Badgers take a hard hit
November 21, 2008 | Men's Hockey
The Wisconsin men's hockey team fell 6-2 to St. Cloud State this Friday at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
The Badgers fell into a three-goal deficit a little over halfway into the game, with the Huskies scoring 3 goals in the first 35 minutes. UW posted its first mark just before the end of the second period to evade the shut out, but was unable to make a comeback. The Huskies scored three more goals in the third, while Wisconsin found the net only one more time to set the final score at 6-2.
Travis Novak put St. Cloud State on the board first with 7:35 left in the first period. Senior Shane Connelly (Cheltenham, Pa.) initially beat Novak to the puck along the boards near the faceoff dot, but the Husky was able to knock it back to the corner, where he waited while Connelly rushed back to the goal and knocked the puck off of Connelly into the net from behind the goal line.
SCSU scored again 14 seconds into the second period. John Swanson found the net on a 2-on-1, beating Connelly five-hole to put SCSU up 2-0.
With 5:08 left in the second, St. Cloud State expanded its lead to three. Garrett Roe scored on a 2-on-1 with the assistance of Ryan Laasch and Garrett Raboin for the 3-0 lead.
The Badgers responded quickly, finding the net and putting a mark on the board with 3:50 left in the second. Junior John Mitchell (Neenah, Wis.) scored off a pass from sophomore Sean Dolan (St. Louis, Mo.), sneaking the puck past Jase Weslosky to set the score at 3-1. Sophomore Podge Turnbull (Hayward, Wis.) was credited with the second assist.
SCSU's Roe found the net for the second time this game to regain the three-goal lead for the Huskies. Roe scored on a shot from the slot to put SCSU up 4-1 with 12:14 left in the third period.
Less than two minutes later, Nick Oslund snatched a loose puck and tallied a quick shot for a 5-1 Husky lead.
Drew LeBlanc further expanded SCSU's lead with 9:41 left in the game to put the Huskies up 6-1. LeBlanc also picked up a loose puck and drew the Badger defense in until he could get a good shot.
The Badgers tallied one more goal with 4:36 left in the game. Sophomore Brendan Smith (Mimico, Ontario) one-timed a rocket shot off the post of SCSU's goal to set the score at 6-2.
The Badgers went 1-for-6 on the power play while SCSU went 0-for-6. Wisconsin outshot the Huskies 34-27, but ultimately came up short.
Check out Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Paul Capobianco's live postid=1645"> --> blog for more details about the game.
Full results can be found here .
UW and SCSU face off again tomorrow night at the National Hockey Center at 7 p.m. Check back to UWBadgers.com to follow the live blog for Saturday night's game.
