Badgers beat out Seawolves 3-2
December 05, 2008 | Men's Hockey
After two big wins last weekend, the Wisconsin men's hockey team continued its victory drive into the second half of the season with a 3-2 win over Alaska Anchorage this Friday at the Kohl Center. UW edged out the Seawolves to extend its overall winning streak to four game and its home streak to five.
Both teams seemed to lack energy in the first period, as the scoreboard remained at 0-0 and collectively there were only 12 shots during the period. The Badgers came out in the second with the clear intention of taking the lead and did so just under four minutes into the period. Wisconsin scored two more goals in the second to skate off the ice with a 3-0 lead at intermission. The Seawolves responded to UW's second-period rally in the final period of the game, however, scoring two goals to reduce the Badger lead to one. In the end, Wisconsin skated off the ice with the 3-2 victory.
Junior Blake Geoffrion (Brentwood, Tenn.) scored Wisconsin's first goal 3:42 in the second period. The captain put UW on the scoreboard with a slap shot from the center of ice directly in front of the UAA net. Junior Michael Davies (St. Louis) passed the puck to Geoffrion from the side of the goal for the assist. Freshman Derek Stepan (Hastings, Minn.) recorded the second assist on the goal.
Stepan scored a goal of his own near the end of the second at 17:22 on the power play. Davies notched his second assist of the game with a pass from the center of the faceoff circle to the side of the net where Stepan snuck the puck past Bryce Christianson to put the Badgers up 2-0. Junior Jamie McBain (Faribault, Minn.) was also credited with an assist on the goal.
Sophomore Cody Goloubef (Oakville, Ontario) recorded his first goal of the season and Wisconsin's final goal of the game less than a minute later at 17:43 in the second. Goloubef received the puck at the blue line in UAA's zone from junior Ben Grotting (Birmingham, Ala.) after freshman Matt Thurber (Beaver Dam, Wis.) won a face off from the center circle and blasted a slap shot into the back of the net for the 3-0 Wisconsin lead.
A little over halfway into the third period Sean Wiles finally put Alaska Anchorage on the scoreboard. Wiles hit a shot off the crossbar that reflected into the net at 11:16.
With 3:01 left in the game, Trevor Hunt reduced UW's lead to one with the last goal of the game. Curtis Leinweber and Paul Crowder were credited with the assists.
Senior Shane Connelly (Cheltenham, Pa.) had quite the performance for the Badgers tonight. Connelly saved 35 of UAA's 37 total shots, including two breakaways. The last of these was a short-handed two-on-one in the final two minutes of the game in which Connelly stepped up to avert the tie. Christianson saved 21 of UW's 24 shots.
Wisconsin went 2-for-7 on the power play while UAA went 1-for-7.
The complete results are attached in a pdf below.
The Badgers face off the Seawolves again tomorrow night at the Kohl Center at 7 p.m. Live coverage includes WISC-TV, Charter Main Street, and Time Warner Sports on Saturday. The game will also be on tape-delay on Wisconsin Public Television at 11 p.m.
Live postgame video streaming of the UW's news conferences will be available at UWBadgers.com .
Live stats on UWBadgers.com will also be available. Check the sportid=119"> --> UWBadgers.com Game Day page for links.
