MADISON, Wis. — It had been 252 days since Wisconsin last won a game, but you probably could forgive Badgers players if the span felt to them like 10 times that number.
Wisconsin avoided setting the record for the longest winless start in the 66 seasons of program history, twice rallying from a goal down to beat Ferris State 5-3 on Saturday.
Grant Besse scored twice and Joel Rumpel made 30 saves for the Badgers (1-8-1), who won for the first time since March 22, when they beat Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Badgers’ senior forward Matt Paape, who ended a long drought of his own with a second-period goal. “I know we’ve got a young team, but hats off to the young guys and even the old guys for sticking through it and staying together.”
Jack Dougherty’s third-period, power-play slap shot broke a 3-3 tie for Wisconsin, which also avoided setting the longest winless streak in program history.
“A lot of pro athletes, when they haven’t scored for a while and they get that goal, they do this ceremonial thing where they reach back and drop the monkey off their back,” Eaves said. “We can do that collectively as a group tonight because of the win.”
The winless streak ended on the same night that two Wisconsin freshmen scored their first collegiate goals and a veteran hit the back of the net for the first time in 1,051 days.
Corbin McGuire was the first Badgers’ rookie to collect his first goal Saturday, scoring on a rebound to tie the game 2-2 in the second period.
Paape put the Badgers ahead 3-2 late in the second when he blasted home a feed from Morgan Zulinick.
A senior playing in his 98th game for the Badgers, Paape hadn’t scored since Jan. 13, 2012.
Ferris State’s Tyler Andrew tied the game 2:09 into the third period, but Dougherty gave the Badgers a 4-3 lead with his first collegiate goal on a power play three minutes later.
The Bulldogs (7-7-1) lost for the first time in six tries this season when scoring three goals or more. Chad McDonald and Austin Kosack also scored for Ferris State, and C.J. Motte made 21 saves.
Ferris State coach Bob Daniels couldn’t be reached for comment after the game.
The Badgers had led for only 12:45 through the first nine games of the season. On Saturday, they added another 18:24 to that total.
They also scored more than three goals for the first time this season.
A night earlier, Eaves kept his players around for a lengthy video session after a 1-1 tie with Ferris State, a meeting that also brought out an earnest conversation about where the team was.
“If we don’t have that talk, we’re fooling ourselves thinking that, OK, we got a tie, we won in a shootout, all is good,” Eaves said. “It was an honest talk, and that’s the way you’re going to grow — by being honest with each other.”
