Badgers charge past UAH
December 27, 2008 | Men's Hockey
The Wisconsin men's hockey team (10-7-2, 7-5-2 WCHA) started strong and finished stronger after a two-week holiday with a 5-0 shutout against the University of Alabama-Huntsville (2-10-1, 1-4-1 CHA) on Saturday at the Kohl Center in its first game of the 20th annual Badger Hockey Showdown.
Wisconsin put the first mark on the board late in the first period, and extended that lead to 2-0 midway through the second. The Badgers exploded in the first half of the third period, scoring a trio of goals to put them up 5-0 against the Chargers. UAH failed to find the back of the net through the entirety of the game, marking only the fourth shutout in the 20-year history of the tournament. Wisconsin recorded its third shutout overall in Showdown competition. The win also marks Wisconsin's sixth straight win this season, and expanded UW's winning streak at the Kohl Center to seven.
Senior Shane Connelly (Cheltenham, Pa.) recorded his third season and eighth career shutout with the win, while the Badgers broke the school and tournament record for least shots on goal against with 10.
Junior John Mitchell (Neenah, Wis.) was the first to find the net 14:03 into the first period. Mitchell finished off a shot by junior Jamie McBain (Faribault, Minn.) that slipped through UAH goalkeeper Cameron Talbot's legs and lingered in the crease to put UW up 1-0.
Freshman Jordy Murray (Faribault, Minn.) posted the second Badger goal with 8:31 left in the second period. Murray snuck a wrist shot past Talbot from between the faceoff circles in front of the net for the 2-0 lead. Freshmen Ryan Little (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and Derek Stepan (Hastings, Minn.) were credited with the assists.
After the second intermission, junior Andy Bohmbach (Hudson, Wis.) quickly found the net to expand UW's lead to three. He fired from the near edge of the left faceoff circle just 1:28 into the third. Junior Michael Davies (St. Louis) and sophomore Brendan Smith (Mimico, Ontario) gave the assists.
Freshman Jake Gardiner (Minnetonka, Minn.) recorded his first goal as a Badger with UW 's fourth goal of the evening. Gardiner blasted a slap shot from just outside the top of the faceoff circle into the back of the net with 12:24 left in the game. Senior Tom Gorowsky (Lino Lakes, Minn.) and Bohmbach recorded the assists on the power play goal.
McBain found the net himself with 9:50 left to seal the score at 5-0. The assistant captain fired a wrist shot past Talbot off assists from Gorowsky and Bohmbach.
Wisconsin went 2-for-8 on the power play and tallied 60 shots, while UAH went 0-for-2 on the power play and totaled 10 shots.
Talbot made 46 saves, while goalkeeper Blake MacNicol, who replaced Talbot with just under 10 minutes left in the game, recorded nine saves.
The Badgers look for their 10th Showdown title, the first since 2005, when they face Lake Superior State tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the championship game. LSSU advanced with a 6-2 victory over Harvard in the early game on Saturday. UAH takes on the Crimson at 4 p.m. to determine the third and fourth places.
The Showdown will be televised on FSN Wisconsin on Sunday and tape-delayed on WPT at 11 p.m. The tournament will also be featured on the airwaves with Brian Posick and Mike Cerniglia on WIBA-AM 1310 in Madison.
Video stream of the game can be viewed mid=2887%20"> --> here , and the post-game press conference stream is available mid=2888"> --> here .
Visit the sportid=119"> --> UWBadgers.com Game Day page for more links and information.
