Badgers earn season’s first victory with 5-3 win
The
Wisconsin men’s hockey team (1-8-1, 0-0-0 Big Ten) earned its first win
of the season Saturday night, as the Badgers defeated Ferris State
(7-7-1, 4-4-0 WCHA), 5-3, at the Kohl Center.
"The thing
that our guys did is they built on little victories during the course
of the game, and we kept building and we got stronger as the game went
on,” UW head coach Mike Eaves said. "You could feel the energy on the
bench increase as the game went along."
The win also marked
Badgers goaltender Joel Rumpel’s 50th career victory, tying him with
Mike Dibble for eighth all-time in program history.
Performances
from first-year players Corbin McGuire and Jack Dougherty, along with
impressive showings from more experienced players Grant Besse and Matt
Paape propelled Wisconsin to its third win against the Bulldogs. The
all-time series now favors UW, 3-2-1.
“I think Coach Eaves
gave us the message [last night during our postgame meeting of] ‘It’s
really time to figure it out’” McGuire said.
"He wrote
that on that white board in the locker room, and guys kind of looked at
themselves and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, it really is time to figure it
out’. We won in a shootout (in the first game of the series), but it
doesn’t count as a real win. So it’s really nice to go out there and
get a real 'W' tonight.”
The Badgers entered the third period with a one-goal lead, needing just 20 minutes of solid play to secure the series win.
After Tyler Andrew knotted the score at 3-3 with a backhand goal, Dougherty gave Wisconsin a lead it would not relinquish.
Joseph
LaBate, skating below the goal line on the power play, sent a pass to
the slot that tipped of Brad Navin’s skate and to a charging Dougherty,
who wound up and blasted a slap shot past FSU net minder CJ Motte.
It was the Cottage Grove, Minnesota, native’s first-career goal and his second point of the season.
“It
was pretty exciting (to score), but I guess I was more satisfied with
the win,” Dougherty said. "It couldn’t have been more deserved – guys
from the fourth line to the first line were playing their roles, and it
really showed tonight. We really deserved to win that game, and it’s
really satisfying.”
With Dougherty's tally, the Badgers have
scored on the man advantage in three-straight games and three times in
their last 10 opportunities.
Late in the third period, Besse sealed the deal with an empty netter—his second tally of the game.
The
sophomore scored previously in the first on a top-shelf bullet to tie
the score at one apiece. It was the first time Wisconsin notched a goal
in the first 20 minutes of a game in 2014-15.
McGuire and Paape each netted goals in the second to give UW an advantage entering the final frame.
McGuire
registered his first-career goal and point, while Paape scored for the
first time since Jan. 13, 2012 when he tallied at Minnesota State. The
senior broke a 77-game scoreless streak with the goal.
“I
heard right as I walked down here that it’s been 77 games,” Paape said,
"but I tell you what, it sure feels a lot longer than that.”
Aidan
Cavallini found the scoresheet for the first time in his career with an
assist on Paape’s goal. The freshman led the team with a +2.
Rumpel made 30 saves in the contest.
“You
can just put an A+ for his (Rumpel’s) efforts this weekend,” Eaves
said. "He was there when we needed him. Again, Joel is going to cover
up a lot of mistakes that we make in front of him and he did that a lot
tonight for us. He was a big part of the equation in asserting the
victory.”
Paape reiterated Rumpel’s importance to the team:
“The
numbers don’t show it with the wins, but he’s (Rumpel) given us a lot
of chances and kept us in games. That’s what he’s done for his four
years here. You know what you’re going to get with him. He’s an
outstanding goalie, and that’s what we need out of him.”
UW’s defensive play assisted Rumpel in the win, as the team blocked 16 shots.
Ryan
Wagner helped to kill four Bulldogs power plays, including one in which
he burned about 10 seconds holding the puck along the back boards of
the FSU defensive zone.
It
was a night of firsts, as freshman forward Corbin McGuire and freshman
defenseman Jack Dougherty tallied their first career goals, sophomore
forward Aidan Cavallini posted his first career point with an assist,
UW scored its first first-period goal of the season and senior forward
Matt Paape scored his first goal of the season and his first in 77
games dating back to his freshman season. ·
Senior goaltender Joel Rumpel made 30 saves to earn his 50th career
victory, which ties him for eighth on UW’s all-time list with Mike
Dibble (1973-77).
· Wisconsin scored a season-high five goals in the game.
·
Sophomore Grant Besse had his first career multi-goal game with UW’s
first and last tallies of the evening.
·
Freshman defenseman Jake Linhart posted his first career multi-point
game with two assists.
·
Wisconsin opens Big Ten play next weekend against Penn State, skating
Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. CT at the Kohl Center
|