March 12, 2010

Post-Game Press Conference | Game Highlights | Box Score |  Quotes | Box Score

MADISON, Wis.--The No. 3 Wisconsin men's hockey team (23-9-4, 17-8-3 WCHA) won the opening game, 4-1, of the best-of-three series against Alaska Anchorage (11-22-2, 9-17-2 WCHA) Friday night in the Kohl Center. All four Wisconsin goals were scored by different Badgers in the opening-round victory.

After 18:50 of scoreless action in the first period, the Badgers took the game's first lead. After a nice give-and-go with sophomore forward Derek Stepan (Hastings, Minn.), senior forward Michael Davies (St. Louis) was able to notch his 16th goal of the season and give the Badgers the goal advantage. After a UAA shot missed, Davies took the puck up ice and passed it off to Stepan. From there, Stepan slid a pass through a crowd of Seawolves and hit Davies in stride, literally. Davies charged the net and redirected the puck off his knee past Seawolf goaltender Jon Olthuis to put UW on top heading into the second period. The goal was his 16th of the season.

Shots-on-goal were close in the first period, with UW edging UAA, 7-6, in the category. Neither team was able to capitalize on its one power-play opportunity of the opening 20 minutes. Heading into the second period, the Badgers led the Seawolves, 1-0.

Just 47 seconds into the second, UW added to its lead. After a scrum in front of the net, senior forward Aaron Bendickson (Thief River Falls, Minn.) scored for the Badgers. Freshman defender John Ramage (St. Louis) saw his shot get denied, but Bendickson dove to the puck and pushed in the rebound. Junior blue liner Brendan Smith (Mimico, Ontario) tallied the score's secondary assist, and the Badgers now held a 2-0 lead early in the second period.

Down a man at the 12:03 mark, sophomore defenseman Jake Gardiner (Minnetonka, Minn.) gave the Badgers a 3-0 lead. After a Badger clear, senior tri-captain Blake Geoffrion (Brentwood, Tenn.) took the puck up ice along the boards. He slid a perfect pass across the slot to a wide-open Gardiner, who joined the rush late, skating past numerous UAA players to get open. From there, Gardiner flicked the puck past Olthuis and put UW on top, 3-0, in the second period.

With less than four minutes remaining in the second, freshman forward Craig Smith (Madison, Wis.) put the Badgers up four. After Smith dished the puck off to senior tri-captain Ben Street (Coquitlam, British Columbia), Street slid it back to Smith, who was positioned in the slot. Smith fired the puck into the back of the net for his seventh of the season. Junior rear guard Cody Goloubef (Oakville, Ontario) added the secondary helper on the score.

That would be all the scoring of the second period. The Badgers had 22 shots-on-goal at that point, and Badger goaltender Scott Gudmandson (Sherwood Park, Alberta) stopped all 16 Seawolf attempts after two periods of play. Heading into the third period, the Badgers were skating with a 4-0 lead.

The Seawolves got on the board late, scoring with 47 seconds left to ruin UW's shutout attempt. Junior center Craig Parkinson converted a rebound to make the game a 4-1 final.

The Badgers ended the game having outshot UAA by one, 29-28.

Gudmandson aided in the victory by turning away 27 of the 28 Seawolf attempts as his overall record climbed to 15-3-4 on the season. For UAA, Olthuis absorbed the loss by halting 25 Badger shots as his record fell to 8-15-2 on the year.

The Seawolves and Badgers will square off again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center as UW looks to sweep the best-of-three series and advance to next week's WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn.

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Brady Hartung, UW Athletic Communications