Wisconsin Wins Badger Hockey Showdown
December 31, 2005 | Men's Hockey
Five different Badgers scored to lead the No. 1 Wisconsin men's hockey team to a 5-1 win over Northern Michigan in the championship game of the Badger Hockey Showdown Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
Tournament MVP Brian Elliott (Newmarket, Ontario) stopped 19 shots as Wisconsin (16-2-2 overall, 11-1-2 WCHA) won its first Showdown title since 2002 and ninth overall in the 17-year history of the tournament.
Elliott was joined on the all-tournament team by Joe Pavelski (Plover, Wis.) and Jeff Likens (Barrington, Ill.), who each added a goal in the championship game.
Northern Michigan (10-9-1, 6-7-1 CCHA) boasted two members of the all-tournament team in forward Mike Santorelli and defenseman Nathan Oystrick, who scored the Wildcats' only goal on Saturday.
NMU goalie Bill Zaniboni made 37 saves, including 16 in the opening period.
Pavelski gave UW a 1-0 lead 12:54 into the first period. The sophomore took a feed from A.J. Degenhardt (La Crosse, Wis.) and shoveled a backhander over Zaniboni for his 12th goal of the season.
Likens doubled the lead on the power play at the 3:32 mark of the second period with a quick shot from the low slot that proved to be the game-winner. Jake Dowell (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Ryan MacMurchy (Regina, Saskatchewan) added assists on Likens ' first goal of the season.
Less than three minutes later, captain Adam Burish (Madison, Wis.) skated in on Zaniboni, made a cut at the top of the crease and watched as the puck trickled across the goal line for his sixth goal of the season. Junior Robbie Earl (Los Angeles) notched his 14th assist of the season on the play.
Northern Michigan cut the lead to 3-1 when Oystrick scored his fourth goal of the season while NMU was on the power play 13:13 into the second.
However, Wisconsin put the game away with two goals in the first half of the third period.
Freshman Ben Street (Coquitlam, British Columbia) scored from between the circles with assists from Degenhardt and Nick Licari (Duluth, Minn.) to open the lead to 4-1.
Finally, senior Tom Gilbert (Bloomington, Minn.) closed out the scoring at 5-1 when his slap shot from the top of the right circle ricocheted off the glass behind the net and then off of a Wildcat defender and into the goal.
Wisconsin out-shot Northern Michigan 42-20 in the contest, including 17-2 in the first period.
The Badgers finished the game 1-for-6 on the power play while the Wildcats were 1-for-4.
Earlier on Saturday, Wayne State defeated Western Michigan 6-3 to claim third place in the Badger Hockey Showdown.
Wisconsin is off next weekend before traveling to play second-place Colorado College at the World Arena on Jan. 13-14. Face off between the WCHA's top two teams is set for 8:30 p.m. CT on Friday and 8:00 p.m. CT on Saturday. Fox Sports Net North will provide live coverage of Friday's game while ESPNU will carry Saturday night's game live.
2005 Badger Hockey Showdown All-Tournament Team
Forwards:
Nate Higgins, Wayne State
Joe Pavelski, Wisconsin
Mike Santorelli, Northern Michigan
Defensemen:
Nathan Oystrick, Northern Michigan
Jeff Likens, Wisconsin
Goalie:
Brian Elliott, Wisconsin
Tournament MVP:
Brian Elliott, Wisconsin
