

There was no animosity when the two teams parted, just a lot of mutual respect. Eaves acknowledged that the Friday victory was his team’s best performance of the season, and Sandelin realized his team’s character was again reinforced by returning to winning form after a devastating loss.

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