In the hours leading up to Friday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pivotal match-up, Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves commented that playing the top-ranked team in the nation was going to bring out the absolute best in his team.<\/p>\n
It took two periods, but Eaves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 premonition was fairly accurate. The problem was that he made no guesses about the ending, which always seems to go the way of the Pioneers.<\/p>\n
Third ranked Wisconsin battled back from a two goal, third period deficit to take a one goal lead into the final two minutes, but couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hold over No.1 Denver and had to settle for an exciting 3-3 overtime tie in front of 12,063 fans at the Kohl Center.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The result was what you might expect from two top hockey teams in the college world,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eaves said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a fantastic third period and could have been an unbelievable third period had we held on to that lead.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The end results were mix for Wisconsin. On one hand, the Badgers finally figured out junior goalie Marc Cheverie, who saw his scoreless streak against Wisconsin end at exactly 183 minutes when the home team lambasted him for three goals in a 4:12.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, the Badgers haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t beaten Denver in the past six contests and haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t registered a regular season win against the Pioneers at home since October 2004, a mark that makes the Badgers 2-13-3 (including a 6-2 NCAA regional win in 2008) lifetime against the Pioneers in the Kohl Center since it opened for hockey in 1998-99.<\/p>\n
Even more mindboggling is the Badgers are 0-6-15 in their last 21 overtime contests dating back to March 17, 2007.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are all sick and tired about how they come in here and do well,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a visibly frustrated senior tri-captain Blake Geoffrion said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Wisconsin dominated the tempo in the opening period and was nearly rewarded when Andy Bohmbach\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrister caromed off the right post at 2:48, a near miss that was confirmed when referee Jon Campion reviewed the play.<\/p>\n
But such as the case in so many of these Wisconsin-Denver contests in Madison, the Pioneers got the upper hand early, as right winger Joe Colborne scored his ninth on the season on the power play, beating UW goalie Scott Gudmandson (20 saves) high on the glove side at 16:38.<\/p>\n
Even with defensemen John Ryder and William Wrenn serving a one game suspension due to game disqualification penalties, the Pioneers frustrated Wisconsin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high-powered offense, which came into the series leading the conference with 4.05 goals per game<\/p>\n
With the Badgers getting nothing close past Cheverie, Denver assistant captain Kyle Ostrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goal in the opening minutes of the third period, backhanding a centering pass past Gudmandson at 1:56, looked to be the clincher, until one realizes that a two goal lead hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been
\ninsurmountable<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our story all year long,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Cheverie, who finished with 32 saves. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We let up, sat back and you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that at this level, especially on the road and against a team like Wisconsin. They are going to make you pay if you do that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The Badgers (13-6-4 overall, 9-5-3 in the WCHA) did just that. Geoffrion got his first puck past Cheverie at 4:12 in the third when he deflected a Michael Davies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 power-play shot in front of the net for his team-leading 16th goal of the season, finally injecting some life into the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think everybody in the building was finally relieved we got one in,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Davies, who has a six game point streak. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the past, this team has just killed us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Davies added to his impressive total, scoring his 16 points in his 15th career game against Denver, when he rifled in a rebound at 7:15 to tie the score at two and was on the ice when Geoffrion scored his 17th of the year on a centering pass from Jordy Murray at 8:43 to tie
\nthe game.<\/p>\n
Davies now has 99 career points.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just stuck with it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davies said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The whole team was like that the whole game.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But just like in past meetings, Denver found a way. On a centering pass, Anthony Maiani kicked the puck with his right skate right onto his stick and threw it over Gudmandson’s left shoulder at 18:04, tying the score at three.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was coming at me a little fast, so I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have time to get it on my stick right away,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Maiani admitted. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had to kick it back up to my stick and got if off as soon as possible.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Gudmandson wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shaken for long or the Badgers would have been dealt another frustrating home defeat at the hands of the Pioneers. <\/p>\n
Denver fired four prime scoring opportunities at Gudmandson in overtime — a breakaway from Kyle Ostrow, shots from the slot by Maiani and Jesse Martin and a rifle from Drew Shore above the right circle — but couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t convert, leaving both teams feeling the end result between two conference heavyweights as bittersweet.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Honestly, we were lucky to get back in that game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Cheverie said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They played well and we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play that bad either. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bittersweet feeling to get a tie, despite the meltdown in the third
\nperiod.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know the guys are disappointed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eaves added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153(That third period) is stuff we need to bring back and build on.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the hours leading up to Friday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pivotal match-up, Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves commented that playing the top-ranked team in the nation was going to bring out the absolute best in his team. It took two periods, but Eaves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 premonition was fairly accurate. The problem was that he made no guesses about the ending, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10095"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=10095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}